Killer Calves

Copyright 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved. Page 1 www.LeeHayward.
com
Killer Calves!
Specialization Training Secrets To Build Bigger More Muscular Calves!
By Lee Hayward
www.LeeHayward.com
Version 1.01
January 2012
Copyright 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved. Page 2 www.LeeHayward.com
Copyright 2012 Lee Hayward
All Rights Reserved
Lee Haywards Total Fitness Bodybuilding
www.LeeHayward.com
No part of this e-book maybe reproduced in any form, except for the
inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without permission in writing
from the author or publisher.
Published by Lee Hayward in Newfoundland, Canada.
A WORD OF CAUTION: DISCLAIMER
This e-book is for reference and informational purposes only
and is no way intended as medical counseling or medical advice.
The information contained herein should not be used to treat,
diagnose, or prevent a disease of medical condition without the
advice of a competent medical professional. This e-book deals
with in-depth information on health and fitness. Most of the
information applies to everyone in general; however, not
everyone has the same body type. We each have different
responses to exercise depending on our choice of intensity
and diet. Before making any changes in your lifestyle, you
should consult with a physician to discover the best solution
for your individual body type. The author, editors, and graphic
designers shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any
person or entity with respect to any damage or injury alleged
to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained
in this e-book.
Introduction
If you have been working out for any length of time than Im sure you have
noticed that some of your muscle groups develop faster than others. This is
totally normal, very few people have perfectly proportioned bodys. Even
most of the top pro bodybuilders have flaws in their physiques.
For example, its common to see folks with big upper bodys and skinny
legs (or vice versa). Sometimes its the individual muscle groups
themselves that are lagging, someone could have big and well developed
thighs that are stacked on top of scrawny little calves. Some folks may
have big muscular arms, but flat chests. Some people have big biceps, but
very weak triceps, etc...
Sometimes the flaws have to do with the symmetry between the left and
right sides of the body. Generally we are stronger in our dominant side. So
if you are right handed its quite common to have your right arm bigger and
stronger than your left arm. And as crazy as it may seem, Ive also seen the
opposite where the non-dominant side is actually the bigger more
developed side. These symmetry problems dont just stop at the arms
either. Some people have one leg bigger than the other, one pec larger and
more developed than the other, one lat thats wider than the other, etc...
Bottom line no body is perfect. However, with smart intelligent training you
can make the most of your God given genetics and maximize your muscle
building potential.
In this e-Report - Killer Calves - were going to dive in and focus on the
best exercises that you can do for building up the muscles of the calves
and finally get rid of those dreaded chicken legs once and for all.
And the best part about this program is that it is an Add On to your
existing workout routine. So regardless of whatever program you are
currently following now, you can simply add in these exercises as extra
workouts and reap the results of bigger more muscular calves!
Focus On The Calves
If you were to do an informal survey of the guys at the gym, chances are
almost ALL of them would like to build bigger calves. Well developed calves
really help to balance out your leg development and enhance the overall
look of your physique. After all, nobody wants to have well big muscular
thighs stacked on top of puny little calves. But this is one of the most
common physique flaws that youll see among the gym regulars, and it
really does look like Chicken Legs.
Sometimes its poor genetics that is responsible for skinny calves.
Other times its a lack of proper training that maybe preventing you
from developing the calves. But regardless of your situation, making
improvements is always possible.
Now I have to admit, Ive been blessed with good genetics for building the
calves. Theyre a muscle group that has responded well for me. But Ive
still dedicated A LOT of time to quality calve training. Even when I started
working out as teenager I made sure to include regular calve training in
my workouts right from the start.
And despite what you may have heard, there is a definite Right and
Wrong way to go about maximizing muscle growth in the calves. Most
guys at the gym are doing things wrong and making some critical mistakes
in their calve exercises that prevent them from getting the results that they
should be getting.
A typical calve workout usually consists of nothing more then a couple sets
of quick choppy calves raises at the end of a workout. There usually isnt
much thought that goes into it.
Compare that to say the typical chest workout, or arm workout...
