Killer Calves
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Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 1
www.LeeHayward.com
Killer Calves! “Specialization Training Secrets To Build Bigger More Muscular Calves!”
By Lee Hayward www.LeeHayward.com Version 1.01 January 2012
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 2
www.LeeHayward.com
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved Lee Hayward’s Total Fitness Bodybuilding www.LeeHayward.com No part of this e-book maybe reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without permission in writing from the author or publisher. Published by Lee Hayward in Newfoundland, Canada.
A WORD OF CAUTION: DISCLAIMER This e-book is for reference and informational purposes only and is no way intended as medical counseling or medical advice. The information contained herein should not be used to treat, diagnose, or prevent a disease of medical condition without the advice of a competent medical professional. This e-book deals with in-depth information on health and fitness. Most of the information applies to everyone in general; however, not everyone has the same body type. We each have different responses to exercise depending on our choice of intensity and diet. Before making any changes in your lifestyle, you should consult with a physician to discover the best solution for your individual body type. The author, editors, and graphic designers shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any damage or injury alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this e-book.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 3
www.LeeHayward.com
Introduction If you have been working out for any length of time than I’m sure you have noticed that some of your muscle groups develop faster than others. This is totally normal, very few people have perfectly proportioned body’s. Even most of the top pro bodybuilders have flaws in their physiques. For example, it’s common to see folks with big upper body’s and skinny legs (or vice versa). Sometimes it’s the individual muscle groups themselves that are lagging, someone could have big and well developed thighs that are stacked on top of scrawny little calves. Some folks may have big muscular arms, but flat chests. Some people have big biceps, but very weak triceps, etc... Sometimes the flaws have to do with the symmetry between the left and right sides of the body. Generally we are stronger in our dominant side. So if you are right handed it’s quite common to have your right arm bigger and stronger than your left arm. And as crazy as it may seem, I’ve also seen the opposite where the non-dominant side is actually the bigger more developed side. These symmetry problems don’t just stop at the arms either. Some people have one leg bigger than the other, one pec larger and more developed than the other, one lat that’s wider than the other, etc... Bottom line no body is perfect. However, with smart intelligent training you can make the most of your God given genetics and maximize your muscle building potential. In this e-Report - Killer Calves - we’re going to dive in and focus on the best exercises that you can do for building up the muscles of the calves and finally get rid of those dreaded “chicken legs” once and for all. And the best part about this program is that it is an “Add On” to your existing workout routine. So regardless of whatever program you are currently following now, you can simply add in these exercises as extra workouts and reap the results of bigger more muscular calves!
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 4
www.LeeHayward.com
Focus On The Calves If you were to do an informal survey of the guys at the gym, chances are almost ALL of them would like to build bigger calves. Well developed calves really help to balance out your leg development and enhance the overall look of your physique. After all, nobody wants to have well big muscular thighs stacked on top of puny little calves. But this is one of the most common physique flaws that you’ll see among the gym regulars, and it really does look like “Chicken Legs”. Sometimes it’s poor genetics that is responsible for skinny calves. Other times it’s a lack of proper training that maybe preventing you from developing the calves. But regardless of your situation, making improvements is always possible. Now I have to admit, I’ve been blessed with good genetics for building the calves. They’re a muscle group that has responded well for me. But I’ve still dedicated A LOT of time to quality calve training. Even when I started working out as teenager I made sure to include regular calve training in my workouts right from the start. And despite what you may have heard, there is a definite “Right” and “Wrong” way to go about maximizing muscle growth in the calves. Most guys at the gym are doing things wrong and making some critical mistakes in their calve exercises that prevent them from getting the results that they should be getting. A typical calve workout usually consists of nothing more then a couple sets of quick choppy calves raises at the end of a workout. There usually isn’t much thought that goes into it. Compare that to say the typical chest workout, or arm workout... Most guys go all out and give these muscle groups 100% effort. You’ll never see a hardcore fitness enthusiast just mindlessly toss in a couple quick sets of pec deck flyes at the end of his workout and think that’s “good enough” for chest. But you’ll very often see guys do a couple quick sets of calve raises and think that’s “good enough” for their calves. Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 5
www.LeeHayward.com
So right now I’m going to go into detail and share some of the best calve exercises that you can perform in the gym. And then we’ll outline a training strategy of how you can incorporate these exercises into your weekly workout routine and finally build a set of well balanced muscular legs!
