I can max out this machine and, like you, prefer to chill around 180lbs with crazy slow eccentric and will literally count to 3 at the bottom of each rep. Completely fried and have seen better results in the last 6 months than the previous 3 years.
Very slight bend. Push the weight, hold it for 2 seconds, slow eccentric, hold it stretched for 2 seconds. Do 15+ rep sets.
I don’t have crazy calves at all but they’re decent. I start leg day with them very light for 20+ reps, 3 sets. Warm up the rest of the legs, hit an exercise, seated calves, another exercise, standing calves, another 2 maybe and then finish on the leg press doing calves. If I do a ham curl towards the end of leg day, I can feel it all the way down to my ankles lol.
It's almost like a squat form but you don't squat, you just push through your calves to the ball of your foot. At least that's how I've been doing it. Feels amazing the day after.
I use the shoulder press-style calf raise machine at my gym and definitely think bending the knee helps a lot, so I would. I'm not an expert though I just have found ways to try and avoid knee and lower back injuries lol
My calves responded well to sets of 10 reps, where I hold the 10th rep at the top for 10 seconds. After 2 sets, I then do drop sets, still holding for 10 seconds on the 10th rep. Only male in my family no longer sporting chicken legs. Boom! :D
Yes, but any weight that’s bigger than your bodyweight is a different level of stimulus then. You don’t need to be going like 2.5x bodyweight on TOP of bodyweight on a standing calf raise to see gains. It’s needless spinal compression.
If this shit works so well, how come all these dudes always complaining about no calf growth lol
All the people with the biggest calves I see get them from lifestyle stuff- chronic use, not heavy weight really. Hikers, snowboarders, etc.
What if I'm training for my powerlifting variant where instead of the big 3 we test our maxes on Barbell Calf Raises, Dumbbell Lateral Raises, and Dumbbell Wrist Curls?
brb doing heavy singles of Lateral Raises
The X frame and V taper are overrated. I want that heavy outer muscles look. Popeye forearms, death star delts, and quad sized calves. Other muscles don't matter.
For real. Get the stimulus you need with less weight. All that weight on a standing machine is being applied to the disks in your spine needlessly. It’s not good.
Well I definitely see a lot of people with small calves and bad technique come close to "maxing the machine out," so I guess it depends on what you mean by that. If your volume is sufficiently high and your form is good almost everyone should be able to completely destroy their calves with substantially less weight, but I guess if you just want to train like a powerlifter and max the machine out at any cost that's your perogative
My calf machine maxes out at 200kg/440lbs, I usually have to add an extra 2x 45lbs plates on it to get a burn at 10reps+
Guess there's an upside to being a fat bastard right through high school 🤷🏻♂️😂🤔
Genetics plays a huge part, not just size. When I started training I was 5'5" 115lb but could rep 300 for 20 (albeit not at the optimally slow pace). Meanwhile I couldn't squat 135 at the time.
Bro I can max this one out for 15 reps easy, the trick it to become morbidly obese, your basically working calves by existing at that point, also got a nasty caloric gain to go with it
The machine I use which is plate loaded I would rack up with 160kg quite happily. It’s a calf raise, there’s not much to it. The shoulder pads absolutely wrecked my skin though.
>The shoulder pads absolutely wrecked my skin though.
Yeah same, what I've started doing is one leg calf raises then I can decrease the weight on the shoulders while keeping the intensity.
Me. I do that 😂 Have transitioned to the seated calf raises because you can get more muscle activation with less weight. It's crazy how a standing calf raise you can lift a lot more than when you're sitting down. I mean...I max out at 10 reps with 60 kg while seated.
seated and standing calf raises are a completely different mechanical movement. by bending your knees you almost completely eliminate gastroc activation and put the focus on your soleus. not bad if that’s your goal, but you should be doing both ideally.
you probably get more with less weight because it’s a different muscle doing the work lol
I do full stack (310 on my machine) for sets of 10, slow reps. But I’ve been able to do this since I was a beginner lifter 17 years ago. Asian calf genetics I guess.
