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Kraken
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By calves I actually mean lower legs; since that's the part that is mostly visible during the summer. Women notice if a guy has skinny legs and comment on it, finding weird/funny looking men with big upper bodies and toothpick legs.
I'm not talking about fixing genetic abominations with insanely high insertions. It's over for them.
The 2 biggest factors determining your maximum size potential are:
a) bone (ankle) circumference
b) insertion points
Now, it's not binary, there's more variation, but gymrats generally classify them as high insertion vs low insertion calves. Low insertion ->easier to put on mass vs high insertion. A high insertion means the muscle belly is shorter; a low insertion means longer.
High calves insertions are an advantage for sprint runners, because it means a higher proportion of the Achilles tendon is calf muscle, tendon is stiffer than muscle which leads to a better power transfer at high speeds.
People with bigger frames, i.e. thicker bones, tendons and joints, etc, will have an easier time putting on muscle, there's has been research on this + countless anecdotal examples, and so on. Wristcels and anklecels will have a harder time putting on muscle, and chicken legs/forearms are a good indicator of someone's frame.
mennohenselmans.com
There are other less significant factors determining genetic potential like fast twitch to slow twitch type of muscle fibers ratio (the higher the bigger the size), androgen receptor density, etc, which I won't get into.
Fixing Part
General advice. Do FREE WEIGHTS LIFTING, avoid machines. Machines' use should be supplementary or if you're old/injured. Free weights are superior, forcing you to use stabilizer muscles both for y axis and z axis rotational balance + do more work vs tension force machines without you resting at the end of each rep range. So stop coping with machines.
a) Standing calf raises (mainly target the gastrocnemius muscle)
b) A muscle that almost nobody trains unless they're a pro, very knowledgeable or fatarses walking on hills.
Usage: inverts foot, your lower leg will look fuller and better proportioned from the front-side if you train this, not to mention working out only soleus and gastro will eventually lead to muscle imbalances and you definitely want to avoid it.
How to train it? Again some gyms might have a machine for it, but check the second one with the dumbbell for max effectiveness (free weight)
c) Tibialis anterior seated kettlebells, again free weights MOG MACHINES.
d) Seated calf raises, target mainly the soleus muscle + the gastro (there are machines, but prefer free weights). I personally use a more weight than expected either with dumbbells or barbell plates
e) Donkey calf raises
f) Finally, a weighted vest coupled with uphill walking might help too. There are small muscles involved inside the lower leg that a specific standing calf raise machine once a week won't improve. Notice how usually active fat people are closer to their genetic potential, because of all that weight carrying around over the course of multiple years.
You don't have to do all of these to improve calves. Just focus on free weights hitting gastro, soleus and tibialis anterior twice a week, so 3 exercises, 3 x 10-15 reps with weight enough to cause failure after 10 something.
And don't confuse calf size with muscle size. A lot of what you see is fat and underskin layer fat. How many people have veiny calves as opposed to biceps? Few. At first your lower leg will harden, become stronger, then the muscles will become more defined/sharp looking and then the veins will pop out.
Same pattern on roidheads, mainly strength and vascularity, remember larger muscles are a side effect of strength. Mike Tython's calves will be stronger than a former fat nerd with even huge low insertion ones.
Fewer androgen receptors down there that's why they grow the least compared to traps and chest, shoulders, etc, that explode.
I'm not talking about fixing genetic abominations with insanely high insertions. It's over for them.
If you have those, there's nothing you can do besides calf implants which only bodybuilders do or LL and go for the tibia distraction osteogenesis option, so that you get the muscle lengthened + the muscle hypertrophy that a lot of former chicken legged patients notice afterwards but that's a big if because of the bone breaking point.
Black guys in general are more likely to have high insertions, but with those you can still build muscle, like Mike Tython
Black guys in general are more likely to have high insertions, but with those you can still build muscle, like Mike Tython
The 2 biggest factors determining your maximum size potential are:
a) bone (ankle) circumference
b) insertion points
Now, it's not binary, there's more variation, but gymrats generally classify them as high insertion vs low insertion calves. Low insertion ->easier to put on mass vs high insertion. A high insertion means the muscle belly is shorter; a low insertion means longer.
High calves insertions are an advantage for sprint runners, because it means a higher proportion of the Achilles tendon is calf muscle, tendon is stiffer than muscle which leads to a better power transfer at high speeds.
People with bigger frames, i.e. thicker bones, tendons and joints, etc, will have an easier time putting on muscle, there's has been research on this + countless anecdotal examples, and so on. Wristcels and anklecels will have a harder time putting on muscle, and chicken legs/forearms are a good indicator of someone's frame.
FFMI Calculator: Calculate your genetic muscular potential
What level of muscularity can you achieve as a natural lifter? This FFMI calculator will give you an estimation of your maximum natural potential based on Casey Butt's research on elite natural bodybuilders and multiple scientific publications on the fat-free mass index (FFMI).
mennohenselmans.com
There are other less significant factors determining genetic potential like fast twitch to slow twitch type of muscle fibers ratio (the higher the bigger the size), androgen receptor density, etc, which I won't get into.
Fixing Part
General advice. Do FREE WEIGHTS LIFTING, avoid machines. Machines' use should be supplementary or if you're old/injured. Free weights are superior, forcing you to use stabilizer muscles both for y axis and z axis rotational balance + do more work vs tension force machines without you resting at the end of each rep range. So stop coping with machines.
a) Standing calf raises (mainly target the gastrocnemius muscle)
b) A muscle that almost nobody trains unless they're a pro, very knowledgeable or fatarses walking on hills.
Usage: inverts foot, your lower leg will look fuller and better proportioned from the front-side if you train this, not to mention working out only soleus and gastro will eventually lead to muscle imbalances and you definitely want to avoid it.
How to train it? Again some gyms might have a machine for it, but check the second one with the dumbbell for max effectiveness (free weight)
c) Tibialis anterior seated kettlebells, again free weights MOG MACHINES.
d) Seated calf raises, target mainly the soleus muscle + the gastro (there are machines, but prefer free weights). I personally use a more weight than expected either with dumbbells or barbell plates
e) Donkey calf raises
f) Finally, a weighted vest coupled with uphill walking might help too. There are small muscles involved inside the lower leg that a specific standing calf raise machine once a week won't improve. Notice how usually active fat people are closer to their genetic potential, because of all that weight carrying around over the course of multiple years.
You don't have to do all of these to improve calves. Just focus on free weights hitting gastro, soleus and tibialis anterior twice a week, so 3 exercises, 3 x 10-15 reps with weight enough to cause failure after 10 something.
And don't confuse calf size with muscle size. A lot of what you see is fat and underskin layer fat. How many people have veiny calves as opposed to biceps? Few. At first your lower leg will harden, become stronger, then the muscles will become more defined/sharp looking and then the veins will pop out.
Same pattern on roidheads, mainly strength and vascularity, remember larger muscles are a side effect of strength. Mike Tython's calves will be stronger than a former fat nerd with even huge low insertion ones.
Fewer androgen receptors down there that's why they grow the least compared to traps and chest, shoulders, etc, that explode.
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