Muscle Reduction - Calves

For stair master, try NOT usings your calves. Drive with your heels; hang your toes off the front of the pedal if you can. I never flex my ankle on the stair master; just drive with the upper legs and hips. That’s the same way I climb stairs in real life, at least.

[quote]njrusmc wrote:
For stair master, try NOT usings your calves. Drive with your heels; hang your toes off the front of the pedal if you can. I never flex my ankle on the stair master; just drive with the upper legs and hips. That’s the same way I climb stairs in real life, at least.[/quote]

The calves get worked out indirectly whether I try to or not! I tend to cramp up in the calves a hell of a lot when they are worked even when I am not specifically trying to work them.

Stair master won’t help me reduce the size of my calves in any event, they are good for my glutes mostly right, along with hams/quads?

Thanks for your response!

True, it won’t help you reduce the size. In fact I don’t think any exercise will “reduce” their size. I figured you could just make your legs bigger so as to create the image that your calves are not extraordinarily large.

Most other forms of cardio require your to flex your ankle (elliptical, running, walking, even rowing), so I figured stair master would be the best bet. Rowing might be OK though!

[quote]Noreen wrote:
Hi All

I recently had my first personal training session on Sunday and told the trainer that I wanted to slim down my calves by losing fat on them…

After examining them she said that I had very little fat on my calves and a hell of a lot of muscle, she said she was very impressed but I was not!

She said the only way to slim them down would be doing some muscle reduction but I have never heard of this before! how can you reduce muscle in your calves??? She didn’t explain what techniques she was going to use in the session but I am pretty sceptical…any ideas ladies?[/quote]

The title of this thread caught my eye because most people want to increase muscle size.

Nevertheless, without pics, none of can actually give an objective opinion on whether or not you truly have overly-large calves.

Here are my thoughts. Feel free to take them or leave them.

  1. Surgery poses too much risk for the promise and NOT the guarantee of a reward. I’d flush that idea down the toilet.

  2. If you have a propensity to hypertrophy the gastrocs and soleus, direct calf work is obviously contraindicated. Remember that many leg exercises actually stimulate the calves due to their attachment sites as well as how they contribute to a squatting pattern (just ask any hardcore power lifter who possesses very impressive calves with no direct work).

  3. There is the option of targeted gluconeogenesis. (I just know I’m going to get flamed for this one but I’ll say it anyway). If you continue to train other body parts hard (but intelligently, of course) and give your body just enough macros, there is the possibility that your body can break down lean tissue from the body parts that don’t see much action. This break down occurs because your body requires glucose and, if you’re not ingesting enough, it will break down what it “thinks” is unimportant (dictated by what is NOT being trained aggressively) so that it can convert the amino acids to fuel.

Back in my rockclimbing days, we would eat just enough and avoid stairs, direct leg work, steep hikes, etc. as much as possible. On those occasions when did have to throw on a backpack full of gear and hike up a long hill, we’d go as slow as possible and take as many breaks as possible.

And when I hung up rope and climbing shoes in trade for road and mountain bike, I’d keep upper body work to a minimum to atrophy the targeted area. I did this because, in order to be as competitive as possible in a race, I needed to drop every ounce of unnecessary muscle.

This does work provided the macros are just enough. It’s not just a sample of me that I’ve seen this in. I’ve seen it in countless rock jocks or cyclists. This July, if you happen to watch the Tour de France, note how emaciated the upper bodies are of the cyclists. Same principle just practiced at a world-class level.

I don’t visit this site as much as I used to but I’ll be happy to elaborate when I can.

This just about sums it all up.

The article says avoid the step machine. I say hang your toes off the front and drive with your heels.

I think it all boils down to this: you have bigger calves that you want and there is nothing you can do about it. You cannot change the shape of them by stretching them and you cannot make them (permanently) smaller by over training them. Yes, a lower body weight wil keep them smaller if you tend to hold fat there but they will look more pronounced when they are defined so it’s up to you.

Wearing high heels probably adds to their size but not that much. You can do exercises that emphasize the lower half of your calves to try and balance them out, but those will work the whole calf so you may get more growth overall. I wish I had your problem!

The good news is that most men like calves on a woman so don’t be shy…be proud!!!

[quote]Noreen wrote:
Hi All

I recently had my first personal training session on Sunday and told the trainer that I wanted to slim down my calves by losing fat on them…
quote]

Been a trainer for decades and I can tell you that the only way to to get thinner calves is to lose bodyweight…which I DO NOT recommend unless you are overweight to begin with.

More importantly, a little secret: there are many men who are crazy for muscular calves in the way that other men are into big breasts or big rumps. The last thing I look for in a woman is little runway model stick calves.

how about you post some pics of your calves so we know your not over exaggerating there size?

[quote]Westclock wrote:

You can see a majority of calf hypertrophy from simple loading from everyday walking activities. This makes body weight the primary factor in how much stimulus will be applied per repetition.

I see more calf hypertrophy from supporting increased body weight+high daily activity, than any specific gym exercise.[/quote]

That’s basically what I came here to share based on my experiences. My calves grow a lot after backpacking trips of a couple hundred miles.

Low and zero heel drop footwear typically places more stress on the calves. If you’re walking around in flip flops or barefoot and want smaller calves, you might do well to switch to wearing shoes with a higher heel than forefoot…which is virtually every normal shoe.

A fellow hiker posted a study that found that heavier people put a higher ratio of their weight on the front of their feet, which would increase work for the calves. I’m not sure how effectively that information can be used.

sorry not to derail but i am wondering how to make my glutes smaller, fat loss and only one day legs maybe?