Big calves may be natural for some people, but big AND defined calves are often more uncommon to come across.
Aside from looks however, the important question we’re going to discuss here is can bigger calves increase your squat? Of course if you don’t have strong quads and a strong posterior chain you’re not going to get anywhere, but is it possible to improve not only your squat, but all of your lifts just by growing bigger calves?
Yes. Yes you can.
Why Bigger, Stronger Calves Convert To Squat Strength
The primary muscles in the calves are the gastrocnemius and the soleus. By strengthening these muscles we can add leg strength through explosiveness, lockout power, and stability.
If you have ever done GHR’s (Glute Ham Raises) then you definitely know how hard they are especially when you do them weighted. Obviously your hamstrings are screaming and driving you up, but if you notice its your calves driving against the back plate hard that is bringing you to full extension in those final last degrees of motion.
This is a perfect example of what is happening in a heavy squat. Your larger muscles such as your hamstrings and quads are doing most of the work to bring you up but its often an extra little push by the calf muscles that get you past that sticking point.
Another example is explosive jumping such as box jumps, broad jumps, or vertical jumps. Again, your larger muscles are actively firing but your calves are the bottom part of that fully loaded spring that propels you upward with power and explosiveness.
For our last example lets take a look at pistol squats. In a pistol squat (one-leg squat) you’re taking one whole leg out of the power equation as well as a lot of balance. In order to do an effective pistol squat you’re going to need to stabilize and extend your whole body using only one leg. This is where you’re going to want big, strong calves.
By building stronger calves you’ll be more able to confidently stabilize the weight of your body on one leg and produce more effective power on your way up.
So how do you get them?
How To Get Bigger and Stronger Calves
100 bodyweight calf raises everyday for a month.
Thats right. All you have to do is perform 100 bodyweight calf raises everyday for a month and you will grow 1 inch to each of your calves. That is tremendous growth for one month of training 10 minutes a day.
This idea came from John Paul Catanzaro of Testosterone Nation so I will let him explain how to correctly perform them:
“As simple as it sounds, proper form is very important. Situate your feet about shoulder-width apart and toes turned slightly out. Concentrate on raising the heels straight up as if they’re puppet strings being pulled up by God himself.
Make sure to contract hard at the top – think of a double biceps pose, except you’re squeezing the hell out of your calves. Don’t hold on to a wall or machine for support. The idea is not to deload in any manner, as we want those small stabilizers to grow as well. Simply keep your arms at your sides or your hands on your hips.
You must be in bare feet (no shoes). Make sure to raise the heels as high as possible, and distribute your weight evenly over all your toes. Hold the top, contracted position for a full 2 seconds. It must be a definite stop at the top, and you must feel a peak contraction in the calves.
Next, control the lowering – don’t just drop like a bomb! If you fail to perform these two steps properly, the rep doesn’t count. It’s that simple. They must be quality repetitions to optimally benefit from this type of training. The prime movers will get hit, but so will all those little stabilizers, and in the long run, it will make a big difference in the overall growth of your calves.
You’ll need to invest up to 10 minutes a day for a month to reap the benefits of this method. Consider that each controlled repetition should take 6 seconds (i.e., 2 seconds up, 2 seconds at the top, 2 seconds down, and no pause at the bottom) and you’re performing up to 100 reps per day – that equals 10 minutes.”
You can find his full article on building massive calves here.
As you may already know calves are one of the most if not the most stubborn muscles in the body to see growth, and that is because we are practically training them every single day.
Every time we stand up and walk we are using our calves, which means to see some actual growth we need to really abuse those muscles as described above.
Follow this routine of 100 bodyweight calf raises everyday for a month and you’re sure to see substantial strength, stability, and aesthetic gains.
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