When you compete in bodybuilding, you need to make sure you’re targeting all of your muscles—yes, even the calves. This muscle has become a meme within the fitness industry, and many on social media will admit to neglecting it during leg day.
The calves are, admittedly, one of the hardest parts to develop for any fitness buff. Even seven-time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger struggled to grow them — but he didn’t quit. Instead, he trademarked the credo “Attack your weaknesses” and trained his calves six days a week, which included 500-pound calf raises.
So why are the calves such a trouble spot? Part of it has to do with genetics — your parents may not have given you the genes necessary to make them grow as big as you need to earn your IFBB pro card or stand on an Olympia stage. The second, though, is that the calves are already worked in your everyday life.
The gastrocnemius and soleus muscles are both vital for things like walking and running, meaning they’re already being worked out before you touch a piece of iron. That also means a few calf raises aren’t going to do much to stress them into further growth.
This means you need to attack them with force: We’re talking high reps and heavy weight to get the blood rushing into them to get them larger.
No one knows more about the effort and the success it takes to overcome this bodybuilding hurdle than the four past Mr. Olympia winners here that have shared their tips and tricks to making the calves more impressive than their onstage counterparts.
Unlike our prior “Train the Olympia Way” pieces, we’ll give you two pieces of advice from each champ: their favorite calf move and the technique they employed. As always, we’ll provide the reasoning for each as well. We’ll also provide you with not one, but two sample workouts: one that goes heavy and hard and another that’s high volume.
Heed their advice and follow the two workouts that are below so you can reach your full potential and reap the rewards.
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Per Bernal
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Donkey Calf Raises and Pumping Action
As previously discussed, “the Austrian Oak” was able to turn a weakness into a strength. One practice the Pumping Iron star used was what he called “pumping action.” He explained to Flex how this worked with exercises like the donkey calf raise.
“Other than doing forced reps with the help of a partner, my favorite techniques were peak contractions and what I used to call a ‘pumping action.’ Peak contraction is simply a matter of holding the top of each rep and squeezing the calves for three to four counts before lowering the weight. This was very painful, but I always relished the muscle burn and felt it would only make me bigger.”
Look up “Arnold Donkey Calf Raise” and you’ll also see shots of him performing this move with Franco Columbu sitting on his back.
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Per Bernal
Dorian Yates: Standing Calf Raise and Pre-Exhaust
The UK’s greatest bodybuilding export, Dorian Yates, had to fend off challenges from competitors who would fill an entire wing at the bodybuilding Hall of Fame. His high-intensity style of training was used on everything, including the calves. He shared with Flex that he would wait until the end of the leg workout to train the lower legs, when they were already fatigued. His first movement was usually a standing calf raise.
“Standing raises are heavier, so I start with those. My knees are ever-so-slightly bent, and to avoid premature fatigue, I do only one warm-up set of 10-12 reps and follow that with one all-out failure set of 10, plus one or two forced reps. The pace is smooth and only my heels are in motion — there’s no leveraging upward with my back or springing with my knees.”
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Jasminko Ibrakovic
Jay Cutler: Calf Presses and Rest-Pause Training
Cutler had to leave no stone unturned in his quest to dethrone the great Ronnie Coleman. One asset that the Massachusetts native had was below his knees. He attributed doing calf presses and using a rest-pause technique to make the most out of his sets.
“I’ll sometimes do a little rest-pause for calves. I’ll stop when I reach failure, rest for a few seconds, and then get a few more reps. I might do this two or three times.”
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Jasminko Ibrakovic
Phil Heath: Seated Calf Raise and High Reps
“The Gift” was blessed with calves thanks to his days playing basketball. However, he admitted that he didn’t train them as hard early in his bodybuilding career. Once he recommitted to making them Sandow-worthy, he found that higher reps worked in his favor. He explained to Flex that 20 was a good number for him, especially with seated calf raises which works the soleus portion of the muscles.
“Rep ranges are normally 8-10, but with calves, a little different. Rep range is around 20. For the seated (calf raise) machine, it’s the same — around 20.”
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Pavel Ythjall / Shutterstock
Calves Workout
Workout A (Heavy and Hard)
Standing Calf Raise: Two sets, 10-12 reps*
Donkey Calf Raise: Three sets, 15 reps**
*One is a warm-up set. The second is to total failure with one or two forced reps after.
**Hold the top of each rep for three or four seconds before lowering to a full stretch.
Workout B – (High Volume)
Calf Press: Three sets, 15 reps*
Seated Calf Raise: Four sets, 20 reps
*Use rest-pause sets. Rest for around ten seconds, and perform a few more reps.
