Calves

The calves are made up of two muscles, the soleus and the gastrocnemius. Most people have a hard time developing their calf muscles. Your calves are used to bearing your body-weight every day as you walk around, and used to long periods of activity. Therefore they must be trained hard with progressively heavy weights and high reps to stimulate growth, as they are muscles already accustomed to the demands of both heavy weight and high endurance. 

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Soleus

This is the larger and deeper of the two calf muscles. Its origin is at both the fibula and the tibia (the two bones of the lower leg). The soleus inserts into the rear of the calcaneus (the heel bone). The soleus plantar-flexes the foot, ie enables you to raise up on your tiptoes.

Gastrocnemius

Gastroc for short, this muscle straddles both the knee joint and the ankle joint, whereas the soleus only straddles the ankle joint. The gastroc is a two-headed muscle. The lateral head originates at the lateral side near the bottom of the femur, the bone of the upper leg. The medial head originates at the medial side near the bottom of the femur. The common point of insertion is the rear of the calcaneus, the heel bone, same as the insertion point of the soleus.

The gastroc plantar-flexes the foot, as does the soleus. But the gastroc also helps flex your leg at the knee joint.

Best Exercises for the Calves

Standing Calf Raises - for both soleus and gastrocs - this is by far the best mass builder for the calves. For full development, make slight variations in the position of your feet ie - toes pointing outward targets the inside of the calves, and toes pointing inward targets the outside of the calves. Try this - you'll really feel it!

Seated Calf Raises - isolates the soleus

Make sure you stretch your calves thoroughly at the end of your workout. Failure to stretch calves after a heavy workout may result in you not being able to fully straighten your legs the next day, which makes walking rather difficult! Make sure your upper calves (origin of gastrocs) are stretched as thoroughly as the lower calves at the ankle. Most of the hamstring stretches achieve a good stretch of the gastrocs behind the knee.

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