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Working Calves without weights

S

Stiffy

Guest
Is it possible to work Calves effectively without weights?

I used to wonder if Hill Sprints were a good way to work Calves, wondering if the greater the gradient the more the Soleus is activated. Whereas the flatter the Hill the greater the Gastrocnemius is activated. Bro-science?
 
Yep. Have a look at most fatties. They often have huge calves and no weight training.

Find a former fatty that has now lost a heap of weight. A lot of them have mammoth ripped calves.

Jumping exercises work the calves a heap but unless sport training I don't see the point.

Sand running like you mentioned fries the calves.

I don't have a problem with weight training for calves but just find it so boring.
 
Changing the incline is about the only way you can increase the resistance without using weight.
 
yes, one legged. If you cannot make sessions hard enough through no. of reps and short rests, add dumbell.

I start of with one leggd seated calves, and then do one leg standing with just body weight.
 
Cheers. Top answers so far. A lot on spread.

Care to comment on my theory about Hill Sprints and the Soleus being activated more as the gradient of the Hill increases, due to the greater flexion of the knee? Stiffy is pretty cluey hey?
 
What about skipping [MENTION=12409]Sir El Stiffy[/MENTION] ; ? Especially if you have an emphasis of being on the ball of your foot rather than flat footed
 
White_Lie said:
What about skipping @Sir El Stiffy ; ? Especially if you have an emphasis of being on the ball of your foot rather than flat footed
Click to expand...

Yep, done a lot of skipping but its not really HIIT as when fatigue sets in you are more likely to trip. Hill Sprints give you a much better lung burn and I suspect are just better overall conditioning. Cheers.
 
You never said anything about HIIT/cardio, you wanted something that works the calves without weights? I don't think any form of intervals will work them enough to make them grow. You need to work them with high weight or a lot of reps
 
I doubt that the knee flexion is relevant because the ankle extension won't occur until the end of the step where the knee is approaching full extension. It will however increase the resistance that your calves are working against.

Sent from my R7sf using Tapatalk
 
bull said:
I doubt that the knee flexion is relevant because the ankle extension won't occur until the end of the step where the knee is approaching full extension. It will however increase the resistance that your calves are working against.

Sent from my R7sf using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Because of the angle of a steep hill you have a much greater range of motion with the foot. Not quite full stretch to full flexion of the ankle but close the steeper the Hill gets.

EDIT: sorry mate. Just re-read your post and see your point. :)
 
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Actually [MENTION=17161]White_Lie[/MENTION]; tomorrow morning's cardio will be Skipping. You've just committed a lazy bum to getting up out of Bed at 4AM!
 
I don't know if you have an exercise ball or any type of ball, but I personally do the exercise here at the 4:10 mark. Works the calves through full range of motion. Also gives the quads a good stretch. The walking on your tippy toes could also work with no weight.

 
The thing to consider about the calves is the leverage advantage or disadvantage when building is considered.
all muscles respond the same way difference is the fact that due to the lever advantage the muscle is able to lift an inordinate amount of resistance so keeping that in mind using a very heavy weight with rep's for around 90 to 120 seconds is ideal the number of sets is optional but no more than 3 imo

as as far as the best type of exercise?
not hills sprints but the good old standing calf raise, I think around 20 reps and make them burn
 
Shrek said:
And seated ☺☺☺☺
Click to expand...

I think that if the knees can hack it it's fine but I don't really see any advantage, with the standing the knee is more protected and you can also use a lot more weight which is what I think the trick is.
 
I think 15-20 reps is the sweet spot for calves.
A weight thay restricts this rep range tend to limit range of motion and repping higher than 30 means you're just pushing the breeze.
 
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