The Best Exercises For Calves

The calves or triceps surae for their more scientific name, are the bane of many beginners or more experienced bodybuilders. Being a less visible muscle group than the pectorals or the biceps, they are too often overlooked. It is often after a few years of training when the whole of the musculature has developed well that we realize that having neglected the calves was not the best thing.

In order to remedy this and to fight against shell leg syndrome, we reveal our best bodybuilding exercises for the calves.

 

Calf Muscles: Soleus Work

The suns are less visible than the twins because they are located deep behind the latter. However, it is important to strengthen them because they will allow you to give width and thickness to your calves. The muscular insertion of the twins located above the knees means that when the legs are bent, they will be less contracted during a calf extension. In this way, muscle the calves in a seated position amounts to soliciting more of the soleus.

Being very enduring muscles and mainly composed of slow muscle fibers (type I), it will be preferable to strengthen the soleus with long series, beyond 15/20 repetitions.

 

Seated Calf Raises:

Seated calf raises are a great isolation exercise for the calves. The particularity of this exercise is to concentrate the muscular effort on the soleus. This is a muscle located behind the twins (gastrocmenicians) which makes the calves wider and more imposing.

This exercise is mainly done with a soleus machine or a soleus press. Place the front part of your feet on the supports so that your heels are in the void. You will thus have all the mobility necessary to carry out a complete and effective movement. The objective is thus to achieve a wide movement to get the best muscle contraction of the soleus possible.

If your room does not have a soleus press, you can just as easily perform calf raises seated on a bench with the front of the feet resting on a step or a wedge, and put a barbell or a weight on the front of the leg. your thighs.

 

Camel Calf Extensions (DONKEY)

The camel also called “Donkey” is a particularly effective calf muscle exercise. It solicits all of the twin and soleus calves for complete muscular work.

Despite everything, this exercise is little practiced in weight rooms, because it is rare to find a specific machine, even if these are becoming more and more democratized.

If you don't have a machine, you can also perform this bodyweight movement, or ask a partner to place a load on your lower back. But pay attention to how and how the load is positioned, you should not hurt your back in any way.

The execution is quite simple. You need to place the balls of your feet on a block, lean forward and bend your knees. Once the starting position is in place, perform a complete and controlled calf extension for the work to be effective.

As a safety measure and to avoid a tearing of the twins, it is important not to straighten the legs and to keep a slight bend in the knees.

 

Calf Muscles: Twin Work

The twins are the most visible calf muscles, they cover the soleus and are composed of two muscle bundles: the internal twins and the external twins. This is why for better muscular recruitment of the twins, it will be necessary to favor standing calf muscle exercises.

 

Standing Calf Raises At The Bar:

Standing calf extensions allow better muscle recruitment of the twins unlike seated extensions. Indeed, when the legs are stretched, the twins are put under tension more than when the knees are bent, so the calf muscle work is more important.

Different weight machines can be used to perform this weight lifting movement. Some gyms are equipped with calf presses, a specific machine for calf work that allows you to perform this exercise comfortably and efficiently.

If your weight room does not have one, you can just as well perform this exercise on a Smith machine (guided bar) using a step or other accessory to rest the tip of your feet and have a good range of execution.

If unfortunately none of these machines are available in your room. It is also possible to perform standing calf raises with dumbbells. you work Do one leg after the other unilaterally, with a dumbbell in the opposite hand to the working leg. This method is ideal if you want to work one calf more than the other, if you have muscle asymmetry for example.

Leg Press Calf Raises:

The thigh press is a machine widely used to strengthen the legs. It allows complete leg work to gain muscle but also strength.

It can also be used to build our famous triceps surae, by performing foot extensions on the platform.

Performing this exercise for the calves is quite simple. But here are some historical details to make it all clear.

 

• Adopt the same position on the machine as for working the legs. That is to say, have a very firm seat with a straight back.
• Then place the tip of your feet on the lower part of the platform so that your heels are in the void to perform the movement with a good amplitude.
• The legs must be “almost” stretched and I insist on the “almost”. The knee joint must not be locked so as not to endanger it.
• Then, as for the rest of the exercises that we have seen previously, perform calf extensions in a controlled way, without going too fast.

The placement of the feet on the platform can help accentuate the muscle recruitment of the inner or outer twins.

 

The work with the parallel feet will allow a work of all the twins.

Place the toes outwards if you wish to work the inner twins.

And finally, if you want to favor the work of the outer twins, place the toes inwards.