Why Your Calves Are Small
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Got stubborn calves that won't grow? Naturally skinny calves can be a tough one since they're such a genetically influenced muscle. However, in reality most people just don't perform their calf workouts and calf exercises with enough overall volume and effort. The calves are not a "small muscle". If you want to build bigger calves, keep in mind that they're actually a very large muscle. Roughly equal in size to the hamstrings, 3x bigger than the pecs and 5x bigger than the biceps. You also won't build calf muscle effectively from compound quad and hamstring leg exercises - you must train them directly. At the end of the day if you want big calves it just comes down to hitting them with more intensity, volume and frequency and focusing on progressive overload.
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I thought this was your main channel
Sean I think there are better ways. Keep on doing isolation excersizes bruh 🙌
Ok but the main reason are the genes or surprise it s about total sets
your voice over edits are the goat
For me I just forgot to put calves on my plan and sticked to the plan 🤣
If y'all wanted big calves, then you should have been a fat kid when you were growing up and gone to a school with a lot of stairs. Yeah, it sucks, but you have to be willing to sacrifice to get the things you want.
LMAO , I was going up 8 floors every single day during my high school days , 6 days a week , for 6 years straight
did you just describe me
@@vreytee I was describing me, but there are dozens of us. DOZENS!
WTF! you're absolutely right, i was a very fat kid who took everyday stairs to go my parents flat in the 6 floor during all my childhood years cuz i was claustrophobic which i can't use Elevator, now after almost 30 years i lost the fat but i keep my extreme big Calves. LMFAO xD
Bruh wtf i was like that and my calves are like a fucking baguette, But going up those stairs gave me juicy quads
I do calves 3x per week, 3 sets per session. I have odd genetics there, same as my forearms. They get pretty big, pretty quick, but also deflate in a just a few weeks of weak/non training.
Same
That's true for me for EVERY MUSCLE fuck my life. Except traps they stay on point whether I train them or not
How does everyone have that nice kinds roundish calve while mine are more of a rectangle line
Mine didn't grow for at least a year of training. Then they grew and I even can see separation on my calves. I didn't know that.
And the reason they grew, because I went out protesting everyday against military coup in our country. And walk all day, run most of the time because of live rounds and tear gas flying towards us.
So yeah, yay they grew.
@@Ejaz100 it's called muscle insertions, they are determined by your genetics, if you do not like yours you should tell your father how disappointed you are in him
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
Calves are definitely a much more “genetically influenced” muscle than others, but at the end of the day, most people just aren’t training them very hard in the first place in terms of overall effort and volume.
Two quick things to consider...
1) The calves are not a “small muscle group”. They’re roughly equal in size to the hamstrings, around 3x bigger than the pecs and over 5x bigger than the biceps.
2) Unlike the biceps, triceps, front/rear delts, upper traps etc., your calves don’t receive a significant amount of indirect stimulation during other compound lifts.
It makes sense why hitting calves once a week with a few quick fluff and pump sets at the end of a session isn’t gonna cut it.
Not pointing any fingers because I include myself in that.
I do train my calves pretty hard on the sets I perform, but the total volume/frequency is lacking because... well, to be perfectly honest I just don’t care enough about it.
But if you weren’t blessed in the calf genetics department and DO care about adding more size to them then keep those things in mind.
You probably just need to train them harder in general (going to legit failure on calves is actually very uncomfortable) with more total volume and more focus on progressive overload.
respect for being honest about it xd
I’m Korean and I’ve noticed Koreans and Japanese naturally have large calves. Some Korean women are even getting Botox to shrink the calves to get slim Barbie-doll legs. Glad I’m a guy.
@@mkryu I think the mongoloid race has genetically larger calves.
@@onepunchman1953 mongoloid bruh what is this the 18th century
Yessir
I never skip calves. I'm a drummer and after I started training calves(both seated and standing) my bass drum foot got way faster, as well as way cleaner. I just had a lot more control over my foot in general. It also inspired me to eventually start training forearms as well so I could get maybe a similar benefit for my wrists. Working out has been great really has changed everything for me.
nice!
Keep it up!
