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When you begin to train calves muscles,
you will probably not be able to use the amount of heavy weight which
you have put on. The untrained calf muscle is very disproportionate in
its "strength curve." Your calf muscles have carried your body weight
throughout your whole life, but you rarely require them to function at
the extreme ends of their range of motion - at full extension of full
contraction.
When you start doing Calf Raises you
will probably find you are enormously strong in the mid-range, but very
weak at the extremes. So what you have to do the first few months of
training is bring up the strength of your calves muscles at full
contraction and full extension so that you acquire some balance
throughout the strength curve. At this point, you can begin to pile on
the weight and develop the entire range of motion of the calves muscles.
Still, you will find that the mid-range
is disproportionately strong - due to mechanical and leverage factors -
and this is why doing partial as well as full-range movements right from
the beginning. In this way, you can use enormous amounts of weight to
full stress the calves muscle at its strongest angles.
In order to get you started, limit the
calf training to 4 sets, 15 reps each of Standing Calf Raises 3 times a
week. Concentrate on these to begin with and learn to do Standing Calf
Raises correctly:
1) Get a full range of motion, calves
full stretch at the bottom, up on your toes for a full contraction at
the top.
2) Use a block high enough so that your
heels can drop all the way down.
3) Use strict movement, keeping your
knees straight enough so that you are lifting the weight only with the
calves muscles, not by pressing with your legs.
4) Use a "normal" foot position - that
is, with your feet pointed straight ahead, so that your entire calf is
worked proportionately.
5) Do not rush through your calf
muscle's training to get to something else, or simple tack on some sets
for calves at the end of your workout - work your calves with as much
energy and concentration as any other body part.
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