TIP 10

tip of the month archive

TIP # 10

I'd like to share a few of the finer points of calf training.

So many times I've had trainees tell me that their calves just don't grow. Yeah! Right! If the vast majority of trainees only put as much thought and effort into their chest or arm training as they do their calf training, they'd look like distance runners!

So first off, you need to apply intensity to your calf sets, and when you do that . . . it's gonna hurt! The calves are the furthest muscle group from the heart. It therefore takes a bit longer to circulate the blood to the working muscles to clear out the bi-products of muscular exertion, like lactic acid and ammonia. This build-up of garbage in the muscle tissue causes an intense burn. I guess that's the long way of saying that productive calf work is just down-right painful! (Live with it!)

There's a lot of bad information on training in every gym in the world . . . except for The Dungeon, that is. One of the dumbest training myths, is the toes in, toes out, business for working inner or outer calves.

You really can't work "inner" or "outer" calves to the exclusion of other areas any more than you can work the upper part of a muscle as opposed to the lower part of it. That's like stretching one end of a rubber band . . . no can do.

The correct way to work your calves is to keep your feet pointed straight ahead, and roll up on the big toes and the balls of the feet, as high a humanly possible each rep.

(Most folks do 1/2 reps which don't stimulate growth.) You need to get a full stretch at the bottom as well. This goes for straight as well as bent knee calf work.

Speaking of the knees in calf work, it is the degree of bend, or lack thereof, that determines which of the 2 muscles of the calves get the most work. But, hey . . . this is supposed to be a 'tips' column not a book about calf training, that's all ya get for now. Try my Personal Consultation, I cover this and oh so much more!

Until next time . . . train hard, but train smart!

- Poppa