So a coworker accused me of using the stairmaster to work my butt and calves. What I tried to inform her is that accoridng to American Psycho and my personal experience, the stairmaster is one of the most efficient cardio activities in the gym. So I ask her why I want to work my calves and she seriously informed me that women like men with nice calves. So i got to wondering:
Is this true?
WHY??? Of all the body parts on a male, why would the calves be a target to win your approval and esteem?
Nice calves give a nice shape to a nice leg. However, I’ll sometimes see slender women and notice she’s got not-so-nice thighs, or flabby upper arms, or whatever, but I’ve never looked at a skinny women and thought “She’d look great… if she could just tone up those calf muscles!”. And I’ve never paid much attention to my own calf muscles, except to note they look pretty good when I wear heels.
So, they’re something I don’t notice unless they’re nice, I’ve never heard any of my male friends mention any woman’s calves in a positive or negative way, and I think most of the time you’re showing off calves, you’re also showing off things that people’s eyes are more drawn to.
Damn, now I’m really looking at my calves, wondering if they’re okay. Is there a weight machine for calves? I dunno.
I don’t have an explanation for it, but if you want an illustration of an otherwise good-looking man whose shapeless calves are a big disappointment and almost an eyesore, find an episode of I Love Lucy in which Desi Arnaz wears shorts. His legs are almost straight from his knees to his ankles, with no shape at all.
There are calf machines that have two pads that rest on your shoulders and a bar on which you rest the balls of your feet. Or you can use the leg press machine for the calves, just with less weight. Or you can put a barbell across your shoulders and stand up on the balls of your feet to work the calves.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was a huge proponent of the importance of calves in the male physique; I believe it was him who offered up this imagery. Imagine seeing a man on the beach, he has huge thighs, but thin to average calves, you won’t think much of it. Now imagine a man with average to thin thighs, but huge calves, you’ll immediately think that man has huge legs.
This is similar to the forearm and the biceps/triceps. Especially since people these days tend to wear shorts that cover most or all of the upper leg, it can make nice calves that much more apparent. Similar to how people wear short sleeves that show off the forearms and little or none of the upper arm.
Also, though I’ve never had any trouble with myself, many men will say that their calves are the hardest part to build. I would use this to hypothesize that nice calves are somewhat rare, and therefore stand out more, while a guy with a huge chest and arms is just another big guy.
FWIW, all those exercises will only work the Gastrocnemis. If you want to work the Soleus, you’ll need to do seated calf-raises as well. This is the difference between those guys that have a softball glued to their upper calf and guys that have well-shaped calf.
Speaking as a man who has large calves for his size, I put my seal of approval on this thread. I’ve actually been stopped in the middle of a weight routine once or twice by women who wanted to know what I did to build mine.
For the record, I think calves are among the hardest muscles to grow. Most people require ridiculously high volume to see results, using different types of calf exercises (both standing and seated, for example).
Mine are from a) a background in martial arts and b) doing most of my running on the balls of my feet. Mostly I just do a maintenance thing with weights now because I don’t really need mine to get any bigger.
I always notice calves and forearms on a guy. Something about seeing the muscles ripple and look all sinewy just makes me sigh. The length of mens’ shorts have something to do with it too - I so rarely see their thighs that I have to be satisfied with what I can see.
Can you (or anyone who’d care to) explain the seated calf-raises? Is that something that requires a machine or could I do it sitting at my desk? (You’d be surprised at the exercises I do while I’m at work )What other calf excersises can be done outside of a gym?
Seated calf raises are done with a machine in the gym. You can accomplish a similar thing by balancing on the ball of one foot on the edge of a step. Use the wall or bannister for balance. Raise up to you tippy toes and lower down so your heel drops deeply below the ball of your foot. Repeat.
Also running, hill climbing/hiking, cycling are good workouts for calves and legs in general.
Requires a machine, or at least some weight/other form of resistance to be put on the thighs.
If you want to do calf work outside the gym, it’s hard to beat the bodyweight calf raise. Do them in sets of 20…heels in, heels out, heels neutral, one legged, on a stair step. Walk longish distances on the balls of your feet. It’s all good.
I was genetically bestowed with large, muscular calves that have just gotten more developed from 15 years of ballet and 6 years of running. I actually wish there was a way I could make my calves smaller, because I think they’re too big - I think they make my legs look fat even though there’s no fat on 'em (the calves, that is).
Thanks, QuickSilver and slortar. I’ve tried pretty much all of those things and while my legs are fairly muscular, my calves never seem to get bigger. I guess some people just can’t develop muscle mass in certain areas?
When I said “ridiculously high volume”, I meant something like this routine from Usenet.
I’ve heard of people getting good results from that. It’s a basic body part specialization routine adjusted for the ridiculous stubbornness that calves tend to display. Be sure to pay close attention to get the squeeze at the top of each rep and resting enough at the bottom of the movement so you don’t bounce the weight back up.
And eat plenty. No muscle in the world will get bigger if you’re not eating more than you burn.
I’ve actually been stopped in the middle of a weight routine once or twice by women who wanted to know what I did to build mine.
)What other calf excersises can be done outside of a gym?