Try rowing
I love this for you... bravo
Reverse wrist curls and hammer curls are definetely good exercises for drumming. I did reverse wrist curls with 5 kilos with very high reps (approximately 50-55 reps) and my hands became much more comfortable and stronger. Brachioradialis is important in drumming. But for higher metronomes like 300 BPM, you could also train fingers because wrist muscles probably won't be able to reach this much speeds since they are a bit larger muscle groups.
I never trained calves until 1.5 years into lifting, and honestly… i kinda liked it. I swear each muscle has a different type of burning sensation.
That is facts
I was wondering that actually, if it was just my imagination or if working different muscles does actually feel different, I agree with you, the burn feels different when you compare something like deltoids to quadriceps say, both painful, but different, fascinating, thought I was the only one who felt that way.
Boys, the secret is to never ever wear shorts no matter what. By wearing sweat pants or jeans I’m able to hit upper body every single day, while neglecting my calves like god intended
I suppose it's a buildup of lactic acid because of the lower position on the body, but for me, calves burn horrifically, moreso than any other muscle. When I first started it burned so bad, I didn't want to do them. Now I kinda like it. Calves need love too. Almost every lifter has legit chicken calves. Ruins any physique. Thats why gymshark leggings are so popular lmao
People who don't train calves bc "it burns too much" are puss e's
Honestly for me the quads burn much more than calves.
Straight beta male, that burn is orgasmic to chads.
It's funny cause I have major toothpick calves so I started training them daily a few weeks back, with a combination of 3 weighted excercises around the lines of regular calf raises, single leg donkey calf raises, single leg calf raises, and deep squatting calf raises, beating the absolute shit out of my calves every day, but they're hardly even sore for an hour after my workout. It's crazy how they can adapt so quickly to extreme stress.
My calves never get sore, no matter how hard I train them. During my workouts they burn like hell tho.
"Why your calves are small?"
Because Im not feeding them fresh green grass straight from mother earth?
Good one lol
Mooo
I LOVE LEG DAY, doing calve raises on a leg press is literally so fun, I feel so strong
And the other days that you work calves that aren't leg days?
When i was fighting i trained legs more than any other part of my body and it resulted in me having legs that were kicking with a force of someone 3 weight classes above me, kicking was such a huge part of my game plan that if i only had time to do one work out it would always be on legs. Not sure why that's relevant now that i've typed it out though lol
lol that's not how exercising for any form of kickboxing works. big legs /=/ strong kicks, and definitely does not mean you were kicking 3 weight classes above you unless you were a flyweight comparing your kicks to the weakest of lightweight kickers - and even then, the mass wasn't what was generating the force, it was the speed of you being light and the torque of your hips resulting in an explosive movement.
and please don't be like "bro, im a welterweight kicking like a heavyweight actually, it was really just my huge hammies bro" because then you're just blatantly tattling on yourself for this larp
@@mirewalker did you really just say that working muscles in certain parts of your body won't result in stronger strikes from that area? Really? If you know how to use the proper technique when throwing a certain strike and you then add on increased muscle mass from strength training, that absolutely will result in stronger strikes, that is literally the entire point of strength training my guy.
@@daltonevans3412 You don't use the muscles in your legs to meaningfully generate power. Lol.
Kicking force comes from the turn over of the hips, primarily. Squatting, leg pressing, or leg extensions aren't going to increase the power in one's kicks to "3 weight classes higher". And you would be kicking less hard in relation to your weight class if you developed mega bulky legs; force is mass x acceleration and you're never going to make your legs have enough raw mass to make up for the acceleration loss. That isn't how our biology works. We're not Baki characters.
And static compound lifts aren't even as good for recruiting explosive muscle fibers as other types of lifts, like Olympic style lifts.
Why is every UFC fighter not repping a 450 squat if that's how developing kick power works?
you're a larper, not a fighter. What martial art did you train? How long? What gym? How many times did you compete? Where's your Tapology or your Sherdog?