Lee Hayward Showing The Results Of Proper Calve Training!
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 6
www.LeeHayward.com
Standing Calve Raise
Standing calve raises are my personal favorite calve exercise because they work the calves through a full range of motion and allow for heavy weights to be lifted. The real “secret” to building big muscular calves is using an Exaggerated Range Of Motion for all your calve exercises.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 7
www.LeeHayward.com
The calves are a very tough dense muscle group. They get worked every time you get up, walk, climb stairs, etc. but they only get worked in a short partial range of motion. So if you want to stimulate new muscle growth in the calves you need to work them in the fully stretched position and the fully contracted position. Just think about how your calves work when walking, you’ll never fully stretch them out, nor will you ever get a full peak contraction. They just move a few inches in the mid range. Now think of how most guys train their calves in the gym... They’ll generally get on the calve raise machine and mindlessly bounce up and down a few inches in the mid range of the exercise. So the best approach to hitting those untapped muscle fibers of the calves is to push the limits with an Exaggerated Range Of Motion. Start with a light weight (about 50% of what you’d normally use for calve raises) and let your heels stretch all the way down as far as possible. Hold this position for a count of 10. Then raise up all the way on to the balls of your feet and squeeze your calves hard for a count of 10. This is considered 1 repetition! Note: Counting to 10 in your head is probably about 6 real seconds. So if you actually use a watch to time this out, you can hold each position for 6 seconds.
Continue on doing reps in this slow motion stretch and contract fashion until failure. Then once you hit failure, I want you to re-set your feet and do another 10 reps using a quick short mini calve raise in the midrange (the way most guys do all of their calve raises). This will burn like crazy and maximize muscle stimulation in the calves. You’ll first hit failure in the full exaggerated range of motion, then you’ll hit failure again in the mid-range. And your calves will have no choice but to grow bigger and more muscular!
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 8
www.LeeHayward.com
When To Use This Exercise: The best time to train your calves is at the end of a workout. If you train them at the beginning of your workout you’ll probably have a harder time with your other exercises. The feet and calves help to balance and stabilize your body when doing any standing exercises. So if your feet and calves are pumped and exhausted it could off set your balance for the rest of your workout. I like to begin training calves with the standing calve raise as this is the main bread and butter calve exercise. Standing Calve Raises are to your calves, what Bench Presses are to your chest. When choosing a starting weight go lighter then you think you should. Trust me, doing slow motion calve raises with an exaggerated range of motion will be A LOT HARDER then doing the typical short choppy calve raises that most guys are used to doing. Strive to get between 5-10 reps using the count of 10 at the bottom and count of 10 at the top of each rep. (Note: counting to 10 in your head is probably about 6 real seconds). So each set will keep your calves under tension for over a minute. Start with 1-2 lighter warm up sets using a regular tempo speed to warm up the feet, calves and ankles. Then do 3 slow motion working sets using the Exaggerated Range Of Motion.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 9
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Seated Calve Raise
The seated calve raise machine is a good isolation exercise for the calves. Being in the seated position with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle and will place more of the workload on the outer head of the calve, the soleus muscle. When setting up for seated calve raise make sure that the kneepad is very snug fitting right over the top of the knees. This will place the stress right over the calve muscles. Do NOT set the pad higher up on your quads.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 10
www.LeeHayward.com
As you do the exercise itself make sure to lower your heels all the way down for a deep stretch, hold this for a moment, then lift up all the way on the balls of your feet for a peak contraction. When it comes to building big calves, using a full range of motion is the key to maximizing your development. You can use the same rep tempo as explained for the Standing Calve Raise. Hold the fully stretched position for a count of 10. Then raise up all the way on to the balls of your feet and squeeze your calves hard for a count of 10. This is considered 1 repetition!
