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Hey guys, Sean Nalewanyj here of BodyTransformationTruth.com and in this video I want to outline four important
calf training tips that you should be applying to all of your standing calf raise moves (which
is the number one exercise that I recommend for optimal calf training) if you want to
see the very best results possible. So aside from a couple of legitimate genetic disadvantages
that do come into play, which I talked about in a Q &A video that I posted earlier today,
which I'll also link in the description box, most guys also make several simple but crucial
mistakes in their training form that make adding significant size to their calves next
to impossible. So give these 4 tips a try on your next workout and I guarantee that
you'll notice a significant difference in how effectively you're able to stimulate your
calves. And keep in mind I'm not going to bother demonstrating these because these tips
are fairly self-explanatory. So Tip Number 1. Instead of driving yourself up onto the
entire ball of your front foot, focus on raising yourself up onto your big toe instead. This
prevents your feet and your ankles from rolling outward, and maximally stimulates the inner
portion of your calf where the largest percentage of the muscle mass is located. If you simply
perform a regular calf raise without thinking about this, then your body will naturally
follow the path of least resistance and do the opposite, since your big toe is positioned
furthest away. Give this one a try and you should notice an immediate improvement in
how intensely you're able to contract your calves on each rep. Tip Number 2. When most
people perform standing calf raises, they place their feet at shoulder width apart or
even narrower throughout the exercise. And while this certainly will still work when
it comes to stimulating your calves for growth, an even better approach is to go slightly
wider than shoulder width at an inch or two outside. So just like pressing yourself up
onto your big toe, using a wider stance on your calf raises prevents your ankles from
rolling outward as you press yourself up. If you do want to mix in some additional sets
using a narrower stance that's perfectly fine, but use the wider stance as the foundation
of your calf training. Tip Number 3. One very common and detrimental calf training mistake
is in the excessive use of momentum. In fact, it's very rare to see a lifter in the gym
who doesn't perform their calf raises in this way. The majority of people simply load up
the weights and then basically bounce their way through their set by pumping out their
reps without any real pause at the top or at the bottom of the movement. When you balance
yourself out at the bottom position of a standing calf raise, you greatly minimize the amount
of tension that you can place on the actual calf muscles and you redirect it towards your
Achilles tendon instead. The Achilles tendon is an elastic tissue that connects the calves
to the bottom of your foot, and when you lower the resistance very quickly, the Achilles
tendon gets loaded on the way down, and then when you bounce yourself out of the bottom
position, you are basically using the elastic energy of your Achilles tendon to raise yourself
back up. And as a result, a much smaller amount of actual muscular work ends up being involved.
So here's what I would recommend in terms of optimal calf training rep cadence. On the
positive portion of the rep, press yourself up as hard and fast as you possibly can while
still maintaining proper form, pause in the fully contracted position for 1 second, lower
yourself in 3 to 4 seconds, and then pause in the very bottom stretched position for
a full 2 seconds before pressing yourself back up again. This particular cadence will
maximize the stress on your calves and it will minimize the involvement of your Achilles
tendon. And Tip Number 4. Keeping a very slight bend in your knees during your calf raises
is a good idea since it will take some of the stress off of your knee joints, however,
the bend in your knee should be exactly that, it should be very slight. If you bend your
knees too much you'll greatly be reducing the effectiveness of your calf training because
what that does is deactivate the gastrocnemius, which is the head of the calf where the vast
majority of the muscle is located, and it shifts the emphasis onto the much smaller
and less significant soleus muscle which runs underneath. So make sure to bend your knees
just enough so that they aren't completely locked out, but no further. So I hope you
found these 4 tips useful and if you want a rundown of my top 5 recommended calf exercises
along with some effective sample workouts, then check out this post over on my website
and I'll also put the link in the description box down below. So thanks for watching this
video. I hope you found the information useful. If you did find it helpful please make sure
to hit the LIKE button, leave a comment and subscribe to stay up-to-date on future videos,
and also make sure to check out my complete step-by-step muscle building and fat loss
prorams over at BodyTransformationTruth.com by clicking the link up in the top right corner
here or by using the link down below in the description box. Talk to you again soon.