Calf strengthening

[kovalchuk71 212]

What are some good exercises for this? Just calf raises

[Edge 0]

At the gym I go to, there are a couple other machines they have. Other than different forms of calf raises, they have a machine where you sit down...not sure what it is called but I'd consider it almost like a 'calf press' if you can visualize that. I have genetically small calfs and this machine helps me kind of keep them looking proportionate. <_<

[gman 0]

You may be tired of hearing this, but in all honesty just jump rope. Start out trying to get a hundred in a row per day. Then gradually increase your count until basically you can't keep track. Then start working for time. Go five minutes at first. That is a long time to jump. Then increase longer and longer. Be careful, though, if you increase too fast you can damage your calves and your achilles's's's...

[bigmack 0]

Try some plyometrics.

[gman 0]

Plyo's are good once you are in shape. The direct plyo for calves is, guess what,.... Jumping Rope :D

[Jason16 0]

Cycling up hills worked great for me. It developed my quads as well.

HUGE deal to stretch afterwards though otherwise you end up with a little bounce in your step like I do and look goofy when walking. At the same time you should also be working on your antagonist muscle which would be your tibalis anterior. This will help develop your muscles proportionally and give you proper support reducing risk of injury.

[bigmack 0]

Do you guys think quads or calfs are more important for hockey?

[G60 0]

they're both just as important.

[hockeyblood 11]

hit the gym..get a lower body workout program

[usahockey22 0]

don't waste much, if any, time in the gym isolating calves..better spent doing squats, deadlifts, cleans, etc

[cause4alarm 6]

At the same time you should also be working on your antagonist muscle which would be your tibalis anterior.

How do you go about doing this?

I occasionally get shin splints and I think it might be related to either a disproportionately weak or overworked anterior tibial muscle.

don't waste much, if any, time in the gym isolating calves..better spent doing squats, deadlifts, cleans, etc

A trainer recently told me that powerlifters are some of the highest jumpers in the world.

He also mentioned that an experiment was done where two groups, one training with plyometrics and one training with olympic lifts, were tested on who could jump higher/improve their jumping ability more. The olympic lifters won.

[Sticks of Fury 0]

Try getting running shoes with toe lifts. hehehe. Well... I don't know if you can get them now but in the 80's, wanna be basketballers could see these ads that could add or give you a 32-40 inch vertical leap with these special shoes.

[Jason16 0]

Theoretically, dorsiflexion with resistance but it's not recommended by very many as it strains your Achilles. It worked well when I was younger and more flexible and resilient but now I just emphasize the heel-to-toe movement when walking...sometimes.

Shinsplits occur for a number of reasons but one of them is from having tight calf muscles which in turn force your tibialis anterior to overcompensate. Also, and the most common cause of shin splints is overworking yourself after a hiatus. For instance, if you used to regularly run 5km a day then took a couple of weeks off and wanted to resume again, you should start small and progress yourself back to the 5km over a period of time.

You're probably right about your situation but I'm no physician.

Best way to avoid shinsplints is stretch; calves and hamstrings.

At the same time you should also be working on your antagonist muscle which would be your tibalis anterior.

How do you go about doing this?

I occasionally get shin splints and I think it might be related to either a disproportionately weak or overworked anterior tibial muscle.

[gman 0]

A trainer recently told me that powerlifters are some of the highest jumpers in the world.

I am sure you meant to write Olympic lifters. Oly's are amazing athletes, and their verticals are nearly superhuman.

[biff44 0]

Everyone is talking about calf raises. But no one is mentioning the opposing muscle, in the front of the leg, that almost nobody trains! You can train it by duck walking, or putting a 20 lb plate over your toes and lifting up.

[gman 0]

Everyone is talking about calf raises. But no one is mentioning the opposing muscle, in the front of the leg, that almost nobody trains! You can train it by duck walking, or putting a 20 lb plate over your toes and lifting up.

I just started rowing on the Concept 2 machines. I do 10,000 meters a morning. In addition to everything else in the body, it works the tibialis anterior and the other foot dorsiflexors like crazy.

[usahockey22 0]

Or just don't isolate any of the smaller leg muscles, because you will work them enough in compound lifts, plyos, playing hockey, etc...they don't need to be hit with weights. I never do any direct calf work, and I can go on a standing calf raise and do rep after rep of the whole stack plus extra weight on top. Also, when you do calf raises, you are training them in a way that is completely different from how they will be used in exercise. There no need to do it unless you are bodybuilding and want nice looking calves.

