What to Do If You Have Poor Calf Genetics

[@wraith9166]

I've asked people who have huge calves what workout they do for it, they always say they never train calves. Here I am hitting calves 3x a week and they are still toothpicks lol.

[@biosphere8488]

Lol I know the feeling brother!

[@YusufEbr]

These mfs lying.

[@kalterverwalter4516]

ASK them how much they walk.

[@levi9486]

I'm not genetically disposed for big calves, so I went through a period where I really wanted to focus on my calf development. I did calves 3x (2x seated and 1x in the leg press) a week with heavy weights, stretching at the bottom, slow and controlled reps, and long holds at peak contraction. After a couple of months my calves blew up and even though I don't work them out the same, they've maintained most of their size.

[@CliqueOverAnything]

What kind of insertion?

[@Qwertyuiop-bt3ut]

What was your insertion and do you have pics?

[@levi9486]

@Qwertyuiop-bt3ut just looked it up, i have a medium to longer calf insertion which means I mis-spoke as I am more genetically inclined to have larger calves than I thought. With that being said, it was really tough for me to get bigger calves and had small calves like my dad(he used to be an ameteur powerlifter) until I did this. I think I just identified what my calves do daily(small range of motion-many reps/light weight aka walking) and did the opposite (l9ng range of motion, heavy weight, time under tension-multiple times a week).

[@Qwertyuiop-bt3ut]

@@levi9486 ok it seems that I have a medium calf insertion so would I be able to get it big? They are not big rn tho they maybe like 13 in. And you know what your calf size was then vs now?

[@justinrees2400]

Calves will respond if you prioritize them. Train heavy and to failure 8-20 reps. They can take a beating so you can work them in several days per week without adding too much fatigue.

[@michaelharris8534]

Training your 'chicken' legs more often and intensely will definitely give you more impressive chicken legs.

[@josedumit1221]

You want to grow your calves? Use weighted stretching. Hop in the Leg Press Machine and do multiple reps with a 8 second pause in the bottom. The same thing goes to the seated version (It's important that you train both, cause they enphasize different part of the calve!) Also vary your feet position every few weeks, to prevent the adaptation of the stimuli. Believe me, this shit works like crazy.

[@slayerfan545]

Nope still small my genetics suck

[@maxyule2655]

The 8 second pause is not needed, anything over 2 seconds is a waste of time

[@fullclip2310]

I'm training my calves to the point I reach muscle sprain, it so fucking painful and still there still no improvements.

[@benjamindelfs2718]

That’s because like any other muscle, you need a day in between and you’re doing too many exercises. Simply do seated calf raises and weighted calf raises on step edges to failure 3 days a week. Give it a try and report back.

[@marcus_ohreallyus]

I was obsessed with doing jump rope double unders a couple of years ago...until I fractured a metatarsal from "too much jump rope double unders". But, my calves (which are high insertion) did grow a little and while small, they look jacked.

[@youtubefanboy8360]

I thought it was all about going heavy which makes sense because when you see bigger people they have bigger calves, when they slim down they have big calves because they have weight to carry, that might not be true but I think going heavy is good because your calves aren't used to it

[@SphazeTV]

These guys are awesome

[@genovasquez8361]

i am not a weight lifter, but i built calves by accident, i roller skate three times a week for a year and i always do crazy legs on the front two wheels only. Also i practice Wing Chun and Yee Gee Kim Yeung Ma is static stance posistion you basically put the weight on toes or balls of the feet. and raise the heels slightly off the the ground, an hold it for 5 minutes a twice a week.

[@AF-kh1ki]

I grew up in Europe (for context). I used to take public transport to school and my commute was quite long, almost 2hrs per trip. I'd be standing in the bus for the majority of that trip for about 4-5 years, 5 days a week. I was only 13 at the time when I started going to school alone but in that period my calves grew ridiculously thick compared to the rest of my body. I also used to cycle regularly about twice a week, 2hrs per session. I think just being on your feet for a sizeable chunk of your day consistently over a long time goes a long way to helping develop your calves. This is purely anecdotal of course, but the moment I went to university and then started working - periods where my time spent sitting at a desk dramatically increased - most of that size started gradually decreasing. So for any people who work in offices I'd say the starting step is to get yourself a standing desk and to try to include (light) cycling or hiking as part of your routine during your rest days.

[@keithhanisek2465]

Sorry to say but calves are mostly genetics. Yes you can improve them but either you have good genetics or you don't. I am lucky in that regard. I don't even target calves but they pop with any kind of leg training.

[@PaulCrooks-s3q]

True

[@halfers83]

Micah Lacerte has the best calves ever! Follow his program!

[@Mr-mopar]

I really want robin and dark wing….maybe a dark wing movie and flash backs of his younger years would be cool.

[@ChuckHolland-i4b]

I started walking on an incline treadmill and hill for 20k steps a day. Only thing that ever worked for me. Now instead have super skinny calves, i just have skinny calvs. 🤪

[@MarioBevans]

Calf’s are genetics train calf’s like I train the rest of my body they just don’t respond well my legs are strong but just not big well the calf’s that is

[@jcrodriguez6324]

So, what to do then? 😂

[@ericcalabrese8716]

I have been doing calfs every day and I haven’t see growth month in

[@ayushmaansharma5116]

Bro train them 3x per week and focus on tibialis anterior and soleus more and use tempo with weights and take rest

[@streetrat123]

Bro I’ve been training calves frequently for years and they’re lean and vascular but not really bigger 😐

[@ayushmaansharma5116]

@@streetrat123 brother try to progressively overload the muscle and focus on more mind muscle connection or either go more heavy with full range of motion and train all 4 muscles as well I have good calves with bad genetics

[@jayking3159]

Throw shit load of weight on there and do a shit load of reps. Do it everyday.

