There are so many complaints about calves because it is a lot more enjoyable to complain about lousy calves than it is to train them effectively.
It CANNOT be true that calves are the only muscle group unable to grow by training. Think about it. Calves are programmed by DNA to grow to a certain size by a certain time of your life, and then NOT respond to any other stimulus the rest of your life? That’s ridiculous.
I think that calves, more than other muscle groups, might be limited by tight fascia. That tight fascia makes them both more painful to train and also less responsive, so people have less motivation to train them.
[quote]forlife wrote:
If your calves are small and don’t respond to training, why are you wasting your time training them?
That’s the point of the question.
Why spin your wheels training a muscle that is never going to grow much, if at all, due to genetic limitations?
People are always posting here about how frustrated they are at their calves not responding to training, and how they feel calves are all genetic. If that’s the case, why do they keep trying to train them instead of using that investment on muscles that actually do respond?[/quote]
People claiming that their muscles arent responding to training is them not training properly. I Had small calves. i trained them. I have larger calves now. The calves dont grow easy, but they are so powerful, people seldom actually put the amount of stress on them required to spur growth.
[quote]forlife wrote:
If your calves are small and don’t respond to training, why are you wasting your time training them?
That’s the point of the question.
Why spin your wheels training a muscle that is never going to grow much, if at all, due to genetic limitations?
People are always posting here about how frustrated they are at their calves not responding to training, and how they feel calves are all genetic. If that’s the case, why do they keep trying to train them instead of using that investment on muscles that actually do respond?[/quote]
People claiming that their muscles arent responding to training is them not training properly. I Had small calves. i trained them. I have larger calves now. The calves dont grow easy, but they are so powerful, people seldom actually put the amount of stress on them required to spur growth.[/quote]
[quote]forlife wrote:
Many have said here on the boards that calves are mostly genetic, and you’re unlikely to see much significant progress by training them. That said, people still include them in their routines.
I’m wondering why? Why not use that time and effort to develop muscles that respond more favorably to training?
I currently train calves every week, and while I’ve seen some progress over the years, my calves are already genetically large. I’m wondering if it might be smarter to use that slot for something else.[/quote]
“many have said”
I’m wondering if the majority of these people have gained significant muscle mass everywhere else on their body and not their calves. I’m talking 30,40,50+ pounds.
[quote]forlife wrote:
Many have said here on the boards that calves are mostly genetic, and you’re unlikely to see much significant progress by training them. That said, people still include them in their routines.
I’m wondering why? Why not use that time and effort to develop muscles that respond more favorably to training?
I currently train calves every week, and while I’ve seen some progress over the years, my calves are already genetically large. I’m wondering if it might be smarter to use that slot for something else.[/quote]
“many have said”
I’m wondering if the majority of these people have gained significant muscle mass everywhere else on their body and not their calves. I’m talking 30,40,50+ pounds.
[/quote]
yeah I hear you on this one… I would be willing to bet that almost all of those people don’t train their calves as much as they do chest or arms. Calves arent a good beach muscle… they arent “fun” to train. I bet for the most part they are neglected… plust the whole genetics thing.
With that being said I find that my calves grow the most from weighted jump ropes, sprints and swimming with fins. I feel my calves have responded better from those than from actually doing calve raises and what not. Just my opinion.
Sounds like the consensus is that people that don’t see significant calf growth are either not using the right exercises or are wimping out.
You may be right. If so, people need to stop using poor genetics as an excuse for their lack of progress on calves.
Or you may be wrong. If so, people need to stop wasting their time training muscles that are not going to grow, regardless of how correctly and how intensely they are trained.
Personally, I’ve seen some growth and better definition in my calves after years of training them, but nowhere close to the growth I’ve seen with my other muscles. Then again, my calves are already genetically strong. This morning, I did seated full range calf raises for 13 reps at 275.