When To Use This Exercise: I personally like to do the seated calve raise after the standing calve raise. Start off with 1 or 2 warm up sets to warm up your ankles, then take the same weight for 3-4 sets. Keep your reps around 10 per set. And really exaggerate the stretch at the bottom and the peak contraction at the top of each rep. Rather than trying to lift super heavy, keep the weights moderate, and strive to feel the muscles working when you do your calve exercises. I recommend keeping with the same weight for at least 3 workouts before increasing the weights and going heavier. This will allow you to maintain perfect exercise form and still incorporate progressive overload into your calve workouts. When you do increase the weights, keep the increments small (i.e. adding 5 - 10 pounds at a time). It’s better to make small, frequent, and consistent increments in weight, rather then trying to go up too much, too soon and risk injury and over training.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 11
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Leg Press Calve Raise
The leg press calve raise is a unique calve exercise. It hits the calves totally differently from the standing or seated calve raise. Due to the angle of the seated position with your legs extended, you’ll find it hard to get a really deep stretch in the calves. However, this is an awesome position for working the calves through the mid-range and fully peaked contracted positions. The leg press calve raise is a big exercise that allows for heavy weights to be lifted. But you need to be careful and build up gradually so that you don’t stain the tendons and ligaments in your feet and ankles. Another little tip that works well for this exercise is to keep your knees slightly bent, just short of fully locked out. This will take stress off the knee joints and allow you to better contract the calve muscles as you do the exercise.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 12
www.LeeHayward.com
Safety Tip: When doing leg press calve raises make sure to keep the safety pins locked in place at all times on the weight sled so that it cannot come down all the way. If you un-rack the safety pins and your feet happened to slip off the bottom of the sled, there would be nothing to stop the weight sled from coming down and crushing you in the bottom.
When To Use This Exercise: I would recommend that you alternate the leg press calve raise with the seated calve raise with each calve workout. This will work the calves from unique positions. So if you do the seated calve raise during your workout, do NOT do the leg press calve raise. And vice versa, if you do the leg press calve raise, skip the seated calve raise. Just like with all calve raise variations, focus on using a full range of motion. Get a full stretch in the bottom of each rep and a fully peak contraction at the top of each rep. With this move I often just pyramid up in weight with each set, and do multiple sets with strict form. I literally start with just one 45 pound plate on each side of the leg press and rep out 10 slow motion exaggerated reps. And then with each set I’ll add another 45 pound plate and just keep going like this until my calves have had enough.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 13
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Bodyweight Calve Raise
The bodyweight calve raise is just like the standing calve raise, but we are just going to use our bodyweight. Now don’t let this fool you into thinking that this is going to be an “easy exercise” because we are just using bodyweight... The kicker with this exercise is that we’re going to make up for the lighter weight by doing higher reps!
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 14
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Now you can (and should) do an easy set of bodyweight calve raises at the beginning of your calve workout to simply warm up the muscles, joints, tendons, and ligaments. But the muscle building benefits of this exercise come from using it as a killer finishing move to really fry the calve muscles at the end of your workout. For this move we are going to use an Exaggerated Range Of Motion, going all the way down for a full stretch, and all the way back up for a full peak contraction. However, we are NOT going to do them in a slow motion fashion like the other weighted calve exercises. Instead we’re going to speed up the tempo so that you only hold each position for 1 second. This will really pump up the calves like crazy and allow you to get higher reps. I want you to strive to do a minimum of 100 total reps at the end of your calve workouts. Now just to clarify things, that doesn’t mean 100 total reps in a single set, you can break those reps up into 5 sets of 20... 4 sets of 25... 3 sets of 33... or whatever set and rep patter it takes in order for you to complete 100 total reps. And if you are doing this right, your calves should be screaming with a lactic acid burn after you complete those 100 reps. Now after several weeks of doing this on a regular basis as part of your calve workouts, your calves are going to get bigger, stronger, and build up a higher work capacity. So when doing 2 leg bodyweight calve raises becomes “too easy” for you, you can switch to doing 1 leg bodyweight calve raises as shown on the next page...
