How to Build Your Calf Leg Muscles

Working out at the gym can be tough work. Guys who work out always want to get a bigger chest and bigger biceps. However, getting bigger calf muscles can be quite a challenge, especially for guys who have a fast metabolism and have trouble putting on weight. Here are some great workout exercises for building bigger and stronger calf muscles.

Treadmill incline: Almost everyone nowadays who works out at the gym uses a treadmill for aerobic exercise and to get your heart pumping. But did you know that a treadmill can also build bigger calf muscles? All you have to do is increase the incline on the treadmill. This will physically raise the treadmill angle so that you are running uphill, like up a hill. The greater the amount of uphill, the greater the angle of resistance that you are running against. This puts greater stress on your calf muscles to do more work as they run uphill instead of running on a flat surface without any uphill resistance. Thus, you can continue doing your aerobic exercise while exercising your calf muscles in the process.

Stairmaster: This is another great machine that many gyms have. Instead of using a treadmill, you can try using the Stairmaster which does include an aerobic exercise but put more emphasis on your legs, particularly your calf muscles. Using the Stairmaster is like going up a series of staircases. You can increase the speed at which the Stairmaster forces you to keep up with the rotating stairs. An increase in speed will get your heart pumping faster and lungs using more oxygen. You will also be causing your calf muscles to do more work.

Calf raise: This is one of my favorite exercises and no exercise is more important in building bigger and stronger calf muscles. There are some machines which can be used to do a calf raise. However, it's also fairly easy for you to use free weights to perform this exercise. You will need to keep your feet flat on the ground and stand tall. Grab a dumbbell in each hand and keep your arms at your side holding the dumbbell in each hand. You should keep your feet shoulder with apart or you can keep your feet together, depending on how much stress and pressure you want to put on your calf muscles. You want to slowly raise your toes upwards and then slowly lower your toes so that your foot falls flat against the ground. Continue this motion and repeat for 4 sets. You should increase the weight you are holding in each hand if you don't feel the pressure on your calf muscles.

Other leg muscles that don't necessarily specialize with your calf muscles include squat thrusts and leg extensions.