5 Easy Ways to Grow your Calves

Although there's a clear tendency for people to work out their upper body muscles more, we can't forget to focus on strengthening our legs as well. This is common in, for example, the calf muscles. So, how can we grow our calves?
5 Easy Ways to Grow your Calves

Last update: 15 August, 2019

Our calves or leg muscles are part of a muscle group that’s not always easy to exercise. Many men concentrate on training their upper body and work very hard to develop their biceps, triceps, and pectorals, leaving the legs aside. Here are some exercises for you to eliminate that bad habit and grow your calves.

It’s indeed faster and easier to encourage our upper body muscles to look spectacular. However, it’s also necessary to work out and strengthen our leg muscles; not just for aesthetic reasons, but also for the body to be muscularly proportionate and to avoid the risk of injury.

There are many exercises that you can do at home or in the gym that’ll quickly help you develop your leg muscles. Next, we’ll look at five easy ways to grow your calves.

Food also has an influence: grow your calves

Before you start relentlessly exercising to grow your calves, it’s essential to take into consideration a fundamental factor when it comes to gaining muscle mass: food.

If your diet is inadequate, your efforts will be in vain. The first thing you must do to increase muscle in the legs is to increase the total number of calories and proteins you consume.

However, don’t overdo it; otherwise, it’ll increase fat instead of muscle. A nutritionist can be very useful when it comes to this; in fact, we should always consult one before modifying our diets. This specialist will determine the correct amount of calories that should be ingested based on the age, physical activity, general state of health, and the objectives that each person has.

Squats to grow your calves

Squats are one of the best exercises for you to grow your calves. These are essential routines when exercising the legs and buttocks. Plus, they’re very easy to do.

Squats are an exercise to grow your calves

To do this exercise, you must start standing upright, with your legs about shoulder-distance apart; once you’re in that position, flex your knees, as if you were trying to sit down. Then, stand up again and repeat the exercise.

Your back must always remain straight. At first, it’s preferable to do it very slowly, making sure that you do the technique correctly; then, gradually, you can accelerate the pace.

When you become an expert in doing squats, you can even add some weight. You can use a weight bar or dumbbells to make the muscle exercise more intensely.

This way, you’ll increase muscle mass and grow your calves quicker; three sets of ten repetitions will suffice.

Lunges or strides

Lunges, also known as strides, are also a classic exercise when it comes to working out your legs. To perform this exercise, you must start standing with your back very straight.

Then, take a step forward, while you keep both knees flexed, and let your knee almost touch the ground. Your back should remain erect; once in your in the low position, you can do small movements for about 30 seconds.

You can do this exercise in three sets of eight repetitions with each leg. To increase the difficulty and see better results, you can also add some weights. A dumbbell in each hand will help a lot with this task.

Do lunges as an exercise to grow your calves

Calf raise: grow your calves

This exercise focusses specifically on the calf muscles, a part of the athlete’s body that’s not always taken into account. It’s straightforward to perform this exercise and, as with the previous two, once you’ve learned the technique, you can add some weights to gain more muscle mass.

To do the calf raise, you must start standing, with your feet shoulder-width apart. Then, lift your two heels off the ground and keep that position for about 20 to 30 seconds. Do three sets of ten repetitions each.

Climbing stairs

Finally, one of the best exercises to grow your calves without having to go to the gym is simply to climb as many stairs as possible. We must forget about the elevator and the escalator, choose to use the stairs, both at work and at home.

Use the stairs to grow your calves

In short, growing your calves is relatively simple if you follow these tips. The best thing about these exercises is that you’re working out many other areas of the legs simultaneously. Therefore, you can include them in a comprehensive leg routine without any problems!


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This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.