For a lot of people (myself included), training the calves can be extremely frustrating because they can be very unresponsive. Some people – the lucky ones – have great calves naturally and don’t even have to train them. For the rest of us, we have to work extra hard to get results.

Since we use our calves so much – oftentimes for hours a day via walking and running – they have adapted to best suit the endurance activities. Our muscles have different fiber types. We have “fast twitch” fibers which are best suited for strength and speed (power) and we have “slow twitch” fibers that are best suited for endurance activities.

These “slow twich” endurance fibers don’t have the same potential to hypertrophy (get bigger) than their “fast twitch” counterparts. Although everyone is different, the general consensus among documented studies is that the calves typically have a 75/25 split between slow twitch and fast twitch fibers.

Due to the high distribution of endurance fibers, the calves have an increased capillary density and are able to replace energy stores more efficiently. To offset the quick recovery and force the body to increase its energy transport capacity, we should reduce the rest intervals between sets to 30-45seconds.

By reducing the rest between sets, you’ll be able to increase the creatine phosphate content of the muscle, which will in turn help to stimulate muscle growth. To get the most out of your calf training workouts, you need to understand how the muscles you’re trying to target function so you can select the right exercises. Here’s a brief breakdown..

The 2 main muscles within the calves are the soleus sand the gastrocnemius.

The Gastrocnemius

The gastrocnemius is the third most powerful muscle in the human body. It’s bi-articular, which means it crosses two joints – the ankle and the knee. Due to its attachment site behind the knee, the gastrocnemius plays a role in knee flexion (helps flex the leg).

It’s most powerful when in a stretched position and you can actually put this theory to the test. Just stand up and point one foot up towards you – doing so stretches out the calf. Now, flex your leg and bring your foot up towards your bum. Done? Alright, now do it again, only this time point your foot downwards (toe pointed away from you). Out of the two, what felt the easiest?

I’m 100% sure that flexing your leg was easier when your toes were pointed upwards. Now, there’s a purpose to this. By altering your ankle position, you can get a better workout when you train your hamstrings. When performing leg curl exercises, a good strategy is to perform as many repetitions as you can with your toes pointed away, then, once you reach failure – point your toes towards you and continue. Of course, for more information on how to train your hamstrings, you can just check out the hamstring curl exercise description.

But for now, back to the topic at hand – calf training. You can also apply the principle to your calf raise exercises. Since the gastrocnemius is at its strongest when it’s in a stretched position, bending forward to stretch it out while performing standing calf raises is commonly practiced.

The variation is called the donkey calf raise and to perform it properly, you want to flex at the hips and position your body so it’s almost parallel to the floor. You’ll find that you’re able to lift a lot of weight in this position.

Even if you don’t have any equipment, you can get a good calf workout. Perform standing calf raises (one leg at a time) on a staircase. When you feel as though you can’t do any more repetitions, you should then lean forward – to stretch out the gastrocnemius – and that should enable you to get a few more repetitions in.

While the gastrocnemius is at its strongest when the leg is extended, the involved of the gastrocnemius as reduced as the leg bends. When the leg is in a bent (flexed) position, the solius takes over so to speak.

The Soleus

Anytime you shift weight up onto your toes – regardless of whether your leg is straight or bent – the solius is involved. However, as mentioned above, when your leg is bent the recruitment of the gastrocnemius is minimized. When the recruitment of the gastrocnemius is minimized, the recruitment of the solius is maximized. Make sense? Well, a perfect example is the seated calf raise exercise.

When your performing the seated calf raise exercise, it’s a good idea to perform drop sets – which involve performing as many reps as you can using a given weight then once fatigue is reached, you strip off some weight and immediately continue.

Drop sets increase the “time under tension” of the exercise and it’s been shown that the solius responds best to loading periods of between 40-60 seconds. On top of that, you also want to implement shorter than normal rest intervals between sets – thirty-to-sixty seconds will do.

So, to sum it up..

• When your leg is straight, both the soleus and the gastrocnemius are working together to flex the ankle.
• Your gastrocnemius is at its strongest when in a stretched position.
• When your leg is bent, the gastrocnemius becomes less involved and the soleus takes over.
• When performing seated calf raises, perform drop sets, reduce the rest and increase the time under tension.

For video clips and step by step instructions on how to perform these exercises, just make your selection from the navigation panel to your right.