In
last month’s article I discussed the often forgotten anterior calf muscles and the way they can be trained in order to enhance your overall calf development. This month I am going to take a look at the posterior calf muscles, how to isolate them and then will show you an example calf workout that will help you maximize growth potential for this most stubborn of body parts!
Triceps Surae Muscles
The triceps surae refers to the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, these are the calf muscles that are most easily visible and are always extremely well developed in anyone who is deemed to have great calves! An understanding of exactly how these muscles function is imperative if you wish to optimize your training to maximize their growth potential.
The gastrocnemius is made up of two muscle heads as shown in the diagram below and unlike any other muscles in the lower leg it actually originates from the femur and not the fibula or tibia. Each head is connected by a separate tendon to individual origin points on the femur and then both insert via the Achilles tendon to the middle of the heel bone.
Soleus
Lateral head of gastrocnemius
Medial head of gastrocnemius
The soleus also inserts to the heel via the Achilles tendon, but it originates at the top of the fibula and therefore, unlike the gastrocnemius only covers one joint. It runs underneath the gastrocnemius so although it is clearly visible in great calves as the V shaped muscle at the bottom of the leg, increasing the size of the soleus will make the entire calf region look wider and will make the gastrocnemius more pronounced! These two muscles are of vital importance to the physique athlete as they will be clearly visible on stage in any pose.
Knowing the different origin points of these muscles is essential when it comes to isolating either in your training. When the knee is bent, the gastrocnemius muscle becomes very slack due to its origin above the knee joint, this means that performing calf raises in this position will isolate the soleus muscle. In order to maximally stimulate the gastrocnemius, raises must be performed with the legs straight.
Another point to consider though is that due to the origin of the gastrocnemius above the knee, it is most relaxed when the knees are bent and the foot is dorsiflexed and it maximally contracts when the knees are straight and the foot planterflexed. Therefore, explosive standing calf raises where the legs are straight in the stretched position at the bottom of the rep, but then the knee is bent slightly as you “explode” upwards while planterflexing the foot, are a great way to maximize the range of motion of the muscle.
In addition to the triceps surae muscles, there are other muscles involved in planterflexion of the foot that lie beneath the gastrocnemius and soleus. Although none of these muscles are easily visible, increasing their size will cause the soleus and gastrocnemius to be pushed out more and hence appear bigger. The flexor digitorum longus, flexor hallus longus and tibialis posterior will all be worked with platerflexion movements, but are also involved in inversion of the foot. Therefore, if you raise the weight and apply more force through the small toe than towards the large toe, you will recruit more fibers from these muscles.
Before moving onto a sample workout, it is important to remember that as with any muscle group, variation in exercises and rep ranges and other training variables is still key to get the most out of your training. But this will give you a good basis to work from. I also just want to mention muscle fiber types briefly, as they vary considerably in the two major calf muscles.
The soleus contains approximately 89% slow twitch muscle fibers, a huge proportion, and therefore higher reps should be utilized in order to maximally recruit the bulk of the muscle fibers. The gastrocnemius is predominantly comprised of fast twitch fibers, but only slightly and therefore muscle fiber recruitment will be optimized with a combination of low and high reps.
Another point to consider with training these muscles is the time under tension. This is related to the range of motion of the movements, the muscle can go from fully stretched to fully contracted very quickly, compared to say the time taken for a squat or bicep curl with equal force.
Time under tension is an important factor in muscle hypertrophy and therefore care needs to be taken with tempo in particular with calf training. This is another reason many people benefit from training calves with a generally higher rep range than you would with most other body parts. It is very easy to complete a set of 8 calf raises in 20 seconds, this is going to do little to stimulate muscle growth! Here’s a sample workout based on the points discussed in both of these articles:
Seated Reverse Calf Raises with Inversion – 4 sets of 12-16 reps – Performed with heel elevated on 2 weight plates and another weight plate covering the toes and front of the foot, perform with a 30X0 tempo, complete a set on one leg, then the other and repeat without rest until all sets are completed.
Single Leg Standing Dumbbell Calf Raises – 4 sets of 12 reps – Perform with a 41X0 tempo so you are holding in the stretched position for a 1 count and from there, bend the knee slightly (as discussed above) to forcefully contract the gastrocnemius.
Donkey Calf Raises – 3 rest-pause drop sets – Performed with a standard tempo of 20X0, select a weight where failure is reached on the first set at 8 reps, rest 15 seconds, rep to failure again, rest another 15 seconds and rep to failure again. Then without further rest, drop the weight approximately 30%, rep to failure and repeat the rest pause sets. Then drop the weight once more and again complete the 2 rest pause sets at failure.
Seated Calf Raises – 3 sets of 20-30 reps followed by 2 drop sets – Standard tempo, Rest 45 seconds after each of the first 2 sets, then at failure on the third set immediately complete 2 drop sets.
To Clarify the Rep Tempos: The 4 is a 4 second eccentric movement, 0 signifies no pause at the bottom, the x signifies an explosive concentric portion of the rep, ie you don't count the tempo and lift explosively as you may when training at standard tempo, then no pause at the top signified by the final 0.
www.facebook.com/AdamBatesFitness
Subscribe to RxMuscle on Youtube
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|||