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 15
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1 Leg Bodyweight Calve Raise
By doing your calve raises with one leg at a time you’ve just doubled the resistance per calve. Not only that, but this is an awesome exercise to help build balance and proportion between the left and right calves. So if you have 1 calve that’s bigger / stronger than the other, you should include 1 leg calve raises as a regular part of your calve workouts. The same technique applies here as for the 2 leg variation. The only difference is that you’ll be doing a total of 200 reps (100 reps for each leg).
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 16
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When To Use This Exercise: Do the bodyweight calve raise at the beginning of your calve workouts as a warm up. You don’t need to do too many, just 20-30 total reps will be plenty to warm up your muscles, joints, tendons, etc. Then move on and do a couple of the weighted calve exercises as shown in the previous sections. After you do your weighted calve exercises, move on to doing 100+ reps of bodyweight calve raises to really finish off your calve workout and pump those suckers up like crazy! The cool thing about bodyweight calve raises is that you can pretty much do them anywhere at anytime, all you need is a step or a block to stand on. So if your calves are a stubborn hard to grow muscle for you to develop, you can literally do this exercise every single day at home in your spare time. By regularly pumping up the calves and flushing blood into the muscles you’ll improve circulation and nutrient delivery to the calve muscles. And this will help to spur on new muscle growth. Since the calves are such a small muscle group they can recover quickly from frequent workouts. And the risk of “over training” from calve workouts is very slim as they don’t place a lot of stress on the central nervous system like training the big power house muscles of the chest, back, thighs, etc.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 17
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Putting It All Together... Ok, so we just covered some of the best exercises that you can included in your training to help build up the calves. Now I’m going to show you how to actually implement these moves into your weekly workout routine. How To Train Your Calves: For stubborn calves, I recommend working them in the gym 3 times per week, or every second day. However, use your own recovery & results to judge how often to train your calves. If you find that your calves get really sore, then cut back to training them just 2 times per week. The best time to perform calve training in your workouts is at the end of a workout. This way they won’t hinder the quality of your other exercises. Here’s the actual calve workout routine... Bodyweight Calve Raise: 20-30 reps as a warm up. Standing Calve Raise: Set 1 - 10-20 reps, smooth tempo (light warm up weight) Set 2 - 5-10 slow motion reps with full range of motion (moderate weight) Set 3 - 5-10 slow motion reps with full range of motion (moderate weight) Set 4 - 5-10 slow motion reps with full range of motion (moderate weight) Seated Calve Raise Or Leg Press Calve Raise (alternate each workout): Set 1 - 10-20 reps, smooth tempo (light warm up weight) Set 2 - 5-10 slow motion reps with full range of motion (moderate weight) Set 3 - 5-10 slow motion reps with full range of motion (moderate weight) Set 4 - 5-10 slow motion reps with full range of motion (moderate weight) Bodyweight Calve Raise: 100 total reps using just bodyweight. That’s it, simple and to the point, but very effective. If you commit to following this calve workout routine on a regular basis I can promise that you’re going see some major improvements over the coming weeks!
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 18
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About the Author Lee Hayward is a competitive bodybuilder, muscle building coach, and one of the most sought out fitness professionals online. For over 10 years he has committed his life to helping aspiring bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts build lean muscle, burn off stubborn body fat, and develop a lean, athletic muscular physique that they can be proud of. Lee’s Total Fitness Bodybuilding website has been online since January 1999 and has become one of the Internet’s most popular bodybuilding and fitness websites which averages over 100,000 visitors each month. Whether your goal is to make a complete physique transformation, or just lose a few pounds of stubborn belly fat; Lee Hayward can help get the results you want! For a limited time Lee is giving away a complete Bodybuilding Quick Start Kit that includes 2 FREE e-books and a 10-Part Muscle Building Tips e-Course where he shares some killer training and nutrition tricks that will help you pack on solid muscle mass, strip away excess bodyfat, and transform your soft mushy body into a ripped powerful physique in record time! This Bodybuilding Quick Start Kit has a real world $47 value, but right now you can sign up and download it for FREE at: www.LeeHayward.com
Follow Lee Hayward on Facebook at: http://www.FaceBook.com/total.fitness.bodybuilding
Subscribe To Lee Hayward’s Bodybuilding YouTube Videos at: http://www.YouTube.com/leemhayward
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
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Page 1
www.LeeHayward.com
Killer Calves! “Specialization Training Secrets To Build Bigger More Muscular Calves!”