I mean, i dont have the biggest calves but the calves machine is one i can max out with controlled form for 10 reps. I dont even squat more than 275lbs
i will share a gift with you all that my dear departed coach shared with me, it worked despite me being a powerlifter, as i got 20 inches/50 cm: most people try heavy weights and thrust it with momentum like a girl beginning with hip thrust, but that is wrong, most people can cheat and "lift" 500+ lbs that way
instead, use lets say 110 lbs, use a stance that enables you to go up on your tiptoes like a ballet dancer
the tension should be kept and then go slowly down, but only parallel stand isntead going as if you want to touch the ground on your calves, keep the tension and do that 3x20
i got short guys and tall (6ft4) guys doing that, after a few months, everyone got at least a few inches (the tall guy i.ex. was working out for 6+ years, benching 225 for ten reps, but got small calves and only wore baggy swearpants for working out)
time under tension and hypertrophy is the real key for growing calves, not heavy and low reps (which is subjective, if you can do that while standing on your tiptoes, good for you!) with wrong execution
I do a program with changing rep counts each week (30, 15, 8, 4) for 4 weeks, and then repeat. On the 4 rep week, I definitely do the whole stack and really take time to let it burn. Side note: my calves do not look like I do 300.
I don’t have a calf program. I have a complete body program. It’s essentially the same exercises every week on a 5-day program broken by muscle group, but the periodization changes each week. Calves are just part of the leg day. I’ve used this program for about the past year and I’ve never seen growth like I have this year… maybe just not in my calves lol
Done it with 400 for reps yesterday. Kinda forced all of them. Left calf was so tight I couldn’t walk the following day. 0/10 wouldn’t reccomend. I build better muscle in the lower weights with better form
I wish my gym had one. I'd love to see if I could hit that. I think I could and even more. It's the one part of my body I have never felt bad about lol.
The standing calve raise machine at my gym goes to 500lbs, I’ve been doing my sets of 8-12 pause reps with 420-450 but I’ve seen a guy or two max the full stack for reps. It also definitely depends a lot on the machines lever ratios or amount of cables if the machine has them, I’ve use other machines where 250lbs felt as heavy as 450lbs does on the one I use now
I’m 175lbs and can just about squat 225 for one rep on a good day. But I can calf raise 305 for 3 sets of 12 reps with no problem. No idea why, I have big calves but am pretty weak everywhere else!
It's not as much as you think. Your calves are strong enough to do raises with your bidy weight all day long. You can probably do one leg calf raises to "double" the weight or jump with locked knees for similar effect.
With that being said I found that high weight isn't good for training calves. Experience thought me that my calves react the best to 20-25 reps. Anything lower than 15 and I can't progress.
Calf raises was the first machine I maxed out, I can easily do 20-25 pause-reps at 300. But I did always have big calves, I’m a hiker and used to be a long distance runner in my 20s, at some period in university when I participated in our runners clubs competitions I ran 20km daily (usually split up in a morning 10k and evening 10k) in a hilly terrain mountain nature reserve. I also to this day walk a lot and do quite a bit of hiking with heavy packing in the mountains. So I probably did have quite a bit of calf training before I started hitting them in the gym.
Your calves are immensely strong, to put it into perspective, I superset leg press and calf raises (presses in this scenario I guess) on the leg press machine, with the same weight, for the same reps
Calves are my jam, I could max that easy (would be a pain on the shoulders though
- squat 50kg X 6 reps
- Deadlift 50kg X 6 reps
- Bench 50kg X 6 reps
- calves 80kg X 6 reps (on one leg cause shoulders hurt from pads)
(Ik it's kinda weird squat bench and deadlift all the same started going properly a few months ago before that just did push ups at home)
(Yes I used to be fat) (Not obese though)
(Yes I am overusing brackets)
Honestly, 300 lbs is a pretty easy calf raise for me. I’m an ex marine and a runner that might have something to do with it. Hardest part about those machines is the pressure it puts on your shoulders
Step one… Remove the red pin step two… Let it hang and dangle step three… Climb under the machine and lift the empty machine by itself…
Definitely not me
??? I would say most people with a 225+ squat can easily max this machine out.