Most guys go all out and give these muscle groups 100% effort. Youll
never see a hardcore fitness enthusiast just mindlessly toss in a couple
quick sets of pec deck flyes at the end of his workout and think thats
good enough for chest. But youll very often see guys do a couple quick
sets of calve raises and think thats good enough for their calves.
So right now Im going to go into detail and share some of the best calve
exercises that you can perform in the gym. And then well outline a training
strategy of how you can incorporate these exercises into your weekly
workout routine and finally build a set of well balanced muscular legs!
Lee Hayward Showing The Results Of Proper Calve Training!
Standing Calve Raise
Standing calve raises are my personal favorite calve exercise because they
work the calves through a full range of motion and allow for heavy weights
to be lifted.
The real secret to building big muscular calves is using an
Exaggerated Range Of Motion for all your calve exercises.
The calves are a very tough dense muscle group. They get worked every
time you get up, walk, climb stairs, etc. but they only get worked in a short
partial range of motion. So if you want to stimulate new muscle growth in
the calves you need to work them in the fully stretched position and the
fully contracted position.
Just think about how your calves work when walking, youll never fully
stretch them out, nor will you ever get a full peak contraction. They just
move a few inches in the mid range.
Now think of how most guys train their calves in the gym...
Theyll generally get on the calve raise machine and mindlessly
bounce up and down a few inches in the mid range of the exercise.
So the best approach to hitting those untapped muscle fibers of the calves
is to push the limits with an Exaggerated Range Of Motion.
Start with a light weight (about 50% of what youd normally use for calve
raises) and let your heels stretch all the way down as far as possible. Hold
this position for a count of 10. Then raise up all the way on to the balls of
your feet and squeeze your calves hard for a count of 10.
This is considered 1 repetition!
Note:
Counting to 10 in your head is probably about 6 real seconds. So if you actually
use a watch to time this out, you can hold each position for 6 seconds.
Continue on doing reps in this slow motion stretch and contract fashion
until failure. Then once you hit failure, I want you to re-set your feet and do
another 10 reps using a quick short mini calve raise in the midrange (the
way most guys do all of their calve raises). This will burn like crazy and
maximize muscle stimulation in the calves.
Youll first hit failure in the full exaggerated range of motion, then youll hit
failure again in the mid-range. And your calves will have no choice but to
grow bigger and more muscular!
When To Use This Exercise:

The best time to train your calves is at the end of a workout. If you train them at
the beginning of your workout youll probably have a harder time with your other
exercises.
The feet and calves help to balance and stabilize your body when doing any
standing exercises. So if your feet and calves are pumped and exhausted it
could off set your balance for the rest of your workout.
I like to begin training calves with the standing calve raise as this is the main
bread and butter calve exercise. Standing Calve Raises are to your calves,
what Bench Presses are to your chest.
When choosing a starting weight go lighter then you think you should.
Trust me, doing slow motion calve raises with an exaggerated range of motion
will be A LOT HARDER then doing the typical short choppy calve raises that
most guys are used to doing.
Strive to get between 5-10 reps using the count of 10 at the bottom and count of
10 at the top of each rep. (Note: counting to 10 in your head is probably about 6
real seconds). So each set will keep your calves under tension for over a minute.
Start with 1-2 lighter warm up sets using a regular tempo speed to warm up
the feet, calves and ankles. Then do 3 slow motion working sets using the
Exaggerated Range Of Motion.
Seated Calve Raise
The seated calve raise machine is a good isolation exercise for the calves.
Being in the seated position with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle and
will place more of the workload on the outer head of the calve, the soleus
muscle.
When setting up for seated calve raise make sure that the kneepad is very
snug fitting right over the top of the knees. This will place the stress right
over the calve muscles. Do NOT set the pad higher up on your quads.
As you do the exercise itself make sure to lower your heels all the way
down for a deep stretch, hold this for a moment, then lift up all the way on
the balls of your feet for a peak contraction. When it comes to building big
calves, using a full range of motion is the key to maximizing your
development.
