Pack 2-4 inches onto your leg and calf circumference in 30 days with these ultimate leg blasting routine.

 Discover Highly Effective Strategies my consult clients use to earn results- FAST.

Dear Results Seeker,

Overload your weakness and experience a growth explosion like you never thought possible.

The greatest limitation to growth is a plateau in strength; a stronger muscle is a bigger muscle. Why?  The use of gradually greater loads with proper form will stimulate muscle fibers with the greatest potential for growth. Squats, the king of lower body exercises stall every now and again and are mistakenly abandon by trainees seeking to add leg girth.  NO other exercise can compare to the squat when it comes to recruiting lower body muscle.  The correct form actively stimulates a vast majority of the quads, hamstrings and glutes.  While few achieve the proper squat depth, those who regularly reach parallel achieve massive lower body structures.  The limiting factor for 99% of trainees in all exercises?  They are weak at the bottom of the squat, bench or deadlift also referred to as the hole.

 A New Overload System

Get back to the basics and address your weaknesses by overloading the bottom 1/3 of compound movements.  Do so and experience rapid growth throughout your entire body.  Yes the squat stimulates total body growth by significantly elevating anabolic hormones.  There are many ways to squat but take notice that a shoulder width stance will focus more on the quads and placing your feet a few inches wider will recruit the hams and glutes to a greater extent. Feel free to alter your stance from set to set to hit the musculature of choice.  Always look straight ahead and focus on keeping the chest out with shoulder blades retracted.  These tips will ensure that you maintain the proper torso position crucial for safety. 

1 1/3 Movements- Eliminating Weakness

From a standing position descend until you reach parallel, go 1/3 of the way up, return to the bottom position and do one full rep.  This will count as one rep for the training program below and believe me it will be difficult as all worthwhile challenges will be.  Use a load appropriate for this challenging movement and use several warm up sets each workout to practice the movement.  Within a few short weeks you will greatly increase your squat starting strength enabling you to increase loads when you return to tradition squatting reps.

Leg Day 1- Quads and Hamstrings-click on exercises to see video clips

Exercise                                                           Sets                  Reps                Rest

A1. 1 + 1/3 Squat                                             4                      6-8                     90       

A2. 1+ 1/3 Ham Curls                                      4                      6-8                     90                   

B1. DB Semi Stiff DL                                         3                      8-10                    75

B2. Heel Squat                                                   3                     8-10                     75

C1. Unilateral Seated Calf Raise *                      2                     10-12                 60

C2. Unilateral Standing Calf Raise *                   2                     10-12                 60

Email Scott@infinityfitness.com for a Leg Blaster Program and tracking sheet. 

Now here comes the secret strategies I have used to help clients build their calves- FAST 

Nothing like a huge set of calves to show off on stage, the beach, the corner store, wherever.  They cannot be overlooked by the naked eye and anyone in the iron game will surely be wondering why you are not wearing shorts in 90 degree heat.  There is no mystery; your calves have not grown a darn inch despite your all of your hard work.  Follow this routine and you will be wearing shorts in freezing temperatures just so you can show off your lower legs.  Within these pages we will focus on the how to aspect more so than the whys of calf training in the interest of space and Beverly’s No Nonsense commitment to excellence. 

I will spare you the anatomy lesson as it is about as interesting as my tax return preparation next month.  For the purposes of this article we will focus on the soleus, gastroc, and tibialis anterior.  Rep ranges must differ for these muscles as they are made up of different fiber types.  Why is this important?  While all muscle possesses fast and slow twitch muscle fiber certain muscles may be higher in one or the other.  The soleus is a slow twitch dominant muscle and must be trained with relatively higher rep ranges (10-15) while the gastroc grows best with 5-8 reps because of the prevalence of fast twitch fibers.  Using the appropriate reps and corresponding loads is perhaps the easiest thing you can do to improve your calf growth asap. 

Get that toe to the sky to run like the wind

What is the tibialis anterior?  It can dictate the positioning of your feet while running as it controls dorsi flexion.  Those of you who are athletes or weekend warriors will benefit from training this muscle the most, but it adds to overall calf circumference and muscularity.  A seated low pulley dorsi flexion will be our method of exercise.  Simply attach an appropriate Velcro support around your foot and hook to low pulley machine.  While seated on a bench facing the low pulley raise your toe towards your head and be sure to maximize your range of motion.  Your foot should be free standing- off of the bench 6-10 inches off of the ground depending on the height of your seat.

Prioritize Calf Training for Rapid Success

Growth acceleration of any body part requires prioritization.  You will train the calves twice per week at the start of the workout or if you feel necessary on a separate training day.  Successful client feedback leads me to believe that prioritizing body parts in this fashion is a hidden key to success.  “Whatever is trained first- is trained best”  old slogan, but still holds true.  The two separate days allows you to hit the soleus and gastroc on different days, which is especially helpful if you plan on walking anywhere during your daily life.  Training both on the same day with this killer routine may force you to slither on the ground like a snake from the post workout soreness.  NO pain no gain!

