How to Get Big Calf Muscles

Have you ever heard of the gastrocnemius muscle? You probably have and just don’t know it. Those in the know often call it the calf muscle, a part of the leg that you are no doubt familiar with. Calling the gastrocnemius muscle the calf is only partially true, however, because it forms the calf in conjunction with the soleus muscle. It could be that this slight misunderstanding leads in part to the difficulty with which the calf muscle truly gains in size.

Because it is difficult to properly develop, many often don’t do the homework to discover what truly develops it, they run a few laps, do a couple of leg presses, and call it day. If you want to find out how to get big calf muscles, you need to perform exercises that focus on the correct muscles.

An exercise you have probably seen carried out in the gym is the calf press using the leg press machine. You will want to sit on the bench as you normally would for a leg press, the seat inclined back so you are lifting the platform up. The key here, if you really want to get big calf muscles, is to place only your toes on the platform while lifting with your legs. At the top of the lift, hold the weights there for a count and then slowly return to the starting position. Because your toes are the only part of the foot on the platform, you are really hitting the calves.

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You may not realize it, but using a dumbbell is also a great method on how to get big calf muscles. A dumbbell single leg calf raise is a great exercise, and it involves holding a dumbbell in one hand while standing with your toes on the edge of the bottom support of any stationary structure. A weight bench is ideal. Support yourself with the opposite hand on the top of the bench back and raise your foot on the bottom support bar, lifting your entire body up. At the top of your leg lift balanced on your toes, hold the pose for a count and slowly lower your leg. Repeat this with the opposite hand and foot.

Another method on how to get big calf muscles is to use a variation of the dumbbell single leg calf raise. This version involves sitting on a bench and simply placing a dumbbell on your knee. Place your hand on top of the dumbbell as a means to stabilize it and lift up with your toes. Do not press down with your hand because all sorts of muscle groups will try to compensate and counteract the pressure, which will really rob the calves of their workout.

You also perform an exercise using a hack squat machine if you need to know how to get big calf muscles. This highly effective exercise is appropriately named the hack machine calf raise. The starting position is exactly that of an actual hack squat. The difference is that you want to place your toes on the bottom edge of the platform and push up with your toes, holding for a count, and then returning to the starting position. Do not bend your knees.

Remember, you are working on your calves. Until now, you may have been wondering how to get big calf muscles because you just weren’t seeing results. Now that you have seen that there are productive exercises that focus on them, head on down to the gym and start developing those calves.

Click here to learn How to Get Big Calf Muscles