You can use the same rep tempo as explained for the Standing Calve
Raise. Hold the fully stretched position for a count of 10. Then raise up all
the way on to the balls of your feet and squeeze your calves hard for a
count of 10. This is considered 1 repetition!

I personally like to do the seated calve raise after the standing calve raise. Start
off with 1 or 2 warm up sets to warm up your ankles, then take the same weight
for 3-4 sets. Keep your reps around 10 per set. And really exaggerate the
stretch at the bottom and the peak contraction at the top of each rep.
Rather than trying to lift super heavy, keep the weights moderate, and strive to
feel the muscles working when you do your calve exercises. I recommend
keeping with the same weight for at least 3 workouts before increasing the
weights and going heavier. This will allow you to maintain perfect exercise form
and still incorporate progressive overload into your calve workouts.
When you do increase the weights, keep the increments small (i.e. adding 5 - 10
pounds at a time). Its better to make small, frequent, and consistent increments
in weight, rather then trying to go up too much, too soon and risk injury and
over training.
Leg Press Calve Raise
The leg press calve raise is a unique calve exercise. It hits the calves
totally differently from the standing or seated calve raise. Due to the angle
of the seated position with your legs extended, youll find it hard to get a
really deep stretch in the calves. However, this is an awesome position for
working the calves through the mid-range and fully peaked contracted
positions.
The leg press calve raise is a big exercise that allows for heavy weights to
be lifted. But you need to be careful and build up gradually so that you dont
stain the tendons and ligaments in your feet and ankles.
Another little tip that works well for this exercise is to keep your knees
slightly bent, just short of fully locked out. This will take stress off the knee
joints and allow you to better contract the calve muscles as you do the
exercise.
Safety Tip:
When doing leg press calve raises make sure to keep the safety pins
locked in place at all times on the weight sled so that it cannot come down
all the way. If you un-rack the safety pins and your feet happened to slip off
the bottom of the sled, there would be nothing to stop the weight sled from
coming down and crushing you in the bottom.

I would recommend that you alternate the leg press calve raise with the seated
calve raise with each calve workout. This will work the calves from unique
positions.
So if you do the seated calve raise during your workout, do NOT do the
leg press calve raise. And vice versa, if you do the leg press calve raise,
skip the seated calve raise.
Just like with all calve raise variations, focus on using a full range of motion.
Get a full stretch in the bottom of each rep and a fully peak contraction at the top
of each rep. With this move I often just pyramid up in weight with each set, and
do multiple sets with strict form.
I literally start with just one 45 pound plate on each side of the leg press and rep
out 10 slow motion exaggerated reps. And then with each set Ill add another 45
pound plate and just keep going like this until my calves have had enough.
Bodyweight Calve Raise
The bodyweight calve raise is just like the standing calve raise, but we are
just going to use our bodyweight. Now dont let this fool you into thinking
that this is going to be an easy exercise because we are just using
bodyweight...
The kicker with this exercise is that were going to make up for the lighter
weight by doing higher reps!
Now you can (and should) do an easy set of bodyweight calve raises at the
beginning of your calve workout to simply warm up the muscles, joints,
tendons, and ligaments. But the muscle building benefits of this exercise
come from using it as a killer finishing move to really fry the calve muscles
at the end of your workout.
For this move we are going to use an Exaggerated Range Of Motion,
going all the way down for a full stretch, and all the way back up for a full
peak contraction. However, we are NOT going to do them in a slow motion
fashion like the other weighted calve exercises. Instead were going to
speed up the tempo so that you only hold each position for 1 second.
This will really pump up the calves like crazy and allow you to get higher
reps. I want you to strive to do a minimum of 100 total reps at the end of
your calve workouts.
Now just to clarify things, that doesnt mean 100 total reps in a single set,
you can break those reps up into 5 sets of 20... 4 sets of 25... 3 sets of 33...
or whatever set and rep patter it takes in order for you to complete 100 total
reps.
And if you are doing this right, your calves should be screaming with a
lactic acid burn after you complete those 100 reps.