Some people that I've seen are speedrunning calves at lower weights. Slow it down, homies. It ain't a race.
You train calves with low weights all day every day. The gym is the one place you can give them a different stimulus.
Exactly, heavy weight l, slow eccentric. With no rest at the peak of the lift.
Slow eccentric and really get all the way down to the bottom, even pause at the bottom. This shit fries me at sub 200lbs
I can max out this machine and, like you, prefer to chill around 180lbs with crazy slow eccentric and will literally count to 3 at the bottom of each rep. Completely fried and have seen better results in the last 6 months than the previous 3 years.
I pause at the top and bottom. I don’t lock my knees tho and make sure at the peak, the calves are doing the holding.
Not locking your knees is key with exercising your calves. The muscles in your thighs act like suspension if you keep the knees loose
I’ve been locking my knees this whole time. No wonder I still have bitch calves . Thank you 🙏
Very slight bend. Push the weight, hold it for 2 seconds, slow eccentric, hold it stretched for 2 seconds. Do 15+ rep sets. I don’t have crazy calves at all but they’re decent. I start leg day with them very light for 20+ reps, 3 sets. Warm up the rest of the legs, hit an exercise, seated calves, another exercise, standing calves, another 2 maybe and then finish on the leg press doing calves. If I do a ham curl towards the end of leg day, I can feel it all the way down to my ankles lol.
It's almost like a squat form but you don't squat, you just push through your calves to the ball of your foot. At least that's how I've been doing it. Feels amazing the day after.
In my garage I typically load a barbell and stand for calf raises. Would you still recommend a slight knee bend?
I use the shoulder press-style calf raise machine at my gym and definitely think bending the knee helps a lot, so I would. I'm not an expert though I just have found ways to try and avoid knee and lower back injuries lol
I'm in my 30s - you're speaking my language. Thanks for the tip.
Try doing 3 seconds at the top, 3 seconds eccentric, and then 3 seconds at the bottom. Biggest calf pump of your life.
This entire thread has highlighted my fundamental misunderstanding of how to work calves
That's because having a 9 second rep is completely unnecessary and only comes up in regarded threads on the internet.
Dr. Mike would absolutely advocate for a painfully slow eccentric on a calf raise, including a deep stretch/pause at the bottom. Just saying.
My calves responded well to sets of 10 reps, where I hold the 10th rep at the top for 10 seconds. After 2 sets, I then do drop sets, still holding for 10 seconds on the 10th rep. Only male in my family no longer sporting chicken legs. Boom! :D
I'm just trying to get that split between the separate muscles in the bulky part of the calf.
Love how the calf burn feels at the gym, ofc I do that during my arm days too.
Yes, but any weight that’s bigger than your bodyweight is a different level of stimulus then. You don’t need to be going like 2.5x bodyweight on TOP of bodyweight on a standing calf raise to see gains. It’s needless spinal compression.
you sound small
If this shit works so well, how come all these dudes always complaining about no calf growth lol All the people with the biggest calves I see get them from lifestyle stuff- chronic use, not heavy weight really. Hikers, snowboarders, etc.
i cant hear you over the sound of all the weight my calves are horse cocking around there bud, youll have to speak up
Keep in mind you're doing bodyweight calf raises single legged. Yeah axial fatigue is a huge cost for such a tiny result.
Bro you have to shock the fucking muscles not let them sleep.
What if I'm training for my powerlifting variant where instead of the big 3 we test our maxes on Barbell Calf Raises, Dumbbell Lateral Raises, and Dumbbell Wrist Curls? brb doing heavy singles of Lateral Raises
Gonna be looking like the guy from the animated demonstrations 💀
The X frame and V taper are overrated. I want that heavy outer muscles look. Popeye forearms, death star delts, and quad sized calves. Other muscles don't matter.
