Why should road cyclists have all the fun? Everyone deserves the calves of their dreams. Calves are a common problem area for many gym-goers though. A notoriously difficult area upon which to build muscle mass, it’s not uncommon for a long term gym-goer to be shaped like a pyramid – barrel chest, sturdy arms, fabulous core, strong (ish) quads and teeny tottering lower legs.
Sound familiar? Never fear: a loveable, mad professor style German lifter, who goes by the Instagram username @joesthetics, Jo Lindner is here. Lindner recently took to Instagram to show his 2.9 million followers “how to get big ass calves.”
“In order to get these big ass calves you have different stances, you can stand like this… you can stand like this…or you can stay put in neutral,” he announces, mid workout. “Then there’s different machines. But in order to get big ass calves you need to have a good stretch and degrees….and make sure you train it with your toes in this area… so this is where you have all the the pressure on it” he says pointing to the ball of his foot.
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“Then you have a nice stretch here already and then you go into the … degrees.” So far so simple, right? Wrong. Next is patience, dedication and technique, which Lindner illustrates in the following two videos, showcasing the different kind of calf raise machines and exercises he uses.
In the second video he makes a particularly good point which is that when using your standard sitting down calf raise machine, if you want big calves, it’s “very important you don’t lean back.” Instead you must lean over the weight, which makes it much harder, and “only use your calves” rather than involving other muscle groups to get the job done.
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Lindner then shows how you can experiment with different angles – pigeon toes vs toes facing out, for instance – when you are doing standing calf raises on a platform. As DMARGE reported earlier this year, fitness coach James Kew also has some useful pointers for those looking to build big ass calves, for those looking for further advice.
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Who knows – maybe 2021 could be the year your fitness revolution takes place. This guy has certainly proved it’s always possible, anyway.