Now after several weeks of doing this on a regular basis as part of your
calve workouts, your calves are going to get bigger, stronger, and build up
a higher work capacity. So when doing 2 leg bodyweight calve raises
becomes too easy for you, you can switch to doing 1 leg bodyweight
calve raises as shown on the next page...
1 Leg Bodyweight Calve Raise
By doing your calve raises with one leg at a time youve just doubled the
resistance per calve. Not only that, but this is an awesome exercise to help
build balance and proportion between the left and right calves. So if you
have 1 calve thats bigger / stronger than the other, you should include
1 leg calve raises as a regular part of your calve workouts.
The same technique applies here as for the 2 leg variation. The only
difference is that youll be doing a total of 200 reps (100 reps for each leg).

Do the bodyweight calve raise at the beginning of your calve workouts as a
warm up. You dont need to do too many, just 20-30 total reps will be plenty to
warm up your muscles, joints, tendons, etc.
Then move on and do a couple of the weighted calve exercises as shown in
the previous sections. After you do your weighted calve exercises, move on to
doing 100+ reps of bodyweight calve raises to really finish off your calve workout
and pump those suckers up like crazy!
The cool thing about bodyweight calve raises is that you can pretty much do
them anywhere at anytime, all you need is a step or a block to stand on. So if
your calves are a stubborn hard to grow muscle for you to develop, you can
literally do this exercise every single day at home in your spare time.
By regularly pumping up the calves and flushing blood into the muscles youll
improve circulation and nutrient delivery to the calve muscles. And this will help
to spur on new muscle growth.
Since the calves are such a small muscle group they can recover quickly from
frequent workouts. And the risk of over training from calve workouts is very slim
as they dont place a lot of stress on the central nervous system like training the
big power house muscles of the chest, back, thighs, etc.
Putting It All Together...
Ok, so we just covered some of the best exercises that you can included in
your training to help build up the calves. Now Im going to show you how to
actually implement these moves into your weekly workout routine.
How To Train Your Calves:
For stubborn calves, I recommend working them in the gym 3 times per
week, or every second day. However, use your own recovery & results to
judge how often to train your calves. If you find that your calves get really
sore, then cut back to training them just 2 times per week.
The best time to perform calve training in your workouts is at the end of a
workout. This way they wont hinder the quality of your other exercises.
Heres the actual calve workout routine...
Bodyweight Calve Raise:
20-30 reps as a warm up.
Standing Calve Raise:
Set 1 - 10-20 reps, smooth tempo (light warm up weight)
Set 2 - 5-10 slow motion reps with full range of motion (moderate weight)
Seated Calve Raise Or Leg Press Calve Raise (alternate each workout):
Set 1 - 10-20 reps, smooth tempo (light warm up weight)
Bodyweight Calve Raise:
100 total reps using just bodyweight.
Thats it, simple and to the point, but very effective. If you commit to
following this calve workout routine on a regular basis I can promise that
youre going see some major improvements over the coming weeks!
About the Author
Lee Hayward is a competitive bodybuilder, muscle
building coach, and one of the most sought out
fitness professionals online.
For over 10 years he has committed his life to
helping aspiring bodybuilders and fitness
enthusiasts build lean muscle, burn off stubborn
body fat, and develop a lean, athletic muscular
physique that they can be proud of.
Lees Total Fitness Bodybuilding website has
been online since January 1999 and has become
one of the Internets most popular bodybuilding and
fitness websites which averages over 100,000
visitors each month.
Whether your goal is to make a complete physique
transformation, or just lose a few pounds of
stubborn belly fat; Lee Hayward can help get the
results you want!
For a limited time Lee is giving away a complete Bodybuilding Quick Start Kit that
includes 2 FREE e-books and a 10-Part Muscle Building Tips e-Course where he
shares some killer training and nutrition tricks that will help you pack on solid muscle
mass, strip away excess bodyfat, and transform your soft mushy body into a ripped
powerful physique in record time!
This Bodybuilding Quick Start Kit has a real world $47 value, but right now you can
sign up and download it for FREE at: www.LeeHayward.com
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Copyright 2012 Lee Hayward All Rights Reserved. Page 1 www.LeeHayward.

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