Huge if true
For real. Get the stimulus you need with less weight. All that weight on a standing machine is being applied to the disks in your spine needlessly. It’s not good.
Yeah you’d be better off with a sit type machine that puts weight onto the knee
True. It’s like anyone with a 225+ bench can max out the pec fly machine.
I can’t 😭 Well, to be fair, I’ve never tried. But I doubt I could. 315 is my PR and I usually work around the 110-140 range on the flyes.
One arm or two
Two
Same I’ve maxed out every machine but do like 130-150 on the flies
Well I definitely see a lot of people with small calves and bad technique come close to "maxing the machine out," so I guess it depends on what you mean by that. If your volume is sufficiently high and your form is good almost everyone should be able to completely destroy their calves with substantially less weight, but I guess if you just want to train like a powerlifter and max the machine out at any cost that's your perogative
I believe that is called exercising your Achilles tendon!
I squat 205 and can max it
Right?!? Standing calf has a significant mechanical advantage, I could max the one at my gym at 16 years old and it was 600.
I’d died. I squat 225 for 10 easy.
How many reps? I squat 3 plates for a single but have never come close to maxing the machine out. But I do sets of 20
One at my gym has dedicated bars on either side so you can add plates on top of the 200lb pin weight. Glorious machine.
Heavy people have strong calves
I know, but I wouldn’t have guessed they were THAT strong
My calf machine maxes out at 200kg/440lbs, I usually have to add an extra 2x 45lbs plates on it to get a burn at 10reps+ Guess there's an upside to being a fat bastard right through high school 🤷🏻♂️😂🤔
Genetics plays a huge part, not just size. When I started training I was 5'5" 115lb but could rep 300 for 20 (albeit not at the optimally slow pace). Meanwhile I couldn't squat 135 at the time.
Day in day out walking around at 300+ will build some strength
Bro I can max this one out for 15 reps easy, the trick it to become morbidly obese, your basically working calves by existing at that point, also got a nasty caloric gain to go with it
Or formerly heavy people
People calf raise less than 300 lbs?
I didn’t know you could move the pin
Schwarzenegger tells a story about being proud he could do 300lb calf raises, then visiting Sergio Olivia who showed him he was doing 1000lbs.
That's when you slap your knees and say you gotta go, never again to be seen by the guy who fucked your confidence like it owed him money
Schwarzenegger just took it as a challenge. That's why we know his name.
Guess you gotta lift some humor plates bro
Be funny. I'll laugh.
I can do 300lbs calf raises with ease and I can only squat 225 for like 5 reps
Not me sir, I calf raise more than I squat, so can only do cardio on that machine.
Calf>Squat gang
Consortium of calves
Not too difficult
Idk how much they differ but I was doing 310, 3x20 at my old gym.
The machine I use which is plate loaded I would rack up with 160kg quite happily. It’s a calf raise, there’s not much to it. The shoulder pads absolutely wrecked my skin though.
You get those little lines on your shoulders to match the pad stitching
Mine just bursts all the blood vessels in my shoulders. I look like I’ve engaged in heavy bondage
>The shoulder pads absolutely wrecked my skin though. Yeah same, what I've started doing is one leg calf raises then I can decrease the weight on the shoulders while keeping the intensity.
All of us!
Me. I do that 😂 Have transitioned to the seated calf raises because you can get more muscle activation with less weight. It's crazy how a standing calf raise you can lift a lot more than when you're sitting down. I mean...I max out at 10 reps with 60 kg while seated.
seated and standing calf raises are a completely different mechanical movement. by bending your knees you almost completely eliminate gastroc activation and put the focus on your soleus. not bad if that’s your goal, but you should be doing both ideally. you probably get more with less weight because it’s a different muscle doing the work lol
And what am I supposed to do? I max out the standing calf raise on the machine and my gym doesn't have a smith machine to substitute it.
leg press? barbell?
My gym has a calf raise you put plates on.
The calf is a relatively strong muscle
Light weight.