@@mirewalker you left him silent, its been 2 weeks
@@trollinape2697 lol, fr. i just get tilted at people who larp about being combat sport athletes but have never fought a day in their life
As someone who has naturally always had large calves, if trained till failure they hurt more than any other muscle in my opinion. Literally "no pain no gain" was about calves
I worked in the Netherlands for a few months last year, the thing that stuck with me was how everyone had insanely developed calves, makes sense when they ride a bicycle everyday haha
@Thierry Parte het was heel leuk
vooral de meisjes 😅
I'm part Dutch , en ja ik heb nog nooit mn kuiten getraint maar ze zijn groot en zeker in proportie. Ik heb nooit nagedacht dat het mss door de fiets zou komen hahaha. Groeten uit Argentinie
@@justsomejusstsome8994 De groeten terug! Saludos!
There is no proof that riding a bike provides any hypertrophic stimulus to the calves.
@@r34ct4 I'm a cyclist. Part of it depends on height positioning of the seat. Cyclists can easily get jacked calves
Do calves really grow tho...? *stares at omarisuf*
@@samnotsung directly yes
They can grow. I had 16 inches calves when I started working out. Today, they measure 18 inches. I've been training for almost 2 years now.
@@samnotsung It’s more the fact that calves can grow. I don’t care that you don’t care about my calves.
@@samnotsung The only people who say nobody cares about your calves are people with small calves
@@imhopelesslyaddictedtofent4266 it's pretty true though
Since I started training calves one side and others separately, this way i can engage muscles more efficiently and it works better than before.
Being fat half of my life , legs are the least important thing for me to train lol , I get a free pass
Yeah thats the truest shit ever, that some people cant relate in anyway to.
I used to be fat my whole childhood, until I started to fitness at the age of 15. I mostly did heavy resistance bike and some jogging, while I was overweight.
After I lost weight, I noticed something, my legs werent smaller at all, they were the same size but rock solid, but since my upperbody was skinny (I only did cardio) I literally became a pyramide, and as a dude, you dont want that. It became so bad that I struggled the next 2 years with my body that I already got insecure of my legs (mostly calves because they were just insanely big) So I started to go to the gym again but this time to build upper body muscle to rebalance my body shape. thats already 1 year ago now. I have almost completely balanced out my upperbody with my legs now, and I never did any leg day. Sometimes I truly feel blessed, I can do push - pull - rest repeat all time.
Skipping every leg day since my legs are already too big
I can only hit calves at the end of a session, because after that my legs will shiver like crazy, which means i can't do any other leg workout
As a tall person I gave up on big calves years ago…
Same brother
At some point, you realise its not worth it
Don't give up. Mine eventually got big after like 5 years of training 😂
Just keep moving forward
Yeah ur calves will always stay small
Sean the GOAT
I personally do calves at least 4x a week. N I seen some good growth in 1 yr of training them constantly
This is so relatable!!
For me it’s the reverse. I’ll do arms at the end and usually I feel like skipping it or at least not pushing the limit for muscle growth. Nice vid lol
U dont have to call me out like that
Don‘t worry supreme leader we will praise your calves
Shifted from adding calves as part of leg workout to an entirely different day with at least 3-4 calf variations, seeing really good results after just few weeks. . .
PS: D* holes stay away. . .
Former small calves guy here. How to get bigger leaner calves: Lots of jumping, stairs, stair sprints, high impact movement drills, and direct machine stimulation all meshed together with a healthy muscle and body recovery regime.
I used to grind rope skipping so much that my calves are bigger than all of my gym bro without training for half a year lol (my pb is 630 both legs and 150 for 1 leg)
@Nick Gurr Hey vietnam, hello sir
630 reps of skipping or 630lbs on calf raise? Im confused
@@IWantToStayAtYourHouse 630 reps of skipping. My calf raises 1 rep max is around 400-500lbs
@@kienthanhle6230 bro who does 1 rep maxes on calf raises of all things
@@e.a.7749 Well, I don't do 1RM for my workout. I'm just trying to say that 400lbs is my 1RM
So I'm overweight and been most of my life and obese at a good chunk but I been a laborer and have crazy endurance and stamina thanks to my calves.. even though I lost a lot of weight, my calves still show and my fitness instructor is impressed lol he thinks it's cuz of the exercises but it's not it's because of me being on my feet working so hard in landscaping up and down, lifting etc working working all my life.. they do give me that boost I need and why I always kill leg day with ease.. I wish I was more bigger in my chest and arms but that's what I am working towards now. 💪
calves? what are those?
