Most bodybuilders find calf training arduous, frustrating, and unproductive. These bodybuilders find it more productive to develop their thighs, pecs, lats, deltoids, and arms. As a result, calf training and development often suffers. However, you don’t have to suffer.
When you go to a well-equipped gym, they will have a standing calf raise machine and donkey calf raise. Most of the bodybuilders use these two machines to train their calves. Some will even use the leg press for the toe press exercise for their calves. While some bodybuilders will spend some time using the seated calf machine, most calf work is done in the standing calf, donkey calf, or toe press exercises. This is the reason why most bodybuilders lack calf development. Too much emphasis is being placed on the standing calf, donkey calf, or toe press exercises and not enough emphasis is placed on the seated calf raise exercise.
The calf muscle group is made up of two muscles: the gastrocnemius and the soleus. The gastrocnemius is best exercised when the leg is straight. So, for this muscle, you should train the gastrocnemius on the standing calf raise, donkey calf raise, and toe press on the leg press machines. However, the soleus is best trained when the leg is bent and should be trained on the seated calf raise machine. The soleus is the larger of the two muscles with 60% of the total mass of the calf.
The soleus is primarily a slow twitch muscle designed for high endurance. Soleus fibers will also recover very quickly as they have a high mitochondrial density and are very resilient. Since the soleus is capable of sustaining contractions for extended periods (endurance), then higher repetitions in the 20-100 range should be used to fatigue the type I slow twitch fibers to stimulate growth. Obviously, this will require more time and energy than most bodybuilders have expended on calf work in the past.
So, instead of spending most of your workout on the standing calf raise, donkey calf, or toe press exercises, spend a little more time using the seated calf raise machine to build more muscle. large calf, soleus. At least half of your calf work should be spent training the soleus.
Achieving growth in the calf area is difficult. However, if you focus more on the soleus and train this muscle with more reps and more sets, you will see progress.
For more information on effective calf training techniques, visit this site.