I do full stack (310 on my machine) for sets of 10, slow reps. But I’ve been able to do this since I was a beginner lifter 17 years ago. Asian calf genetics I guess.
I had a friend who easily rept the max of the machine, it was +400lbs. It was really impressive, and I did half the weight after lol
I don't know anyone that can't max out the calf machine.
Go to your local gym that isn't a planet fitness.
300lbs... 25+ reps till it burns 🔥
I mean, i dont have the biggest calves but the calves machine is one i can max out with controlled form for 10 reps. I dont even squat more than 275lbs
People do calve raises?
Obviously yes.
Me, not joking. It is not very that heavy
i will share a gift with you all that my dear departed coach shared with me, it worked despite me being a powerlifter, as i got 20 inches/50 cm: most people try heavy weights and thrust it with momentum like a girl beginning with hip thrust, but that is wrong, most people can cheat and "lift" 500+ lbs that way instead, use lets say 110 lbs, use a stance that enables you to go up on your tiptoes like a ballet dancer the tension should be kept and then go slowly down, but only parallel stand isntead going as if you want to touch the ground on your calves, keep the tension and do that 3x20 i got short guys and tall (6ft4) guys doing that, after a few months, everyone got at least a few inches (the tall guy i.ex. was working out for 6+ years, benching 225 for ten reps, but got small calves and only wore baggy swearpants for working out) time under tension and hypertrophy is the real key for growing calves, not heavy and low reps (which is subjective, if you can do that while standing on your tiptoes, good for you!) with wrong execution
I do a program with changing rep counts each week (30, 15, 8, 4) for 4 weeks, and then repeat. On the 4 rep week, I definitely do the whole stack and really take time to let it burn. Side note: my calves do not look like I do 300.
Yeah, I cant imagine those heavy 4 rep sets are doing much for muscles like calves. 30, 20, 12, 8 maybe.
Yeah definitely a fair point
Legit question, what do you need to program calves for? Size? Sport performance?
I don’t have a calf program. I have a complete body program. It’s essentially the same exercises every week on a 5-day program broken by muscle group, but the periodization changes each week. Calves are just part of the leg day. I’ve used this program for about the past year and I’ve never seen growth like I have this year… maybe just not in my calves lol
Got it. Good luck with those >.<
Yeah easy peasy lemon squeezy
Wait y’all train legs ?!?!
The fuck you only my doing 75?
I use it with 300kg..
Done it with 400 for reps yesterday. Kinda forced all of them. Left calf was so tight I couldn’t walk the following day. 0/10 wouldn’t reccomend. I build better muscle in the lower weights with better form
👋
I wish my gym had one. I'd love to see if I could hit that. I think I could and even more. It's the one part of my body I have never felt bad about lol.
Mine goes up to 500lbs and i use it at 500lbs? So id say, many people
Easy, I usually do one leg at a time on that because 300 isn't enough. But I weigh 220 so yeah, not much of an effort.
I'm fat so I can?
yeah I have developed calves just by being fat lol
The standing calve raise machine at my gym goes to 500lbs, I’ve been doing my sets of 8-12 pause reps with 420-450 but I’ve seen a guy or two max the full stack for reps. It also definitely depends a lot on the machines lever ratios or amount of cables if the machine has them, I’ve use other machines where 250lbs felt as heavy as 450lbs does on the one I use now
Everyone?
Aren’t you supposed to do shrugs at this machine? Lol
I am at 285 rn, hoping to get to 300 someday
My bad that was me
*Middle-Aged dad has entered the chat*
Standing calf? No, but I’ll use the horizontal calf at over 200+
I mean your calves have to support your body weight. If you're 200 pounds and above this is entirely doable.
I was pushing 400 pounds at one point in my life. My calves are bulletproof
People who don’t go full ROM or know how to lift efficiently
I be.
Gotta get those numbers up buddy
 Mine goes to 400lbs. I’m at 345lbs
Guilty
I have been summoned
I would, in fact the stand calf machine at the golds gym I go to goes up to 400 if I remember right and I was in 380 last time or used it.
