Train your calves – this is how your calf muscles grow too

Do you have problems building your calf muscles? Training your calves is not that easy! Many strength athletes have major problems building muscular calves. There are many myths circulating on the internet about ” the right calf training “. The best strategies and tips from my experience to force your calves to grow can now be found in this blog post.

Train your calves – 3 tips on how your calf muscles will grow

Train your calves Tip 1 – Weight & stretching during calf training are the key to success

In the gym, the training devices for calf training are unfortunately used far too often incorrectly. Mostly with very little weight and at a pace that makes you dizzy while watching.

However, exercising correct calves works differently!

When training your calves, make sure you perform slowly and in a controlled manner with each repetition. You should choose a weight with which you can do a maximum of 6-10 repetitions in the full range of motion – but more on that below.

In order to stimulate all muscle fibers as much as possible, the stretching of the calf muscles plays a very important role during the exercise. You can achieve an intense stretch particularly well with a controlled negative exercise movement.

At the point of highest muscle tension, you should try to hold the weight for at least 2 seconds.

TIP: Should you train to failure? Yes, a real insider tip to get calf muscles to grow is to train them to failure with every set.

train your calves tip 2 – Ho hes weight and a few repetitions or high repetitions and little weight?

To answer this question, it is important to understand that the calf muscles are used to endurance training by nature. The calf muscles carry our body weight every day, which is comparable to a lot of repetitions.

If you train your calves in the gym with high repetitions and low weight, your calf muscles will not be particularly impressed and accordingly they will not grow!

Therefore: Use heavy weights when training your calves and train in the rep range of 6 to 10. This will make your calf muscles stronger and they will also grow!

Train your calves tip 3 – The correct foot position is a small but very important detail when you train your calves

Have you ever thought about how you distribute the stress of calf training on the foot? No? Then it’s time!

The heel, i.e. the rear part of the foot, has not lost anything on the resting surface during calf training. With every calf exercise, the ball of the foot is always pressed!

The ball of the foot is the area directly under the toes. Try to consciously distribute the pressure on this area while performing the exercise and you will feel the difference in the calf muscle very quickly.

Summary – 10 points for massive calves:

• With every calf workout, you have to really shock your calves in order to stimulate them for muscle growth.
• When exercising, your calves have to be exposed to loads that you do not encounter in everyday life.
• Use heavy weights and low reps. The rep range should be 6-10.
• Train to failure with every calf workout.
• When training your calves, pay attention to an intensive stretching of the calf muscles when lowering the weight.
• The ball of the foot is pressed when raising the calf.
• 4 to 6 hard sets per training session are enough to train the calves effectively.
• The calf muscles can be retrained every 2 to 3 days.
• When leg training always train the upper leg muscles first and only then train the calves.
• If the calf muscles are really burning at the end of your calf training, then you have very likely done everything right – congratulations!

RECOMMENDATION – best fitness machine for calf training at home

Train your calves – these are the top 3 calf exercises for effective calf training

1. Seated calf raises

2. Standing calf raise – the basic exercise among the calf exercises

3. Calf raises on the leg press – the absolute wild card among calf exercises!

Tip at the end against calf cramps

Exercising calf cramps during or after the calf are not uncommon!

Especially during calf training, the calves should always be sufficiently pre-stretched for prevention. 1-2 sets with light weight and slow execution at the beginning of the calf training are usually sufficient.

Especially if you sweat a lot, you have to take care to keep the electrolyte balance in balance. Electrolyte drinks, such as this one, help here.

Anyone who frequently suffers from leg cramps can also take a daily mixture of magnesium and calcium. However, if there is no improvement after two weeks of regular use, you should discuss this with a doctor.