By Lee Hayward www.LeeHayward.com Version 1.01 January 2012
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 2
www.LeeHayward.com
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved Lee Hayward’s Total Fitness Bodybuilding www.LeeHayward.com No part of this e-book maybe reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without permission in writing from the author or publisher. Published by Lee Hayward in Newfoundland, Canada.
A WORD OF CAUTION: DISCLAIMER This e-book is for reference and informational purposes only and is no way intended as medical counseling or medical advice. The information contained herein should not be used to treat, diagnose, or prevent a disease of medical condition without the advice of a competent medical professional. This e-book deals with in-depth information on health and fitness. Most of the information applies to everyone in general; however, not everyone has the same body type. We each have different responses to exercise depending on our choice of intensity and diet. Before making any changes in your lifestyle, you should consult with a physician to discover the best solution for your individual body type. The author, editors, and graphic designers shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any damage or injury alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this e-book.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 3
www.LeeHayward.com
Introduction If you have been working out for any length of time than I’m sure you have noticed that some of your muscle groups develop faster than others. This is totally normal, very few people have perfectly proportioned body’s. Even most of the top pro bodybuilders have flaws in their physiques. For example, it’s common to see folks with big upper body’s and skinny legs (or vice versa). Sometimes it’s the individual muscle groups themselves that are lagging, someone could have big and well developed thighs that are stacked on top of scrawny little calves. Some folks may have big muscular arms, but flat chests. Some people have big biceps, but very weak triceps, etc... Sometimes the flaws have to do with the symmetry between the left and right sides of the body. Generally we are stronger in our dominant side. So if you are right handed it’s quite common to have your right arm bigger and stronger than your left arm. And as crazy as it may seem, I’ve also seen the opposite where the non-dominant side is actually the bigger more developed side. These symmetry problems don’t just stop at the arms either. Some people have one leg bigger than the other, one pec larger and more developed than the other, one lat that’s wider than the other, etc... Bottom line no body is perfect. However, with smart intelligent training you can make the most of your God given genetics and maximize your muscle building potential. In this e-Report - Killer Calves - we’re going to dive in and focus on the best exercises that you can do for building up the muscles of the calves and finally get rid of those dreaded “chicken legs” once and for all. And the best part about this program is that it is an “Add On” to your existing workout routine. So regardless of whatever program you are currently following now, you can simply add in these exercises as extra workouts and reap the results of bigger more muscular calves!
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 4
www.LeeHayward.com
Focus On The Calves If you were to do an informal survey of the guys at the gym, chances are almost ALL of them would like to build bigger calves. Well developed calves really help to balance out your leg development and enhance the overall look of your physique. After all, nobody wants to have well big muscular thighs stacked on top of puny little calves. But this is one of the most common physique flaws that you’ll see among the gym regulars, and it really does look like “Chicken Legs”. Sometimes it’s poor genetics that is responsible for skinny calves. Other times it’s a lack of proper training that maybe preventing you from developing the calves. But regardless of your situation, making improvements is always possible. Now I have to admit, I’ve been blessed with good genetics for building the calves. They’re a muscle group that has responded well for me. But I’ve still dedicated A LOT of time to quality calve training. Even when I started working out as teenager I made sure to include regular calve training in my workouts right from the start. And despite what you may have heard, there is a definite “Right” and “Wrong” way to go about maximizing muscle growth in the calves. Most guys at the gym are doing things wrong and making some critical mistakes in their calve exercises that prevent them from getting the results that they should be getting. A typical calve workout usually consists of nothing more then a couple sets of quick choppy calves raises at the end of a workout. There usually isn’t much thought that goes into it. Compare that to say the typical chest workout, or arm workout... Most guys go all out and give these muscle groups 100% effort. You’ll never see a hardcore fitness enthusiast just mindlessly toss in a couple quick sets of pec deck flyes at the end of his workout and think that’s “good enough” for chest. But you’ll very often see guys do a couple quick sets of calve raises and think that’s “good enough” for their calves. Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 5
www.LeeHayward.com
So right now I’m going to go into detail and share some of the best calve exercises that you can perform in the gym. And then we’ll outline a training strategy of how you can incorporate these exercises into your weekly workout routine and finally build a set of well balanced muscular legs!