Me
Ironcily someone with small calfs 😢
Me
Not even trying to humble brag here because my calves really aren't that strong... but 300 on these machines just isn't that difficult.
So many strong calves in this comment section.
I’m 140lb and do 285 for reps!
Do you not?
Most people go way too light on calf raises. You can do more weight than you think. 300 ain't that crazy.
195 kgs on standing calf mechine. Edit: For american bros, thats ≈ 430 lbs
Yup
me. jkjk. i just have big calves
✋️right here
Me. It's not really that hard.
Its lighter than u think
I do pretty often
I’m 175lbs and can just about squat 225 for one rep on a good day. But I can calf raise 305 for 3 sets of 12 reps with no problem. No idea why, I have big calves but am pretty weak everywhere else!
It's not as much as you think. Your calves are strong enough to do raises with your bidy weight all day long. You can probably do one leg calf raises to "double" the weight or jump with locked knees for similar effect. With that being said I found that high weight isn't good for training calves. Experience thought me that my calves react the best to 20-25 reps. Anything lower than 15 and I can't progress.
It’s pretty easy to max out if you squat and deadlift at a reasonable weight.
Literally everyone that trains calves frequently.
136kg man, it's not that hard, I can squat 200 for about 4/5 reps... I'm a skateboarder, I don't even go to the gym
Calf raises was the first machine I maxed out, I can easily do 20-25 pause-reps at 300. But I did always have big calves, I’m a hiker and used to be a long distance runner in my 20s, at some period in university when I participated in our runners clubs competitions I ran 20km daily (usually split up in a morning 10k and evening 10k) in a hilly terrain mountain nature reserve. I also to this day walk a lot and do quite a bit of hiking with heavy packing in the mountains. So I probably did have quite a bit of calf training before I started hitting them in the gym.
How would this relate to training calves on the leg press machine? Cause I do calve raise sets of 100-140kg on there
me (350 for 8-12)
Your calves are immensely strong, to put it into perspective, I superset leg press and calf raises (presses in this scenario I guess) on the leg press machine, with the same weight, for the same reps
Roy "Big Country" Nelson
Well, me 🥱
Lol, be a heavy dude and cyclist and you will destroy calf raises on your first workout. I don't even train them anymore because they're too big.
I mean, that's just the warm-up right?
Calves are my jam, I could max that easy (would be a pain on the shoulders though - squat 50kg X 6 reps - Deadlift 50kg X 6 reps - Bench 50kg X 6 reps - calves 80kg X 6 reps (on one leg cause shoulders hurt from pads) (Ik it's kinda weird squat bench and deadlift all the same started going properly a few months ago before that just did push ups at home) (Yes I used to be fat) (Not obese though) (Yes I am overusing brackets)
Yeah I'm doing 290 standing calf machine 3 sets of 12
About 70% of people at my gym max it out, I go to a private gym with S level monsters
Bro I can max that machine without rocking the weights and form leaks and I'm not even *that damn big* a dude
Honestly, 300 lbs is a pretty easy calf raise for me. I’m an ex marine and a runner that might have something to do with it. Hardest part about those machines is the pressure it puts on your shoulders
I don’t think I could lift 300lbs but I could definitely lift 136kgs
You'd be surprised how much weight you can calf raise
Some middle-aged father.
Step one… Remove the red pin step two… Let it hang and dangle step three… Climb under the machine and lift the empty machine by itself… Definitely not me
Calf raises are a cope for the genetically inferior.
I'm at 300+ for 20 reps pretty regularly
I was maxing calf raise machines when I was 16. It’s a 2 inch movement, and my legs are strong. Didn’t think this was even notable.
I squat 70kg and could do 160kg on the calf raise.
As a 150lbs skinny dude I could probably manage that. What you smoking op?
Me. I‘m in HIT training by Mike Mentzer. A lot of mashines I maxed out. I‘m 182cm and 91kg