Why Aren't Your Calves Growing? 6 Simple Reasons

You're training regularly, focused, and noticing several changes in your body, but there's one problem: your calves aren't growing.

Whether you're walking, running, or standing still, your calves work to support your body. They also stabilize your ankles and knees, helping you perform countless movements both inside and outside the gym.

But growing calves can be difficult. In fact, most people consider the calves to be the most stubborn muscle group in the body when it comes to responding to training.

Basically, you already work your calves every time you move and use your legs. So, if you want bigger calves, you need to challenge them much more than you think. In this article, you'll learn how.

First, let's deal with the elephant in the room: genetics.

Muscle insertion, fascial stiffness, blood flow, the proportion of fiber types in the region, and even how fat accumulates in the calves are just some of the genetic factors that can influence calf size.

While some people are born with a "package" of these attributes that favors the development and size of their calves, most do not have this privilege; it is more common to find people with bad genetics than good ones to have large calves.

But anyone who thinks this is a definitive guarantee of small calves is mistaken. Anyone—regardless of genetics—can have larger calves through training and dietary changes.

Furthermore, the only factor we have no control over is genetics. Therefore, it's not productive to use your genetics as a parameter, since you won't be able to change them.

One of the main reasons calves don't grow as much as other muscles is because people don't train them with enough volume.

For many people, calf "training" means doing anexercise at the end of their leg workout, which isn't enough for the calves. Since many people (men) skip leg workouts more often, the calves are doubly neglected.

Instead, try training your calves at least 3 times a week, using at least 2 exercises (more on that later) and 3 sets of each, for a total of 9 sets per week.

You've probably heard that you should train with enough weight to challenge your muscles, but this should be done with control and a full range of motion.

When training calves, it's very common to see people throwing the weight up and letting it fall back down, in a very short movement. Since the calf's movement is already naturally short, training this way wastes most of the workout's benefits.

To achieve a full range of motion in calf exercises, you need to go up as far as your joint allows (not as far as the weight you're using) and then do the same on the way down. Additionally, you should feel a good stretch in your calves on the way down.

To ensure you're doing this correctly, use a load that allows you to go up and down as far as your joint will allow, with a brief 2-3 second pause at each end of the repetition.

Most people tend to do only one exercise or redundant exercises on calf day.

See, the two main calf muscles are the gastrocnemius and the soleus.

The gastrocnemius is primarily recruited when doing straight-knee calf raises (with legs straight), and the soleus is primarily recruited when doing bent-knee calf raises (with legs bent).

Therefore, to generate complete development in your calves, your workout needs to contain an exercise with straight legs and one with bent legs.

5 – Progressive overload

Progressive overload is crucial for promoting muscle growth and avoiding stagnation in any muscle group, including your calves.

The concept of progressive overload involves gradually increasing training intensity over time, whether by increasing the load, increasing the number of repetitions, or increasing the number of sets.

In other words, if you always train your calves the same way—with the same load, fewer reps and sets—it's no wonder the muscle stays the same. There's no reason for it to grow if it's already adapted to the conditions imposed on it.

Therefore, over the weeks, you should at least try to add more weight (any amount is valid) while maintaining good form . If this isn't possible, try doing more reps with your maximum weight. If you can't lift more weight with good form or do more reps, finally, add an additional set.

When it comes to gaining muscle mass, including your calves, what you do in the gym is half the battle. The other half is what you do with your diet.

Unfortunately, many people, consciously or not, focus only on protein intake, while forgetting about calories.

Building muscle mass requires energy from dietary calories. Without a slight excess calorie intake, your body won't have the energy to maintain all bodily processes and build muscle mass.

This is more important than protein intake because we can convert protein into energy (instead of using it for muscle repair) if our calorie intake is incorrect. Basically, you need calories for protein to be used properly.

In short, if your caloric intake is insufficient, you will hardly see significant changes in your calves, a muscle that is already difficult to build under normal circumstances (with good diet, rest and supplementation).