Your calf muscles are not muscles that will change quickly and easily. It will take some serious work to get them to change, but you can do it.
We’ll show you how to get nice calves by working out and doing specific exercises that will benefit calf development. There is more to it than just working out, though.
Exercising is only part of the battle, and if you have excess fatty tissue on your calves, you need to make sure you control what you eat as well.
If you are trying to shape and tone your calf muscles but you are not limiting what you eat, then you will be fighting a losing battle. You will end up working out just to keep off the fat you are absorbing from the food you eat, rather than making any progress on the fat that is located on and around your calves.
So, the best method for how to get nice calves fast is to combine both exercising and dieting. As you diet, make sure you’re limiting the sugar, fat, and carbohydrates you consume.
This will make it easier to start burning fat on your calves and other areas of the body and give you metabolism less work to do. If your metabolism is fighting a lot of sugar and fat from going into the body while you’re trying to use your metabolism to burn fat already on your body, you’re not going to see much progress.
So, to get nice calves quickly, make sure you are focusing on your eating habits as well as your workouts.
Speaking ofworkouts, let’s talk about some that are great for shaping and building your calf muscles. You want an exercise that really works the calf muscle and the surrounding areas of the body. You know you’re making a difference with this kind of exercise if you can feel the burn as you work out.
Exercises for Nice Calves
1. Calf Raises
Start by standing with your feet a shoulder length apart and raise your heels up. Lower your heels back and repeat this exercise 15 to 20 times. You can do the exercise two or three times during a single workout session.
If you want to make the workout more impactful, you can add dumbbells to the workout. Just keep a dumbbell in each hand and make sure you are keeping your body straight as you move. Try not to bend forward or backward or to the side as you do this exercise.
2. Pistol Squat
For this one, make sure your hands stay at shoulder level and are parallel to the floor as you work out.
Lift one leg while lowering your body down as far as it can go. Once you are down as low as possible, hold that position for about 10 to 15 seconds and then stand back up and do the exercise again, switching legs.
This is another workout you can do with dumbbells to make it more impactful. You can do about 15 to 20 reps while alternating legs and can come back into the exercise a couple more times during the single session to really build up the calves and get great looking legs.
3. Split Jumps
Here’s a very straightforward and easy exercise, if you’re looking for how to get nice calves. Women and men can both do this exercise for developing their calf muscles.
With dumbbells in your hands, hold them down at your sides and place one leg in front of the other. Go into the lunge position and hold that.
Then, jump up into the air and come down switching legs. You can repeat 15 to 20 times, switching legs each time.
This is a great way to strengthen your entire leg and your core. And it is really impactful exercise when you add dumbbells to it.
It’s not necessary to jump as high as you can every time. Simply doing a small jump that’s high enough for you to change legs by the time you come back down will be enough to make this exercise very effective.
4. Stair Running
As long as you have stairs nearby, you can do this exercise. That’s a great indoor exercise when you can’t go out and get some running in.
You want to try to run on stairs about 10 to 15 minutes a day do the exercise about three or four times a week.
You’ll make a huge difference in the way your legs look. This is a great method for how to get nice hands but not muscular calves, and it’s a great way to work your entire leg.
This is also an excellent exercise for people who are tired of standing in place while they work out or if they want something that gets them moving. You’ll get more impact and better results from running up and down stairs than you would simply running on a flat surface.
Tips for Great Looking Calves
There are all sorts of little changes you can do that improve the way your calves look, if you are looking to build muscle there. Not all of the methods for how to get nice looking calves require a lot of planning or strenuous exercise. Some of them are smaller things that you can just do every day until they become second nature.
One of the best ways to improve your calf muscles without really doing a lot is to walk on tiptoes as much as possible. This changes up the muscles you use for walking around and works a part of the body that doesn’t typically get worked as much.
Your calf muscles will have to go into action to support you as you walk on your tiptoes, and if you try to do this as you walk around the house, you can quickly start to build up your calf muscles without doing an exercise session or focusing too much on the diet. A small change like this, if done frequently enough, can have a serious impact.
You can also try working out barefoot. For many people, that’s how they work out, but if you go to the gym for exercise, you may be inclined to keep your shoes on. If you are concerned about picking up germs on your feet as you work out at the gym, then simply bring an exercise mat with you.
If you can work out barefoot, you will increase the range of motion required by your feet and help your calves move into action to support you.
This is a great way to work your calves without having to make any changes. People naturally try to do more if they are not restricted by shoes. That means your calves will be required to do more as well to support your movement. You can help cause a strong contraction in the calves as you work out barefoot, which is a great way to slowly develop your calf muscles.
Work calf exercises into your training session a few times a week. You want to be careful about focusing too much on one kind of exercise or one part of your body. You can overtire and strain that part of your body and quickly get bored of those exercises. You can lose interest in trying to work your calves and doing calf exercises if that’s what most of your workout sessions are about.
If you’re wanting to develop your calves long term, it’s ideal to work calf training exercises into your workout sessions two to three times a week.
If you’re trying to lose weight and tone your body, five to six workout sessions a week is perfect. You don’t have to do calf training exercises for all of those, though.
Simply doing them two or three times a week is enough to make a huge impact on your legs without straining them, and you’re more likely to get long term results and stick with these exercises.
