Two calves of a whole

[stuke]

Yep, it's a pretty poor play on words, but it'll do.
I enjoyed Lardy's calf training spell, and I had around 10 weeks some years back where I really hammered mine with a consistant, gruelling routine. I gaines little more than relief when it had ended, and a feeling of being burned out (all the 'intensifiers' I think).

This time, I will first set out the goals - there are no goals other than tryjng to stick with the basic idea and seeing what happens. It jas to be better than rarely training them which seems to be the norm these days.

So, two halves of a whole - the idea is, to train one calf one day, the other the next and repeat, so I am training a calf everyday. There is no set routine other than that, I plan to train instinctively, in terms of movements, reps, volume and intensity. The reason is, I can better work my calves singly, due to training at home, to do both at once necessitates either very high reps or veru heavy weight. One of the problems of training one limb at a time is either you sacrifice short to no rest periods (should you wish for short to no rest) by alternating calves in the same workout, or you work one calf all the way through before doing the same for the other, knowing how hard the first calf workout was. With the alternating days thing, I think it but is like giving birth, nasty stuff but you have forgotten the pain by the time you are ready for anothe round, so to speak.
No, I don't really liken my calf training to being in labor...hahaha.
I have alreqdy started this, I will log the first two workouts after this post.

I do intend to take some calf pics, much as I hate taking photos of myself, and I will not do it under the goon light to make myself look better than I am, so you will see my calves in all their... well, mediocrity (and that isxbeing more than kind).

I'll have to ask how to post pics here again, can never remember.

[stuke]

Mon 25th July right calf, Tues 26th July left


Single leg donkey calf raises 2 sets 12, approx 39 seconds rest between sets.
2 sets of 6 top half of movement only, with resistance band looped around ankle. The resistance is from behind, not below, but it feels good and seems to work as there is some forward motion in the top half, if only a little.

1 set of 8 one legged calf raise followed by 29 bottom half reps only

[lardy]

Jul 27, 2022 19:45:42 GMT stuke said:

Mon 25th July right calf, Tues 26th July left


Single leg donkey calf raises 2 sets 12, approx 39 seconds rest between sets.
2 sets of 6 top half of movement only, with resistance band looped around ankle. The resistance is from behind, not below, but it feels good and seems to work as there is some forward motion in the top half, if only a little.

1 set of 8 one legged calf raise followed by 29 bottom half reps only

Great stuff. A suggestion if I may, maybe you could train 1 of the tibialis anterior muscles daily also I felt it really helped balance things out and helped with reducing cramps.

The mrs also commented on how my shins were looking strong and that my legs looked good, she never mentioned the calves once , good luck I'll be following your progress.

[stuke]

Wed 27th July right

20 single leg calf raise bottom half only, then 6 reps full range

30 seconds rest, repeat

2 sets 12 reps bottom half single leg calf raises holding 17.5kg dbell.

Isometric seated single calf raise, almost top of movement, 1 minute

Same but mid range, 1 min

[stuke]

Jul 27, 2022 19:51:45 GMT lardy said:

Jul 27, 2022 19:45:42 GMT stuke said:

Mon 25th July right calf, Tues 26th July left


Single leg donkey calf raises 2 sets 12, approx 39 seconds rest between sets.
2 sets of 6 top half of movement only, with resistance band looped around ankle. The resistance is from behind, not below, but it feels good and seems to work as there is some forward motion in the top half, if only a little.

1 set of 8 one legged calf raise followed by 29 bottom half reps only

Great stuff. A suggestion if I may, maybe you could train 1 of the tibialis anterior muscles daily also I felt it really helped balance things out and helped with reducing cramps.

The mrs also commented on how my shins were looking strong and that my legs looked good, she never mentioned the calves once , good luck I'll be following your progress.

Thanks Lardy and not trying to steal your thunder by the way, you inspired me.
Yes, good idea. A guy in the old Ironage forum swore by training the tibialis, said it was foolish not to. I did train them for a while going way back, found a good way by standing on a block, heel on end and resting a short section of I beam on my toes and raising uo and down. Will start doing these again. I think you are right about it balancing out and adding something ti the front view also.
Cheers.