I used to skip them too but realized old people have aching calf problem the most. .i never skip them since then
I’m a girl and my calves are probably my best looking muscle and got better ones than most of the men In my gym 😎😎😎
The gym has a seated calf raise machine and i raise up/down for 5 seconds and hold for 10 seconds. Noticed results straight away
Girls usually have bigger calves than men. Fax yo
cuz you train them more, men dont train them as much, just like how women dont train upper body as much
@@RishabhSharma10225 never heard that before, interesting 😄
@@yahyawarsi2632 doubt that tbh
@@CaliforniaBound-lu3zl you doubt that girls train legs more then men and men train upper body more then women?
That's a good point!
Running on an elevated angle on a treadmill burns my calves and hamstrings. It also pumps your heart fast and loses more calories than running on a flat angle. So many benefits.
Never felt DOMS in my calves until I stopped using the calf raise machine and starting doing standing calf raises on a small bench with the smith machine. Finally feel like I worked them
When you want big calves really badly so you program them at the very very beginning and train them 3 times a week 😎
They are the second part of my work out schedule
I never skipped em
I used to be a fat kid but I do love walking. Now, I'm cutting and I am proud of my big calves. My weight being fat and love of walking did help build that over the years.
When you're training, super set everything with calves.
Squats, deadlifts, bench, ohp, pullups, rows, literally everything.
Progressively overload all your calf movements, and then wait for a year or two while doing this consistently.
You will have big calves
I like this idea, thank you!
Weighted calves are actually my fav leg excercise
Yes.. this!. Abs and cardio too!
Calves are my favorite muscle to work on, no pain and big gains
LOL I RELATE I ALWAYS DO LIKE 1 SET AT THE END OF THE WORKOUT AND CALL IT A DAY
I never skip anything. If someone calls me to come home, or that I'm needed, I tell them I need to finish first. Unless it's extremely urgent, nothing stops my workout until it's over
Cycling and sprinting is the key to big legs including calves
I love these videos
i do the calves in leg day only and they are kinda decent. then youve got bicycling, running, jump rope, you can even calf-jump on one leg at home. calves are one of the easiest muscles to work out, but their size is in genetics
Getting into more bodybuilding-style training- was doing training focused around the SBD before- and I'm seeing what heavy calves once-a-week does. Calves were such a chore when I did them previously- eventually stopped since they don't assist too heavily in main lifts.
Now I'm doing a 3x triset: 6-8 SSB standing raises, 12-15 dumbbell seated raises, and AMRAP bodyweight standing raises.
Just skipped calves this morning, but gonna train my calves in the afternoon to make up for it
Hiking. Go hiking. And not like just walking through the woods. Go find a mountian and hike that shit. Gets calves and quads in one go. Plus, nature is the fuckin bomb.
I like to start off with them, use them as a warm-up exercise
Either in beginning or middle, and i never skip em
I put them at the end too...but training calves is my favourite part of the workout and so the mindset helps me get through the whole workout with the excitement to do calves at the end😂
Wtf UA-cam??? I skipped it yesterday and this short randomly pops up????
Bro this is so relatable to be honest sometimes I forget that I even had calve workouts and they are always at the end of the workout
I do leg and back day on same day which was today, I did hamstrings 30kg 6x12 thighs 6x12 30kg, calfs 90kg 6x24 , latpulldown 6x12 50kg, bent over rows 6x20 46kg, squats controlled 6x20 40kg, then do it 6 times, and then also went for a 1 hour 30 bike ride on the bmx around the city 😇, New Zealand water fronts
Boxing workouts gave me the best results for my calves, that and hanging calf raises with weight.
That is why you should put your least favorite workout in the beginning or middle so it’s harder to forget or skip it
“laughs in scottish”
Training calves is fun idk why everyone dislikes it, the wobbly walk afterwards is a good feeling, you know you’ve done enough lol
Calves is my first part of leg day exercise
I went to physio (well actually a doctor to get a physio referral) and he told me that my gait (walking form) was destroying my ankles because I wasn't activating my glutes and was instead loading up on my quads and calves.
