I’m a fitness trainer and sometimes it’s easier understood what won’t work to build skinny calves, than what WILL work, because I continue to see people doing the same useless exercises in an attempt to build skinny calves. Skinny calves to men, are almost like heavy thighs (READ) are to women, in that men do not prize the appearance of skinny calves, even though I’ve never heard of women turning down a date with a man just because he has skinny calves.
This will not build skinny calves
Walking an incline or up a hill. No matter how long you do this, it will not do the trick. Walking is aerobic and endurance based. Walking, level or hill, recruits slow twitch muscle fiber. Slow twitch muscle does not grow in size! When’s the last time you saw a bulked-up distance runner?
This will not build skinny calves
Endless calf raises. Tons of calf raises will tone the muscle and strengthen muscles and ankles, but will do nothing for building skinny muscles. Don’t let the burn of 20 minutes straight of these raises fool you. Endless calf muscle raises are aerobic in nature because it’s a sustained movement. Remember, aerobics recruit slow twitch muscle, which doesn’t grow in size.
This will not build skinny calf muscle
Calf raises on that standing machine that you’ve piled five 45-pound weight plates on each side of. You’re right to assume that heavy weight lifting will build up a small muscle. But some men just go overboard and pile on TOO MUCH weight, and this backfires because it’s too much weight for their calf muscles to handle. As a result, their upper leg muscles end up pushing up the weights. This is so obvious because their legs are bent, which means most of the work is being performed by quadriceps muscles. The calf muscles help out a little, but not enough to build skinny muscles.
This will not build skinny calf muscle
Cycling. Though a veteran cyclist may have wonderful calf muscles, the bottom line is that thin calf muscles will not get nicely built up from hours of cycling. Remember, cycling is aerobic.
This will not build skinny calves
Sprinting. Have you seen the calves of Olympic sprinters? Some sprinters’ calves look stick thin. The speed coming from the lower leg in sprinting is generated by a relatively long, and super strong, Achilles tendon. This means a high calf muscle and the appearance of a very lean lower leg.
Tone your legs: HERE