Lee Hayward Showing The Results Of Proper Calve Training!
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 6
www.LeeHayward.com
Standing Calve Raise
Standing calve raises are my personal favorite calve exercise because they work the calves through a full range of motion and allow for heavy weights to be lifted. The real “secret” to building big muscular calves is using an Exaggerated Range Of Motion for all your calve exercises.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 7
www.LeeHayward.com
The calves are a very tough dense muscle group. They get worked every time you get up, walk, climb stairs, etc. but they only get worked in a short partial range of motion. So if you want to stimulate new muscle growth in the calves you need to work them in the fully stretched position and the fully contracted position. Just think about how your calves work when walking, you’ll never fully stretch them out, nor will you ever get a full peak contraction. They just move a few inches in the mid range. Now think of how most guys train their calves in the gym... They’ll generally get on the calve raise machine and mindlessly bounce up and down a few inches in the mid range of the exercise. So the best approach to hitting those untapped muscle fibers of the calves is to push the limits with an Exaggerated Range Of Motion. Start with a light weight (about 50% of what you’d normally use for calve raises) and let your heels stretch all the way down as far as possible. Hold this position for a count of 10. Then raise up all the way on to the balls of your feet and squeeze your calves hard for a count of 10. This is considered 1 repetition! Note: Counting to 10 in your head is probably about 6 real seconds. So if you actually use a watch to time this out, you can hold each position for 6 seconds.
Continue on doing reps in this slow motion stretch and contract fashion until failure. Then once you hit failure, I want you to re-set your feet and do another 10 reps using a quick short mini calve raise in the midrange (the way most guys do all of their calve raises). This will burn like crazy and maximize muscle stimulation in the calves. You’ll first hit failure in the full exaggerated range of motion, then you’ll hit failure again in the mid-range. And your calves will have no choice but to grow bigger and more muscular!
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 8
www.LeeHayward.com
When To Use This Exercise: The best time to train your calves is at the end of a workout. If you train them at the beginning of your workout you’ll probably have a harder time with your other exercises. The feet and calves help to balance and stabilize your body when doing any standing exercises. So if your feet and calves are pumped and exhausted it could off set your balance for the rest of your workout. I like to begin training calves with the standing calve raise as this is the main bread and butter calve exercise. Standing Calve Raises are to your calves, what Bench Presses are to your chest. When choosing a starting weight go lighter then you think you should. Trust me, doing slow motion calve raises with an exaggerated range of motion will be A LOT HARDER then doing the typical short choppy calve raises that most guys are used to doing. Strive to get between 5-10 reps using the count of 10 at the bottom and count of 10 at the top of each rep. (Note: counting to 10 in your head is probably about 6 real seconds). So each set will keep your calves under tension for over a minute. Start with 1-2 lighter warm up sets using a regular tempo speed to warm up the feet, calves and ankles. Then do 3 slow motion working sets using the Exaggerated Range Of Motion.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 9
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Seated Calve Raise
The seated calve raise machine is a good isolation exercise for the calves. Being in the seated position with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle and will place more of the workload on the outer head of the calve, the soleus muscle. When setting up for seated calve raise make sure that the kneepad is very snug fitting right over the top of the knees. This will place the stress right over the calve muscles. Do NOT set the pad higher up on your quads.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 10
www.LeeHayward.com
As you do the exercise itself make sure to lower your heels all the way down for a deep stretch, hold this for a moment, then lift up all the way on the balls of your feet for a peak contraction. When it comes to building big calves, using a full range of motion is the key to maximizing your development. You can use the same rep tempo as explained for the Standing Calve Raise. Hold the fully stretched position for a count of 10. Then raise up all the way on to the balls of your feet and squeeze your calves hard for a count of 10. This is considered 1 repetition!