[stuke]

Jul 27, 2022 19:59:35 GMT stuke said:

Wed 27th July right

20 single leg calf raise bottom half only, then 6 reps full range

30 seconds rest, repeat

2 sets 12 reps bottom half single leg calf raises holding 17.5kg dbell.

Isometric seated single calf raise, almost top of movement, 1 minute

Same but mid range, 1 min

Thurs 28th same but left leg
Added 2 sets 12 toe raises under small section of I beam for front of shin.

[stuke]

Fri 29th July right calf
Still aching so a short couple of sets only: single leg calf raise x 20, rest 30 seconds then x 6 with another 14 bottom half reps.

[Michael]

Thanks for sharing this Stuke, interesting.

[stuke]

Jul 29, 2022 20:45:46 GMT stuke said:

Fri 29th July right calf
Still aching so a short couple of sets only: single leg calf raise x 20, rest 30 seconds then x 6 with another 14 bottom half reps.

Sat 30th July left calf, as above.

[stuke]

Had a session or two more since my last post but never logged them. Been away for a few days but added a righ calf workout to the end of my chest and biceps workout (yes, biceps) this morning:
'Flutter reps' to use an Ellington Darden term - single leg calf raise, 29 reps bottom of movement approx and inch or 2 movement, fairly quick, was supposed to go straight into 20 reps mid point but before I had realised I was at the top, did 29 reps there then 29 mid po8nt, 49 bottom to make 100 flutter reps. Was burning pretty good.
25 reps toe raise with short sectiin of I beam on toes as weight, then 10 full range, fairly slow single leg calf raises, 20 more reps toe raises.

Will repeat for left calf tomorrow.

[stuke]

07 Aug 2022
Repeated previous day's calf workout. For some reason I get a bit of discomfort in my foot / ankle with clicking and dare I say a little clunking too - this is only when I work my left calf.

08 Aug 2022
Right calf: single legged calf raise, though bit of a forward lean so somewhere between standing and donkey calf raise. I had a band around my instep, anchored behind me so there was some good tension at the top of the movement. 10 full reps straight into 20 lower half only. Supersetted toe raises with my I beam, 25 reps, then repeated both exercises for the same number of reps.
Standing calf raises, right leg only, of course, 2 sets of 10, one more set of toe raises inbetween, slighly mkre weight, 15 reps.
Couple of isometrics, 30 seconds mid seated calf position, short rest then 30 seconds top of movement.

I am going to go one step further and do whatever I want each day - ie not repeating the previous day's workout soeach leg may be worked with different movements, sets, reps etc. I expect it will all average out in the end.

Pretty inconventional but I have the luxury of not having any real goals with this calf training, other than working them fairly hard and frequently, see what happens.

[stuke]

Can't quite bring myself to take a photo of my calves
I really should.

[stuke]

9th Aug 2022
Left calf - 4 sets 12 1 leg calf raises, last set plus 25 bottom half partials straight after.

Forgot to do toe raises

[stuke]

Wed 10th Aug
Both legs toe raises with long section I beam (I have 2, one short, one a few inches longer). 20 reps. Added 10kg disc and then 2 sets of 12, isometric hold at top of last rep for 10 seconds.

Right calf:

1 leg calf raises, hard negative on each rep which was due to me pushing hard against an secured overhead bar. 12 reps then 12 partials at the top of the movement, 50 at bottom.

1 leg seated calf raise with 20kg db on knee, x 12 reps, then 12 partials at bottom of movement and 10 seconds isometric hold at top of last rep. partials

[stuke]

Friday 12th August

For various reasons I missed training my left calf yesterday, not too worried as with this high frequency training, missing one is not so bad, but I worked both calves today anyway.

Standing one legged calf raise, today with the block at an incline - as in as if I was stood in a hill, facing upwards. I like this position, allows a different kind of stretch and contraction. Relagively short rest between eqch of the following (which allowed me to work other calf exactly the same):

15 reps
12 reps
30 bottom half reps
15 top half reps
10 negatives, approx 3 seconds each, then usin other leg to help get me back to the top for the next rep. Weighted with 95 pounds.

Toe raises:
Irigged up a resistance band so it was anchored at about shin height one end, sat on a bench placed a few feet away, heel on a block at same level,toes pointed up with other end of band around toes, pulled toes towards me etc. Basically allowed me to do toe raises horizontally.

Did 20, 15, 15 each leg.