The Simple Secret To Calf Mass From The King Of Cargo Shorts
The last time Nick and I worked out, we talked about why muscle mags often steer people wrong. But today, I wanted to talk to Nick about his calves. See, he had them, and I didn’t. So I wanted to mine for gold, or in the case of calves, diamonds.
I could see Nick walk up to the double glass front doors of the gym. He repeatedly pulled on the locked one before choosing the right one and stumbling in. He stared back at the door like it had eaten his post-workout hamburger.
I grinned at him knowing he’d view it as a mocking gesture and get angry. When Nick’s angry, he trains harder. But I had to make sure I didn’t get him too riled up because I needed answers to questions.
“Hey Nick. Leg day. Do you have anything special in mind, or just make it up as we go?”
He sighed in frustration, “Well, you wanted to know about my calf training, right?”
Nick and I trained together sometimes, but not always. It was too hard to jive schedules, so when we met up, we both had to adapt our workouts around the meeting.
“Yes, I do,” I replied. “I want to see what you’re doing differently than I am.”
“Fine,” he said. “Calves are the bane of many people’s existence, and I’ve always had a hard time with calves too.”
This fact was not obvious, looking at the jagged monstrosities sticking out from his cargo shorts. He continued.
“The only thing that really, really worked well for me – I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen those stretch shoes?”
I nodded and he continued.
“The first time I put those on, I was sore before I even finished the workout. I basically did too much the first time. It was a problem because I looked hobbled. But that kind of led me down the path of needing to focus on the stretch for the calves.”
I didn’t want to buy a ridiculous set of funny-looking shoes. But he wasn’t done.
“That’s pretty much what’s going to do it for you. I’ve found people avoid that stretch. They don’t sink into it. Their calves don’t get a chance to fully stretch out. They pump out reps, and it feels pretty good, but it doesn’t do anything.
Your calves are designed for heavy wear and tear. Your calves are endurance muscles, and they are tough to develop. So loosen up that fascia that covers the muscles.
Tight fascia is keeping them from growing. I recommend holding the stretch on each rep for at least four or five seconds if you can. It’s not going to be comfortable, but it’s going to really help a lot.”
Aha! I now had a secret. If I could get even slightly respectable calves by summer, I’d be a really happy man.
“I remember you did an article long ago,” I said. “About how the fascia stretching can explode your muscle growth.”
Nick cracked his wrists and then his knuckles. One of his many quirks.
“Absolutely. Especially with the calves. It’s important for calves because they get a lot of work walking around and doing stuff. To set yourself apart in the calves, you have to get that stretch at the bottom. And I found that I’m getting better results with calves.
And one other tip. This is my second-best tip. When you’re doing calf raises, as you are coming up, focus on pushing up on the big toe side of your foot. Because what tends to happen is as you do calves, it’s easier to roll out to the outside of your foot.
Lighten the weight and focus on pushing with that big toe on the ball of your foot. On the inner side there, you’ll notice the difference immediately. It will hit that calf muscle belly right where you haven’t hit before. It makes a huge difference in your calf training.”
Two tips! Calves were definitely in my future now. I clapped my hands together.
“Okay cool,” I wanted to contribute. “You know they say that the gastroc is the fast twitch and the soleus is slow twitch. But there are some studies where it’s kind of an even mix all the way through both, depending on who you are.
What if you hit a lower rep day with volume like eight by eight or ten by ten. Then the next workout, do four sets of a hundred. But here’s the kicker, on your hundred rep day, when you’re full of blood, mix in that fascia stretching. It’s a pretty good little tweak.”
I was pretty proud of myself. Not going to lie.
“Agreed,” he said. “Anytime you can fill a muscle like that and then stretch it out, that will help tremendously.”
Knowledge confirmed, I continued. “It’s also a pretty good tip for anybody that has never been into steroids. The pump you get with steroids and the forced stretching is part of why you grow so quickly. They stretch their fascia. And you can mimic those effects while staying natural. So there are some benefits to the pump.
“There is actually, yes.” Nick replied, “The pump often gets a bad rap from strength trainers. But there are physical functions that it’s good for.”
I was raring to go. “All right, well we’re cruising right along, lets go do this. What’s the routine?
Nick had a pleased, slightly evil grin. It worried me.
“It’s simple. Leg press toe raises for three sets of triple drops at ten reps/set. Meaning you’re going to hit failure at ten reps. But then hang in the stretched position while I walk slowly around the machine and strip off a plate per side. Then you can do your next set of ten. Then we will do that once more for three drops in total. On the last one, you stay stretched for at least thirty seconds.”
It sounded gross to me, and I told him so. He shrugged.
“Then we’ll do the same on the seated calf raise,” he said.
I just shook my head. And I remembered I had something else I needed to ask him.
“Listen. I had a client ask me about this, so don’t jump all over me. But, she said she needs to build more muscle in her butt and to lean out her thighs to be in proportion. What’s the best way to do that?”
He shook his head. That stuff wasn’t his bag of tricks but I knew he’d have an answer.
“Next workout Ray. Let’s get this calf work done first. Then we’ll suffer through the rest of the leg workout.”
“Doesn’t seem like a smart order to roll out this workout,” I said.
“It’s not,” he said. “But it’ll be fun.”
And with that, he turned, and it was the end of the talking. Time to play.
If want to learn how to get stronger, build muscle and cut fat, then join my free fit-over-40 newsletter today.