Calf muscle growth

[Charbel]

Hey guys and gals

I have heard that calf muscles are genetic or hereditary.
I have chicken legs and want to grow them.
Is it worth training them and if so what is the best way of growing them.

SOME ONE HELP ME!!!!

[widdoes2504]

What does your routine/diet look like? Are you doing squats and deads? Heavy seated calf raises? Let us know and we will be of more help.

[MONSTAFACE]

also eve if you cant grow huge legs/calves it is never a waist of time to work your legs/calves. workign them out can help with just everyday life activities. also even if they dont get huge they still will get bigger and toned that what they would be if you didnt work them

[jwright715]

Calves definitely are worth training.

Try a higher volume approach with calves, sets of 15-20.

[Darkhorse]

My calves grew 2" when I applied no direct work to them. I spent a heavy amount of focus on the big three during those two months.

Heavy squats and deadlifts WILL signal a full body growth response throughout your entire body. I'm not talking about a megaton of work either. Something like 4 x 6 or a 3 RM, then a backoff 8-10 rep set for deadlifting; and something like 4 x 8 squats. Simple and effective.

[thonaker]

Interesting 0311. So, it's like building your traps by not doing them directly, and only working them through exercises like deadlifts and power cleans.

My calves have been the week point for a while. They look ok right now. I'd like a more bulge and size for sure, but we'll see what happens over time. I'm still re-building after a long layoff. I'm only doing 3 sets of calves at this moment, plus the big movements and some lunges.

Troy

[TunaMan]

i do squats, clean+jerks, calf raises, and run..and i get comments all the time on my calves..work hard, eat right and it'll come i promise.

[Darkhorse]

Originally Posted by thonaker

Interesting 0311. So, it's like building your traps by not doing them directly, and only working them through exercises like deadlifts and power cleans.

Troy

Well, those are the only two exercises I'd recommend to build them lol. I just meant that sometimes (most of the time) the best way to increase growth in an area is to hammer away at those full body compound lifts as well as eating and sleeping lol. If your forearms are small, deadlift without straps vs. doing some 20 lb wrist curl. Or to increase your biceps by cutting down on actual curls in favor of pulling exercises. Over time you'll get to the point to where focusing on weak areas could become a priority.. The problem is that 80% just aren't there yet. An example would be worrying about your quad sweep while squatting a stellar 250 lbs. If people put a good few years into full-on squatting and deadlifting, they'd be thick as fuck.

[webcore]

Squats alone work for me.

I've never had to resort to claf raises or similar in my 7 years of training.

[triqqey]

it's not genetic, you just need to train them differently than other body parts. most of your calf muscle is made of slow-twitch fibers, which are generally smaller than fast-twitch fibers. genetics determine where your calves start from and return to in homeostasis (if you don't work out for a while).