Rule number 1. Full range of contraction/stretch

First of all, to ensure the fullness of the amplitude, make sure that there is always some kind of elevation under the toe. Do not perform calf exercises while standing on a flat surface – you will simply lose useful amplitude.

The greater the amplitude, the more work the muscles will do, the more prerequisites for muscle growth. The full amplitude is:

Lowering to the lowest point until the muscles of the lower leg are fully stretched. It is IMPORTANT not to go all the way down and not to pause at the bottom. Hanging on the tendons, you lose muscle tension, which means that work for them becomes easier and there are no prerequisites for growth. Find the golden mean.
Limit contraction at the top. Try to rise on your toes as high as possible and a little higher. A man can make his calves work precisely by achieving a powerful contraction at the top point.
The second rule should help you in mastering this principle.

Rule number 2. Slow and smooth exercise

When doing calf exercises, focus on a slow pace of execution with time for the lifting and lowering phases. This will give you better control over the movement. You don’t need to jump on the bars or simulators by “hammering” your lower leg muscles with a partial amplitude – this way you won’t be able to pump up your calves. The second and more important aspect is smoothness. Smooth movement is a clear lowering and lifting, without jerks, without jumps, without the help of auxiliary muscles, without twitching of the body, etc. I hope you understand. There should be no parasitic movements in your performance (jerks from the bottom point, lowering by inertia from the top).

Rule number 3. Peak contraction at the top

Having achieved the maximum lift on your toes (and a little more), delay this moment for a while. Do not attach much importance to the time of such a pause at the top point, it just should be – half a second / second is enough. Fix the peak contraction in each repetition of each exercise. In this way, you will force your calves to work to their fullest, stimulating them with a load at the moment when they are fully contracted.

Rule number 4. Correct rep range

Given the practical experience of many athletes, the most successful rep range for the calf muscles is a number from 10 to 15. Why not more? Crossing over 15 repetitions, you start working on slow muscle fibers. These fibers are responsible for endurance. They are poorly hypertrophied, not giving volumes and relief to your calves.

In addition, the number of slow fibers in the calves in most people far exceeds the number of fast muscle fibers. Because the calf muscles are not designed to perform heavy lifts on toes, but are used in walking and constantly, then they need endurance – this is just achieved by a large number of MMFs (slow muscle fibers). This principle applies especially to natural athletes, for whom a high-repetition training regime is practically does not work (to achieve MMB hypertrophy is not an easy task). Pick a reasonable heavy weight that you can do 10 to 15 reps with flawlessly following the above rules.

Rule number 5. Large volume load on the calves

When wondering how to pump up calves, a man has to look for working methods that will make his calves budge. One of these is a large amount of training load.

Your calf workout should include at least 6-8 failure sets. The number of exercises can be one (recommended only for beginners at first – 1.2 months), two or more. In EVERY approach, try to end it closer to failure. What is failure in the correct sense? This is when you can’t complete the next rep in perfect form on your own. Those. a failure approach is 10-15 repetitions, of which the last 2-3 are very hard, but you perform them cleanly and beautifully (without jerking, cheating).

Calves love voluminous training – it takes a long time for them to reach).

Rule number 6. Try to set aside separate time for training calves

There can be three options here:

before squats at the beginning of a leg workout,
any other day in an upper body workout,
separate time, completely devoted to the muscles of the lower leg.
Keeping all five of the above rules is very difficult when calves are done at the end of a leg workout (difficult, but not impossible). Firstly, basic and isolating exercises on the lower body tire the calves, and secondly, at the end of the workout, the central nervous system is also tired, if you want, there is not that enthusiasm to train the calves well, with high quality and volume.

More often this is expressed in that people just don’t get it right. The load on the calves is weak – there are few incentives for growth!

To pound your calves to the fullest, try to take them out at a separate time (not during leg training) and compare the results.

How to quickly pump up the calves – training program

The calf exercises themselves are not as important as following the six principles outlined above. I will say this, even with one exercise you can pump your calves, moving their growth off the ground, but subject to all the rules.

How to pump up calves quickly

In your workout, use only the most effective movements that force the calf muscles to work in full amplitude. You can single out a separate exercise for training the soleus muscle – this will only go to the plus.

The most effective calf exercises are:

standing calf raises (calf muscles),
sit-ups (soleus muscle),
toe press (calf muscles again, performed in the leg press machine),
“donkey” calf raises (we train the calf muscles with a partner),
calf raises while standing on one leg (again, an exercise aiming at the calf).
Combine the exercises that you like best – they all work. Once again, exercises alone will not help you pump up your calves if you do not follow the principles of training the calf muscles.

Example of a workout program:

Warm up
Standing calf raises 1-2 warm-ups 4 workers x 10-15 reps
Sitting calf raises 1-2 warm-ups 4 workers x 10-15 reps
Hitch
Or another one:

Warm up
Toe press 1-2 warm-ups 4 workers x 10-15 reps
Single leg calf raises 4 workers x 10-15 reps per leg
“Donkey” calf raises 1 warm-up 4 working 10-15 reps
Hitch
Perform each approach in a failure style (see above). The rest pause between sets should not be more than 1 minute. Despite the fact that the calves can simply burn with fire from the load, they very quickly restore their performance.

Please note that any workout is preceded by a warm-up. This is a way to protect your ligaments, joints and muscles from injury and increase their performance. Hitch, выполняемая в конце тренировки, поможет выгнать продукты метаболизма из забитых мышц, улучшить их эластичность и ускорить восстановление.