I actually enjoy training calves, I just think I’ll get better bang for my buck by spending that time on a personally weak area like my medial delts. I’m probably going to stop training my calves weekly, and move to maintenance mode at every other week or even once a month.
[quote]forlife wrote:
Sounds like the consensus is that people that don’t see significant calf growth are either not using the right exercises or are wimping out.
You may be right. If so, people need to stop using poor genetics as an excuse for their lack of progress on calves.
Or you may be wrong. If so, people need to stop wasting their time training muscles that are not going to grow, regardless of how correctly and how intensely they are trained.
Personally, I’ve seen some growth and better definition in my calves after years of training them, but nowhere close to the growth I’ve seen with my other muscles. Then again, my calves are already genetically strong. This morning, I did seated full range calf raises for 13 reps at 275.
I actually enjoy training calves, I just think I’ll get better bang for my buck by spending that time on a personally weak area like my medial delts. I’m probably going to stop training my calves weekly, and move to maintenance mode at every other week or even once a month.[/quote]
Wow you must have huge soleous muscles. Is it too much to ask for pics? I have already put up pics of my calf progress on my thread in Performance Photos
For reference: Kai Greene doing 225 for 11 reps at 4:00
My calves are nowhere near as big as Kai’s…he is a monster. Maybe it’s easier for me because of my height (only 5’6") and the leverage is different. Regardless, I did 5 plates + 2 25s this morning for 13 reps on my 3rd set. I’m happy to maintain at this point.
i dont even know what to think about this thread. why train calves? why train anything? there will come a certain point where, for instance, putting mass on your chest will slow down (or else we’d have people benching 100000lbs with 20000 inch chests), gunna stop training your chest?
you train calves because they are part of your overall physique, just because progress is slow doesn’t mean its non-existent.
[quote]forlife wrote:
My calves are nowhere near as big as Kai’s…he is a monster. Maybe it’s easier for me because of my height (only 5’6") and the leverage is different. Regardless, I did 5 plates + 2 25s this morning for 13 reps on my 3rd set. I’m happy to maintain at this point.[/quote]
No pics dude? I have mine, wondering where yours are?
If you’re calves aren’t growing, up the weight. If the weight can’t go higher, load up a barbell and do calf raises. You’re calves are way stronger then you think regardless of size, you need heavy weight to push them to their potential growth.
No pics dude. I don’t care if you believe me or not. Instead, I’ll just ask:
If you were able to do seated calf raises at 275 for 13 reps, would you continue training your calves weekly, instead of using that time to bring a weaker muscle into better proportion?
Your answer may be different than mine, and that’s fine too.
[quote]forlife wrote:
No pics dude. I don’t care if you believe me or not. Instead, I’ll just ask:
If you were able to do seated calf raises at 275 for 13 reps, would you continue training your calves weekly, instead of using that time to bring a weaker muscle into better proportion?
Your answer may be different than mine, and that’s fine too.[/quote]
That isn’t what you really asked/implied in your OP.
(original):
[i]Many have said here on the boards that calves are mostly genetic, and you’re unlikely to see much significant progress by training them. That said, people still include them in their routines.
I’m wondering why? Why not use that time and effort to develop muscles that respond more favorably to training?
I currently train calves every week, and while I’ve seen some progress over the years, my calves are already genetically large. I’m wondering if it might be smarter to use that slot for something else. [/i]
If you feel that you don’t need to train your calves because they’re big enough, do whatever you want, but you implied why waste time on muscles that don’t respond favorably to training.
In a bodybuilding context, that makes absolutely no sense. You spend the time to bring up weak points, thus training something twice maybe three times (or more) per week.
Wasting time on muscles that don’t respond favorably to training applies, regardless of whether your calves are genetically big or not. Why are you wasting your time in the first place?
It’s not rocket science. If your calves aren’t growing despite training with correct technique and intensity, you’re wasting your time. If your calves are in fact growing, then keep doing it.