[cause4alarm 6]

I am sure you meant to write Olympic lifters. Oly's are amazing athletes, and their verticals are nearly superhuman.

I probably meant that. Please explain the disctinction.

You can train it by duck walking, or putting a 20 lb plate over your toes and lifting up.

I've tried the plate on the toes thing before. It felt awkward and it didn't feel like it was offering much resistance.

I'm thinking more gyms could use an apparatus like this:

[gman 0]

Powerlifting has three lifts in competition; Squat, Dead lift, bench press. They are performed for one rep maxes very slowly. In the many competitions suits and shirts are worn to enhance performance. Somewhere in the ether is a video of a guy doing a bench and his shirt explodes. He cannot support the weight himself and almost gets crushed.

Olympic lifting is what you see in the olympics. There are currently two lifts; the clean and jerk and the snatch. There used to be a clean and press as well but apparently it became too hard to judge so they did away with it. These lifts are very explosive and very fluid and much faster than power lifts. They require much more balance and athleticism than the raw power lifts. The deadlift plays a part in the C&J as well as the snatch. The front squat plays a huge role in the C&J. Olympic lifters generally do not do back squats.

If I missed anything I am sure someone will add on :)

[Jason16 0]

Everyone is talking about calf raises. But no one is mentioning the opposing muscle, in the front of the leg, that almost nobody trains! You can train it by duck walking, or putting a 20 lb plate over your toes and lifting up.

Theoretically, dorsiflexion with resistance but it's not recommended by very many as it strains your Achilles. It worked well when I was younger and more flexible and resilient but now I just emphasize the heel-to-toe movement when walking...sometimes.

Shinsplits occur for a number of reasons but one of them is from having tight calf muscles which in turn force your tibialis anterior to overcompensate. Also, and the most common cause of shin splints is overworking yourself after a hiatus. For instance, if you used to regularly run 5km a day then took a couple of weeks off and wanted to resume again, you should start small and progress yourself back to the 5km over a period of time.

You're probably right about your situation but I'm no physician.

Best way to avoid shinsplints is stretch; calves and hamstrings.

(cause4alarm @ Feb 7 2007, 03:46 AM) *

(Jason16 @ Feb 5 2007, 03:54 PM) *

At the same time you should also be working on your antagonist muscle which would be your tibalis anterior.

How do you go about doing this?

I occasionally get shin splints and I think it might be related to either a disproportionately weak or overworked anterior tibial muscle.

[Kevin 5]

Calves are not used that much in skating--I would not waste your time. From your knees to your chest is what is important, quads, hams, glutes, abs, obliques, erectors, etc. Squats, dls, and Olympic lifts are much more important than calf raises.

[willy0314 0]

if you have good form, your calf muscle is almost issolated at the end of your skating stride with the "toe flick". Im not sure that doing three extra sets in the gym to issolate your calves is really a waste of time.

My problem is that we dont have a machine to do seated calf raises at the gym, so I do them standing. I'm limited by my hand strength to doing 3 sets, 85lb DB's for around 20 reps each.

[usahockey22 0]

Back in high school "weight lifting class", one good way to slack off was to sit at the seated calf raise and belt out rep after rep...hey, it makes you kind of look like youre working out.

[hockechamp14 0]

A trainer recently told me that powerlifters are some of the highest jumpers in the world.

I am sure you meant to write Olympic lifters. Oly's are amazing athletes, and their verticals are nearly superhuman.

Powerlifters tend not to be too bad either though.

http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=43046&tid=109

The main thing is that olympic lifters train both maximal stregnth and the fastest speeds of force application. Powerlifters only train application when they're using bands, and it still doesn't match the force of olympic lifts. So when you see a powerlifter's vert it will be much more muscled up than any basketball player you see.

Calves are the last major muscle group before you put force application into the ice. I think sprinting on a regular basis off ice tends to be enough, but if you aren't I think an alternative calf training method should be used. Even if it's something basic like pogo's. (They don't explain it all that well, but just imagine you're on a pogo stick bouncing up and down. You can either do it low, trying to do it as quickly as possible just barely picking your toes off the ground, or you can do it as high as you can. It's a similar motion to jump roping too, just extremes of high and low.)

http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=40579&tid=105