[@Kingsherou]

You know it’s actually bad to work one muscle group every day right? If you don’t rest the muscle fibers won’t grow back as strong as they should and you’re going to see less results. In addition, you just might have « bad genetics ». Most people in my family have small calves and I do too. They looked alright when I was a kid ‘cause I used to play soccer a lot but now i’m rather ashamed to show my legs… Adding to this the fact that people been telling me I have small legs since forever.

[@willyhwang1059]

I have big fat calves and skinny forearms. i rather have the reverse

[@Bluecollarjoe6B9]

I’ve trained my calves for years religiously and nothing.

[@CliqueOverAnything]

13.5 inches gang!

[@rohinagrawal9727]

I now feel grateful for my 14.5

[@Qwertyuiop-bt3ut]

@@CliqueOverAnything age?

[@Qwertyuiop-bt3ut]

@@rohinagrawal9727 age?

[@CliqueOverAnything]

@@Qwertyuiop-bt3ut 28?

[@Staytruegoggins]

I think I don’t have enough muscle insertions

[@joshcarter2512]

For best results train calves all day every day

[@TheBaitShopGuy]

Chris Bumstead has small calves and a stick neck. Everything else on him is Olympia level. The judges still pass Cbum through every year despite having no top or bottom to his physique. So it depends on the guy and the judges.

[@dishank4723]

R u kidding me have u seen cbum calves before he came into bodybuilding

[@ramsism8652]

Actaully calves (gastrocnemius and soleus) are bigger than any muscle on the upper body

[@marsh59]

Interesting

[@cop6576]

Lats? Chest?

[@cop6576]

There's no bloody way thr calves are bigger than lats or chest muscles

[@marsh59]

@@cop6576 according to Menno Henselmans ‘Science to Master Your Physique’ , the calves and Glutes are tied for 2nd as the bodies largest muscles. 1st largest are the quads. Lats are further down the list, being only bigger than the biceps 💪

[@cop6576]

@@marsh59 Probably in an untrained individual.

[@gideon-af]

Calfs were the first muscle I started with when I started lifting. I’ve been training them 6x a week and run in barefoot shoes every day. It’s been 3 months no results so far. But I’m not quitting!

[@YusufEbr]

Did they grow😂FFS it's a year tell me something happened

[@mauri1400]

did they ?

[@persianatural]

Right on

[@davifurtado6534]

The genetics part is bullshit. When I was a kid I practiced taekwondo, and this martial art is predominantly legs with almost zero use of your upper body. Few years later and I had massive calves and legs. Why genetics is bullshit? Because you can't even compare my calves with my brother's or my father's calves who didn't practice that martial art, the difference is HUGE. Unless the "genetic" difference also happens within the same blood, which wouldn't make any sense But still, I only trained martial arts when a kid for about 3 years and then when I was a teenager I trained for another year, yet my calves remained huge. No definitions, but big So recently I started weight training and a few things that made my calves look MUSCULAR and get some definition were this: - deadlifting, when I started deadlifting I saw the difference almost instantly - squatting, for obvious reasons - doing CONTROLED and low reps when training calves. Seriously guys, we have the acchiles tendon that is very elastic, so when you do train calves always pause for 1 to 2 seconds at the top. - add some rope jumping. 2 times per week for 5 minutes is enough gl fellas

[@kungkung1167]

No hate but its mostly genetic

[@slappyhappy6192]

Dude of course it could only be you in your family. Do you have any idea how genetics work? My brother is 6’5 and bean pole Everyone else is 6’0 How is it possible that one kid has something physically different than his father and siblings? Gotta be the dumbest thing I’ve ever read

[@davifurtado6534]

@@slappyhappy6192 people ask if me and my brother are twins. We are not. Funnily enough I've been neglecting calves for the past 6 months and focusing on upper body and every day im looking closer to my family and losing a LOT of mass on my calves. But I guess it's easier to blame genetics instead of training calves for real. Want to really grow your calves? Treat it like you treat your chest. You probably blast like 20 sets per week on your chest and then you do 3 sets of calf raises per week by the end of leg day and call it done. Try starting your workout with calves, doing more sets like another muscle group and adding variations like seated/standing raises and rope jump and then come back here and say it doesn't grow

[@unclebs6215]

Genetics, sports you played as a child and through puberty, definitely play a larger role than you attempt to discredit. I cannot grow calves no matter how heavy, no matter how many reps, frequency, massage, styles.. my calves may get more defined, but never, ever, ever have they grown thicker.. wider=perhaps a smidge and I mean mm not inches, thicker=zero, absolute zero growth.

[@dlouise64]

I wonder if it depends how active a person was as a child. I have huge calves too and was extremely fit when younger, running, mountain racing, bmxing and skateboarding. So that might have something to do with it.