It's nice not being in excruciating pain every day anymore, but DAMN I miss those calves 😔
This guy is fucking hilarious AND educational lmao
So fucking relatable
I use calves exercises between other exercises to rest my quads, hams and glutes.
For example, I'll do lunges, then calves, then hip thrust
Oh, I love workin calves. One of my favs. Never skip
Calves are my favorite idk how people hate em
It's not so much people hate them. It's just alot of people are not as bothetd about having big calves like they would be having a big chest or arms .
@@donnn-ow4rj Which is stupid you look silly with imbalanced body parts. Also chicken legs carrying a jacked upper body looks shit.
If you want big calves you should imo train them every day right at the start of your workout. I'd even do them on off days as a recovery pump and stretching day where I'd also focus on my tibias and doing toe raises super setted with normal calves raises.
I just pick 1-3 movements each day. Start with 3 total work sets a day and build up.
I trained calves and my balance and speed increased tremendously
I love leg day I just can’t get the same feeling of progression that I do with my arms or the euphoric burn
Neverrr!!! And they are MASSIVE!
Thats why its my first excercise
One reason is that people just do seated calf raises and never standing calf raises, that's like only exercising biceps and never triceps and then wondering why your arms aren't getting bigger.
I always make a point to focus on my calves on leg day. Not trying to have barrel thighs and pencil calves.
Being a drummer has its perks... 10+ years hitting the bass pedals really gets your calves chiseled
I train them 3x per week. 6 hard sets per session. Preferably in giant sets with pull ups or bench. They grow!
I find calves a relief exercise after a hard leg day. I’m happy to end with them.
Calves are at the end for something to look forward to
I work legs every 3 days and at the end of the workout I make it a point to work both heads of the calves without fail. Seen quite an improvement over the past 4 months.
Squats, leg press, calves, hamstrings, glutes and finish with a leg extension burner. Thats the order I train.
i love doing calves
never skipped my calves, only when feeling very sick.
YOOO CHILLLL
dont call me out like that bruh 💀
Since my right knee feels sore for a long period of time I started walking around the house in my toes some times. Ofc it looks stupid but the results are good. Anywhere I am + be standing for long periods of time I'd start training them calves.
Trust the process
This is why i do calves on my cardio days.
After i do my run i then do superset abs with calf workout.
To be honest if i did not ad cardio work i would never do direct abs or calf work
I LOVE calf lifts
I do not skip calves if you guys saw mine compared to this guy because of karate it’d genuinely impressive, one of the only parts I “love” about my self
I just started doing 500 or more calf raises everyday (with additional calf exercises on leg days) to prepare for summer school. I just don't want chicken legs 😫
unrelated, but this has just made me realise my ankle and wrists' sizes aren't really gonna go up by much through exercising lol
I do my upper legs and calves on separate days now for this exact reason
I’ve been fat my whole life and been training for 7 months now on a cut watching eating my portions etc and my calves are starting to look more massive the more weight I lose
As for me, after hard exercises like squats, deadlifts, split squats or kinda that I don't wanna train calves because of tiredness . Personally, training calves before heavy compound movement is better
Genetics help a lot. If you want stronger calves just run and workout legs consistently. Don’t sweat it but also sweat it.
Calves are so easy and fun to train
My calves are just a genetic strong point. Like I don't train them often, but they've always been just thick blocks of muscle. I really only train them once a week for ballet class.
Used to do the same shit , but I'm pleased with good calves to the point that i barely work them and they are shredded and in shape than most of my gymbrahs who are consistent with it , now i never skip calves or abs or forearms , don't be lacking like i used to be brahs
I do my calves in between my squat sets while I breath my bp back down a lil then get another set of squats, this way I never neglect my calves.
I actually really like working out my legs, it feels really different to the rest of my body and I almost like the burn you get from working them.
The "almost" is key here
I love calves exercises! Im not a big guy , prettyskinny to be honest but calves genetic didnt let me down...
I used to do the same thing but now I train them first to ensure I won’t skip em
Not a real routine, but I usually like to take some weight and walk a few laps around my backyard in a weird lounging motion that doesn't go all the way.