How do you grow your calf muscles?

48 comments

  1. While calf-toe raises can help, it’s been my experience that nothing enhances calves like long-distance running. I don’t even do calf exercises on my weight-lifting leg day because my cardio days do all the work.

  5. Live on a mountain, i just moved to a hill station and boy they are always rock fucking hard and bigger than watermelons

  9. Compound resistance training and eating (mostly protein and vegetables) at a caloric surplus.

  11. Calf raises with lots of weights and clalf raises going up the stairs with a few hundred reps… works pretty good.

  12. Seated and standing calf raises are a must on leg day not just one or the other. Both combined will bring optimal growth

  15. Calf raise. Do them until it hurts to stand. I did that everytime i trained my legs for a year, Now i don’t ever bother training them because i feel like the training they are getting from other exercises are enough to maintain them.

  17. The most gains I have received for calves was from toe raises. Its where you lift a plate you have leaning on your toes. Proper body building diet, rest, recovery should be followed, but you have to focus on those muscles.

  19. Be fat for the first 20 years of your life and then go ham at the gym for the next 4 years.

    Or genetics.

    Or a ton of hard work and protein.

  20. Wear hills… That’s the only workout I do, as I woman (shh, I know it too I’m lazy) and my calf is the only muscle noticeable

  21. Hey OP, it sounds like you have naturally high calf insertions so your calves appear high up on your lower leg and small. This is genetic and there’s nothing you can do about that; however, you can still grow the muscle that is there! You just probably won’t have Frank McGrath’s or Flex Lewis’ calves. If you go to a gym, I would suggest using both the seated and standing calf raise machines. Most people do those incorrectly. You can Google some advice videos for a good visual, but you should do the reps slowwwwly, squeeze at the top of the rep, pause at the bottom of the rep, and then repeat for 15-20 reps. Also be sure to use a weight that is challenging but one that still allows you to use food form for all reps and sets. A lot of guys will just use the whole weight stack and bounce the weight up and down and they wonder why their calves do not grow. The calves take hundreds to thousands of repetitions every day while we walk/run so you’ve got to challenge them in the gym if you want them to actually grow. If you don’t go to the gym, that’s okay… bodyweight calf exercises can be great. Just do them slow and controlled and you can even stand up, brace yourself against a wall, and do one or both calves at a time. We used to do these all the time during soccer conditioning and I hated it but I have good calves now lol. There are other options as well (e.g. box jumps are good for calves) but this would be a good start. Also, it takes calories to build muscle, so none of this is relevant if you’re not eating in a caloric surplus, so eat well! Don’t forget it takes time, too. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have massive claves in a month…just keep going and reply here if you need any help. I love bodybuilding and could chat forever about it lol. Sorry for any mistakes; I’m on mobile 🤙🏽

  24. If you go to the gym regularly, this is the one muscle group you should work out on every visit. Yes, there is the genetic factor that most of us don’t have, but that doesn’t mean you can’t develop them to their full potential. It should be the first thing you work on when you walk through the door.

  29. Run 15+ miles a week and eat plenty. I’m 5’8″ and always had chicken legs. Started running seriously at the beginning of the year and my calves have definitely gotten bigger/more defined. Biking would probably work too.

  31. As a tall person, hill sprints are the way to go imo. Find the steepest hill and use that.

  39. It is one of the muscle groups that are really hard to develop. Jumping rope tones them up nicely and might add to the mass. But what you got is about it.

  41. There are some good answers here but you will get a lot better tips posting this on r/bodybuilding

  42. Switch to zero-drop shoes where your heel and ball of your feet are the same height; most shoes are 5mm or higher in the heel than the ball. Going to zero drop will stretch and awaken a new portion of your calf; it may take a few months to work through the transitional pain, but you’ll probably end up with more muscle.

  43. Do calf raises with the knees bent AND straight. Your calf has two muscles, the soleus and gastrocnemius. The former contracts when the knee is bent, the latter when the knee is straight. The former is also a secondary hamstring muscle, so doing those knee curls, or hamstring exercises will be good as well.

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    Otherwise, toe/forefoot running, and biking with clip-in pedals (you’re on your toes more) are also great options.

  44. “Calves and forearms are like spoiled children. You have to beat them – hard and often – if you want to see any growth.”

    – Dom Mazetti

  46. I feed them only natural grass and let them run around the pasture at their own pleasure.

  47. For me it was being fat for 20+ years, now tho I’ll stand on my tippy toes an jus bounce on them till I feel the burn, gotta keep them calves looking fucking mint

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