Calves are difficult muscles to increase. So much so that more than $ 2 million was spent on calf augmentation surgeries in 2019, according to a report by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. It is less than what was spent on breast augmentations or nose surgeries, but it is not little.
If your goal is to train your lower legs to become diamond-shaped calves without going under the knife, you're probably doing calf raises. If you're feeling a bit frustrated at a lack of progress, you could be making one or more of these six mistakes.
Common mistakes in calf raises
You are doing all the lifts in the same position
Your "calf" is not just a muscle. It is a complex of several muscles that make up the lower leg, including the gastrocnemius, soleus, and tibialis anterior . If you are only doing one type of lift, you are only optimally training one of these muscles.
A straight-legged standing lift primarily hits the gastrocnemius. But a seated raise with the bent leg targets more of the soleus muscle, since bending the knee greatly "turns off" the gastrocnemius.
The tibialis anterior is often untrained, but it is also the site of many tendonitis problems, can cause splint problems on the shin, and is important for stabilizing the knee and ankle.
To optimally train all three muscles, three movements are required. Mix up your elevation variations, including those for the bent knee and straight leg. And change the positions of your feet to target both heads of the gastrocnemius and the tibialis anterior.
For the tibialis anterior, the ideal is to do a slightly altered seated calf raise . In the seated calf raise position, move your heels forward on the pad and wiggle your toes up and down to do the exercise.
You can also customize your standing raises to grow your gastrocnemius by changing the position of the foot. In an April 2020 study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, researchers found that when performing standing raises with the foot pointing slightly inward , the outer (lateral) head of the gastrocnemius grew larger.
By pointing the toes slightly outward, the inner (medial) head of the gastrocnemius had more growth. Performing a combination of these foot positions, in addition to doing the exercise with your toes pointing forward, can ensure that you are increasing your entire gastrocnemius muscle.
You perform your repetitions at high speed
Many people put off calf exercises for the end of their workouts, so they're in a rush to get out of the gym. As a result, they rush the exercise and don't get the full range of motion . Most of them emphasize the up phase, but you really should lower your heel to get the full benefits of range of motion. Some people also do not fully raise their heels, again reducing range of motion.
Sacrificing range of motion decreases the contraction of the muscle you are trying to train. You are also reducing the amount of time the twins contract.
Science is quite indecisive about 'time under stress'. The traditional "time under tension" strategy says that the more a muscle is tensed, through more or more repetitions, the more it will grow. Although certain muscles, such as the biceps, grow faster with faster reps, the calves respond well to longer under tension with slow, controlled reps .
One more reason not to rush, if you raise them too fast, you may not be training them for strength and size at all. The calves, and the Achilles tendon, are very good at the stretch reflex. The calf is designed to roll back . This is why they are so important for vertical jump. If you're bouncing in range of motion, you could be doing more to activate the stretch reflex than you are exercising the muscle.
The only solution is to slow down. Get your reps under control. Stand at the bottom (your foot floating just above the ground) and at the top of each rep (and squeeze!) So you're working the muscle, not the stretch reflex.
You are not doing the optimal number of reps
The soleus is about 90 percent type I muscle fiber, or "slow twitch," and the gastrocnemius is more than half slow twitch fiber. This means that muscle fibers primarily use fat for fuel, and are endurance muscles that can be used for a long time without tiring.
There's a good reason for this: you're using your calves with every step you take. If they tire easily, walking would be a much greater challenge. So to train them, you have to tire them out.
When looking for information on the best way to train them, we take a very polarized approach: it's either heavy or hard, because they are very resistant to fatigue and you need to expose them to weight because that is not what they are used to. And the flip side is that Type I fibers tend to respond better to more high-volume work, so we need reps, reps, reps.
So what is the best? A mix. Your twins need a variety of training . Instead of getting caught up in high or low reps, light weight or heavy; rotate that type of workout with your calf work. Do a little of everything.
You can alternate calf training days between a lighter day and a heavier day, moving closer to failure in both cases. On lighter days, you'll do up to 15-20 reps per set, while on stronger days, you'll do 8-12 reps per set.
You are lifting some weight with your hips or knees
Especially if you are working your calves with a heavy weight, it can be easy to cheat on the exercise, without even realizing it.
If I am not thinking about what I am doing, I can easily start to move the weight with other muscles; the hip flexors can do most of the work and I don't even realize it. The calves are relatively small muscles and there are much larger muscles throughout the leg. If those big guys take over, you're no longer training the calves.
Make sure you are actually wearing your calves when you do the exercise. To help raise awareness of the calf itself, you can perform bodyweight reps of any exercise to prepare and stretch the muscles and establish the connection between the mind and the muscles.
Once you add weight, maintain that mind-muscle connection. Instead of concentrating on lifting the weight in the calf raise, focus on pushing your toes toward the ground .
You don't squeeze at the top of every rep
When trying to increase the size of a muscle, focusing your attention on contracting that muscle can help you grow.
In a March 2018 study published in the European Journal of Sport Science, a group of untrained college students who focused on contracting the target muscle, getting a good squeeze, saw twice the growth in that muscle over eight weeks of training. compared to a group that focused on simply lifting the weight.
The calves, like the triceps and quadriceps, are made up of dense and very tight muscle fibers. These types of fibers respond very well to maximum shrinkage, also known as compression.
Pause briefly at the top of each rep, contracting your calves to make sure they're fully engaged. Aim to squeeze for one to two seconds at the top.
You save the elevations for the last of each workout
In many ways, it makes sense – you don't want to tire your calves if you're going to need them for larger movements where they're also activated, like lunges, squats, and step-ups. But if you wait for the twins to grow up, leaving them for last can hinder your gains in two ways:
- You are more likely to skip the exercise.
- Your body may not have the materials it needs to perform full contractions.
It is a concern from an acid-base point of view. Lactic levels are high, hydrogen levels are increasing. The contractions are not going to be that good, so the stress on the calf is not good enough to cause any growth.
If you want to see an increase, make them a priority. Schedule the exercises in your training earlier and make them a predetermined part of your training.
Instead of sacrificing calf contractions for your other big leg exercises, set up some non-leg lifts on pre-workout days, performed during rest periods from other movements. For example, if it's a rest day and you're doing a series of pull-ups, layer them with heavy rows, and then do 2 sets of calf raises.
