Members of Team No Calves, rejoice! Your captain, Men’s Health Fitness Director B.J. Gaddour, has discovered an effective calf raise sequence that adds mass to the back of your lower legs using just your bodyweight.
First, go slow. Lower for 3 seconds, pausing at the top and the bottom positions for 1 second each. Do as many reps as possible to increase the muscle’s time under tension.
Once you can’t do any more slow reps, immediately do as many fast reps as you can. You’ll activate your stretch reflex—the rubber-band-like tendency in your muscles—to help you power through the movement and complete more reps, Gaddour explains. This makes the muscle belly swell with as much blood as possible, really pumping it up and stimulating growth.
Then do as many small hops on the floor as you can.
You can try this sequence with both legs or one leg at a time.
