Tweet
I have some diet and training articles that will be coming out soon for Bodybuilding.com, but I thought I'd share a little bit about my calf training. This was the result of experimenting with several different techniques and seems to have brought me the best results I've seen in years. In a nut shell, I've stolen several different ideas on training.
First I use something I saw Joe Daniels doing. He was doing heavy calf raises in the smith machine with no stretch at the bottom. I added rest pauses as in DC training, and on my 3rd rest pause I cheat the weight up, hold for 3-5 seconds, and then lower in 3-5 seconds. I stole the hold and negative idea from my coach, Jeremiah Forster.
http://youtu.be/qqJMpHvGN8A
Next, I took an idea from John Parillo and do a set of 100 on seated calf raises. I do as many as possible without stopping. I usually start with a weight I can manage 30 reps without stopping. I'll take a quick rest and go again. I'll repeat this for 100 reps. When I can do 50 without stopping I'll up the weight the next time.
http://youtu.be/7UvkanckEAw
Finally, I finish with Donkey calf raises. On these I steal from Dante again and accentuate the stretch by holding it and even pushing into it. I also will squeeze on the contraction and control the negative as well. When I hit failure I will do 2-3 drop sets.
http://youtu.be/diayLPwOrKY
I will do this routine 2-3 times before doing what I call a deload workout, which is very similar to Vince Gironda's 8x8 protocol. I will do this on standing calves. I will squeeze the contraction, lower slowly on the negative, and push into the stretch. I will do this for 8 reps, take 15-20 seconds rest before going again. The goal is to hit all sets for 8 reps, but this is pretty difficult. You want to start out light. On these I will stop short of failure until the last few sets.
First I use something I saw Joe Daniels doing. He was doing heavy calf raises in the smith machine with no stretch at the bottom. I added rest pauses as in DC training, and on my 3rd rest pause I cheat the weight up, hold for 3-5 seconds, and then lower in 3-5 seconds. I stole the hold and negative idea from my coach, Jeremiah Forster.
http://youtu.be/qqJMpHvGN8A
Next, I took an idea from John Parillo and do a set of 100 on seated calf raises. I do as many as possible without stopping. I usually start with a weight I can manage 30 reps without stopping. I'll take a quick rest and go again. I'll repeat this for 100 reps. When I can do 50 without stopping I'll up the weight the next time.
http://youtu.be/7UvkanckEAw
Finally, I finish with Donkey calf raises. On these I steal from Dante again and accentuate the stretch by holding it and even pushing into it. I also will squeeze on the contraction and control the negative as well. When I hit failure I will do 2-3 drop sets.
http://youtu.be/diayLPwOrKY
I will do this routine 2-3 times before doing what I call a deload workout, which is very similar to Vince Gironda's 8x8 protocol. I will do this on standing calves. I will squeeze the contraction, lower slowly on the negative, and push into the stretch. I will do this for 8 reps, take 15-20 seconds rest before going again. The goal is to hit all sets for 8 reps, but this is pretty difficult. You want to start out light. On these I will stop short of failure until the last few sets.
Comment