Is one leg STRONGER than the other?  If so you are way behind

Do a simple test; try training one leg at a time when doing a seated calf raise and see if you get the same number of reps with each leg.  Bet you will be 2-4 reps lower on one leg.  Why?  People can be right or left dominant and never realize it without a test of this nature.  The body protects against imbalances by stopping growth.  You can bust through a growth plateau by evening out your limbs.  Remember a strong muscle is a growing muscle!  Single leg training enables you to isolate each muscle and recruit the muscle fibers for growth.  Try just one workout and you will “feel” exactly what I am talking about. 

Toe Position VARIETY- Another Key to Massive Calves

Variety is a vital key to weight training success, switching exercise variables frequently will enable you to consistently shock your muscles to promote rapid growth.  There are a limited number of basic calf movements one can do, but changing foot position is the missing link to prolonged calf growth.  The routine below will include instructions to rotate the foot on certain exercises.  Toes in- everyone’s range of motion is different, but aim to have your heel wider than your toe, no need for a drastic angle; we just want to make use of a new stimulus.  A few degrees of rotation can be a big difference.  Toes out- much easier because people posses more flexibility in this range, never go wider than 30 degrees and find a comfortable groove.

Control the SPEED of each rep for the Ultimate Muscle Belly Stretch

Repetition tempo is not a new concept; however this is a critical part of any successful calf training program. Control rep speeds to eliminate momentum and place the most possible stress on working muscles. Every repetition has three components, which can be easily measured or timed. The concentric phase of a lift or raise up of weight should always be done in an accelerative fashion. Isometric contractions take place at the point between the eccentric and concentric phases, which would be the pause at the bottom of any calf movement.  Focus on getting a good muscle belly stretches during the pause without losing tension.  Lowering the weight during a calf raise is the eccentric motion or way down.

The repetition component lengths will be designated by a number of seconds. Most of the programs require a tempo of 3-1-1 The following order will be a uniform pattern eccentric- isometric-concentric-reset point.

Eccentric Loading- The key to Rapid Calf Growth

you will see the Eccentric Seated and standng calf raise in the routine below- these difficult maneuvers overload each calf by making use of the eccentric strength curve.  Put very simply, you can lower more than you lift, but the more you lower- the more you can lift!  you will raise the weight with both legs and only lower the weight with one leg.  This will inflict the muscular damage needed to force muscles into rapid re growth.  A month of doing these exercises will sky rocket your strength during any calf movement.  Be careful- do not over do it the first time and make sure you are warmed up before attempting these exercises. 

Stretch post workout for rapid recovery and improved definition

The calf structure is notoriously tight for most trainees as it is a neglected area in terms of stretching.  All muscles are surrounded by bags called fascia which can restrict muscular growth due to a lack of space.  Flexibility work following training and appropriate isometric pauses can help to loosen the fascia in an effort to accommodate faster calf growth.  Take time to do a light stretch following your workout and again before you go to bed.  This will also help to expel toxins responsible for soreness. 

Calf Day 2- use an extra session and perform this workout before abs or a short cardio session. click on the exercises to see live video clips

            Exercise                                  Sets                 Reps               Tempo            Rest

A1. Cable Dorsi Flexion                            4                      8-10               3-2-1               75      

B1. Eccentric Calf Raise                         4                     10-12              3-2-1                75       

B2. Eccentric Standing Calf Raise            4                       8-10               3-2-1                75

Email Scott@infinityfitness.com for a Leg Blaster Program and tracking sheet. 

References

1 Demura, S., et al.  Perceptual Motor Skills 98 (3pt 1): 883-895, 2003

2.Rennie, M.J, and KD Tipton, Protein and Amino acid metabolism during and after exercise and the effects on nutrition.  Ann.  Rev Nutr. 20:457-483,2000

MAN Sports Products would like to welcome and introduce Scott H. Mendelson, author of the 100% Fitness Solution E book and Director of InfinityFitness.com Scott is a highly regarded performance nutrition and training specialist. In addition to his celebrity and executive clients, Scott works daily with professional athletes from the NFL, NHL, MLB, MLS and NCAA. Scott has built an excellent reputation providing effective supplements, cutting-edge information and unmatched service to thousands of clients worldwide. Also the special assistant to Dr. Eric Serrano MD, Scott helps with the design of training and nutrition studies in cooperation with Serrano family practice in Columbus, Ohio.



Copyright © Infinity Fitness INC 2007 All Rights Reserved This document is provided by Infinity Fitness INC for general guidance only, and does not constitute the provision of health or fitness advice. The information is provided “as is” with no assurance or guarantee of completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of the information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose. The program contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a health or fitness professional.