When To Use This Exercise: I personally like to do the seated calve raise after the standing calve raise. Start off with 1 or 2 warm up sets to warm up your ankles, then take the same weight for 3-4 sets. Keep your reps around 10 per set. And really exaggerate the stretch at the bottom and the peak contraction at the top of each rep. Rather than trying to lift super heavy, keep the weights moderate, and strive to feel the muscles working when you do your calve exercises. I recommend keeping with the same weight for at least 3 workouts before increasing the weights and going heavier. This will allow you to maintain perfect exercise form and still incorporate progressive overload into your calve workouts. When you do increase the weights, keep the increments small (i.e. adding 5 - 10 pounds at a time). It’s better to make small, frequent, and consistent increments in weight, rather then trying to go up too much, too soon and risk injury and over training.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 11
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Leg Press Calve Raise
The leg press calve raise is a unique calve exercise. It hits the calves totally differently from the standing or seated calve raise. Due to the angle of the seated position with your legs extended, you’ll find it hard to get a really deep stretch in the calves. However, this is an awesome position for working the calves through the mid-range and fully peaked contracted positions. The leg press calve raise is a big exercise that allows for heavy weights to be lifted. But you need to be careful and build up gradually so that you don’t stain the tendons and ligaments in your feet and ankles. Another little tip that works well for this exercise is to keep your knees slightly bent, just short of fully locked out. This will take stress off the knee joints and allow you to better contract the calve muscles as you do the exercise.
Copyright © 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Page 12
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Safety Tip: When doing leg press calve raises make sure to keep the safety pins locked in place at all times on the weight sled so that it cannot come down all the way. If you un-rack the safety pins and your feet happened to slip off the bottom of the sled, there would be nothing to stop the weight sled from coming down and crushing you in the bottom.
When To Use This Exercise: I would recommend that you alternate the leg press calve raise with the seated calve raise with each calve workout. This will work the calves from unique positions. So if you do the seated calve raise during your workout, do NOT do the leg press calve raise. And vice versa, if you do the leg press calve raise, skip the seated calve raise. Just like with all calve raise variations, focus on using a full range of motion. Get a full stretch in the bottom of each rep and a fully peak contraction at the top of each rep. With this move I often just pyramid up in weight with each set, and do multiple sets with strict form. I literally start with just one 45 pound plate on each side of the leg press and rep out 10 slow motion exaggerated reps. And then with each set I’ll add another 45 pound plate and just keep going like this until my calves have had enough.
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Bodyweight Calve Raise
The bodyweight calve raise is just like the standing calve raise, but we are just going to use our bodyweight. Now don’t let this fool you into thinking that this is going to be an “easy exercise” because we are just using bodyweight... The kicker with this exercise is that we’re going to make up for the lighter weight by doing higher reps!
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Now you can (and should) do an easy set of bodyweight calve raises at the beginning of your calve workout to simply warm up the muscles, joints, tendons, and ligaments. But the muscle building benefits of this exercise come from using it as a killer finishing move to really fry the calve muscles at the end of your workout. For this move we are going to use an Exaggerated Range Of Motion, going all the way down for a full stretch, and all the way back up for a full peak contraction. However, we are NOT going to do them in a slow motion fashion like the other weighted calve exercises. Instead we’re going to speed up the tempo so that you only hold each position for 1 second. This will really pump up the calves like crazy and allow you to get higher reps. I want you to strive to do a minimum of 100 total reps at the end of your calve workouts. Now just to clarify things, that doesn’t mean 100 total reps in a single set, you can break those reps up into 5 sets of 20... 4 sets of 25... 3 sets of 33... or whatever set and rep patter it takes in order for you to complete 100 total reps. And if you are doing this right, your calves should be screaming with a lactic acid burn after you complete those 100 reps. Now after several weeks of doing this on a regular basis as part of your calve workouts, your calves are going to get bigger, stronger, and build up a higher work capacity. So when doing 2 leg bodyweight calve raises becomes “too easy” for you, you can switch to doing 1 leg bodyweight calve raises as shown on the next page...
