Many bodybuilders find the calf workouts frustrating, difficult and not productive. This is because they find it easier to work on their arms, legs, pectorals as well as their lats, delts, and stomachs. This means that calf training can suffer and calf growth often falls apart. It doesn’t need to.
A well-equipped gym will be equipped with a donkey calf raising machine and a standing calves raiser. This machine is used to train calves by many bodybuilders. Many bodybuilders will use the leg press to do the toe pressing exercise. Some bodybuilders might spend time with the seated calves machine. However, most of their calf work will be done using the donkey calf or standing calf. Most bodybuilders don’t focus on calf development. It is too easy to place too much emphasis on standing calf, donkey calves or toe pressing exercises. There’s not enough focus on seated calf lift exercise.
There are two main muscles in the calf: the Gastrocnemius as well as the Soleus. Straight legs are best for the Gastrocnemius. This is why you need to train Gastrocnemius using the standing calf, donkey, and leg press machines. But, for the Soleus to be properly trained, it should always be bent at the knee and trained using a seated calf raising machine. With 60% of total calf muscle mass, the Soleus is the largest of both the muscles.
The Soleus muscle is predominantly a slow-twitch fiber muscular designed to provide high endurance. Due to their high levels of mitochondrial density and resilience, Soleus fibers can also be recovered quickly. To stimulate growth, the Soleus fibers can sustain prolonged contractions (endurance). Therefore, higher repetitions of 20-100 must be done to fatigue the Type I Slow Twitch fibers. This will take more energy and time than bodybuilders used to spend on their calves in the past.
You should not spend all your training time doing toe press, toe presses or standing calf exercises. Instead, use the seated Calf Raising Machine to strengthen your Soleus muscle. The Soleus should receive at least 50% of the calf training.
Growth in the calf is difficult. Focusing more on your Soleus will help you make more progress.
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