When you think of calves, you picture the part of your leg that everyone else can see when you’re wearing shorts. Sure, you can have a huge upper body and quads, but if you have the calves of a 10 year old boy, then people may often chuckle.
Women prefer to have slim, shapely calves, and these exercises can help the females to accomplish their goals too. Ladies, don’t be afraid of training your calves just like men do… strong calves will even help you to walk better in high heels.
Of course, calf development is highly dependent upon your genetics. You can have very strong lifts, but the insertion points of the calf muscles are all that matters. Judges in bodybuilding competitions often do not put a lot of weight on the calves as a judging factor, but they do matter and are always good to have. And let me tell you, for those guys who think calves aren’t important on the beach, the women DO look and, yes, they DO judge you for it!
Never fear though, if you do not have aesthetically pleasing, low insertion points, you can still bring your calves up quite a bit.
How to Get Big Calves
As mentioned above, you can be as strong as possible on all of the main calf lifts, but it won’t mean jack if you do not have the low insertions. Sure, they may have size, but they may just not be as noticeable. Face it, some people will have great calves and some will not. You should definitely still train them despite your genetics. Arnold had pathetic calves, but as you can see, he brought them up through hard work and dedication. You can do it too.
(more…)