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1 Leg Bodyweight Calve Raise
By doing your calve raises with one leg at a time you’ve just doubled the resistance per calve. Not only that, but this is an awesome exercise to help build balance and proportion between the left and right calves. So if you have 1 calve that’s bigger / stronger than the other, you should include 1 leg calve raises as a regular part of your calve workouts. The same technique applies here as for the 2 leg variation. The only difference is that you’ll be doing a total of 200 reps (100 reps for each leg).
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When To Use This Exercise: Do the bodyweight calve raise at the beginning of your calve workouts as a warm up. You don’t need to do too many, just 20-30 total reps will be plenty to warm up your muscles, joints, tendons, etc. Then move on and do a couple of the weighted calve exercises as shown in the previous sections. After you do your weighted calve exercises, move on to doing 100+ reps of bodyweight calve raises to really finish off your calve workout and pump those suckers up like crazy! The cool thing about bodyweight calve raises is that you can pretty much do them anywhere at anytime, all you need is a step or a block to stand on. So if your calves are a stubborn hard to grow muscle for you to develop, you can literally do this exercise every single day at home in your spare time. By regularly pumping up the calves and flushing blood into the muscles you’ll improve circulation and nutrient delivery to the calve muscles. And this will help to spur on new muscle growth. Since the calves are such a small muscle group they can recover quickly from frequent workouts. And the risk of “over training” from calve workouts is very slim as they don’t place a lot of stress on the central nervous system like training the big power house muscles of the chest, back, thighs, etc.
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Putting It All Together... Ok, so we just covered some of the best exercises that you can included in your training to help build up the calves. Now I’m going to show you how to actually implement these moves into your weekly workout routine. How To Train Your Calves: For stubborn calves, I recommend working them in the gym 3 times per week, or every second day. However, use your own recovery & results to judge how often to train your calves. If you find that your calves get really sore, then cut back to training them just 2 times per week. The best time to perform calve training in your workouts is at the end of a workout. This way they won’t hinder the quality of your other exercises. Here’s the actual calve workout routine... Bodyweight Calve Raise: 20-30 reps as a warm up. Standing Calve Raise: Set 1 - 10-20 reps, smooth tempo (light warm up weight) Set 2 - 5-10 slow motion reps with full range of motion (moderate weight) Set 3 - 5-10 slow motion reps with full range of motion (moderate weight) Set 4 - 5-10 slow motion reps with full range of motion (moderate weight) Seated Calve Raise Or Leg Press Calve Raise (alternate each workout): Set 1 - 10-20 reps, smooth tempo (light warm up weight) Set 2 - 5-10 slow motion reps with full range of motion (moderate weight) Set 3 - 5-10 slow motion reps with full range of motion (moderate weight) Set 4 - 5-10 slow motion reps with full range of motion (moderate weight) Bodyweight Calve Raise: 100 total reps using just bodyweight. That’s it, simple and to the point, but very effective. If you commit to following this calve workout routine on a regular basis I can promise that you’re going see some major improvements over the coming weeks!
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About the Author Lee Hayward is a competitive bodybuilder, muscle building coach, and one of the most sought out fitness professionals online. For over 10 years he has committed his life to helping aspiring bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts build lean muscle, burn off stubborn body fat, and develop a lean, athletic muscular physique that they can be proud of. Lee’s Total Fitness Bodybuilding website has been online since January 1999 and has become one of the Internet’s most popular bodybuilding and fitness websites which averages over 100,000 visitors each month. Whether your goal is to make a complete physique transformation, or just lose a few pounds of stubborn belly fat; Lee Hayward can help get the results you want! For a limited time Lee is giving away a complete Bodybuilding Quick Start Kit that includes 2 FREE e-books and a 10-Part Muscle Building Tips e-Course where he shares some killer training and nutrition tricks that will help you pack on solid muscle mass, strip away excess bodyfat, and transform your soft mushy body into a ripped powerful physique in record time! This Bodybuilding Quick Start Kit has a real world $47 value, but right now you can sign up and download it for FREE at: www.LeeHayward.com
Follow Lee Hayward on Facebook at: http://www.FaceBook.com/total.fitness.bodybuilding
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