"thick" calves

[Kerensky]

My calves are kinda thick and I hate that. It's like thicker than "normal" people's calves and I just don't like them like that because my torso and all is pretty lean, but my legs look ugly. sometimes they kinda thin up after a lot of running or something, but otherwise, I think they look ugly and thick.

Anyone else have this problem? How did you fix it? Also my left calf kinda curves ******d. Juts a tid bit.

 

[Kerensky]

the ******* was 0utward.

here i found pictures. What I mean by normal calves was this:

normal calves

and what I have aka thick calves are here:

thick calves

Ok basically the difference is that in the first one, there isn't like a big ass fat deposit (or maybe it is muscle) in the middle of the calf that kinda seems tight when I pinch it, but jiggles if I stomp my foot.

I think this is fat....should I just keep running to get it off?

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Glad that you realized that there is a difference between 'thick' and 'fat' calves. It's all about proportion (without the jiggle).

To tell you the truth, the guy in the first picture is more proportionate than the second guy. You can tell that the first guy does complete body weight training and the second guy focus is mainly on just his upper body. I see guys like this in the gym all the time.

Best bet is to work on symmetry. Running or biking will help tone your legs. After getting rid of the fat you can work on definition. Don't forget to keep it balanced with your upper body though.

 

[TyTe`EyEs]

Originally posted by Francisco d'Anconia
To tell you the truth, the guy in the first picture is more proportionate than the second guy. You can tell that the first guy does complete body weight training and the second guy focus is mainly on just his upper body. I see guys like this in the gym all the time.

The guy in the second pic looks pretty proportionate to me. He's just more muscular than the first. The first guy obviously does more cardio.

 

[Disconnect]

Thick (muscular) calves are good. Ideally, calves and forearms should be the same size. That way it looks proportional. But if your calves are fat, then burn it off. Chances are if they are, then they aren't the only part that's fat.

 

[Kerensky]

Originally posted by Disconnect
Thick (muscular) calves are good. Ideally, calves and forearms should be the same size. That way it looks proportional. But if your calves are fat, then burn it off. Chances are if they are, then they aren't the only part that's fat.

Thank you. Like today in the morning I woke up and did some stretches and after my shower, they looked a lot more like the guy in the first pic. Other times when I'm just sitting down all the time, it gets that thick look when I stand.

So I'm getting the vibe from you guys that the way to fix this is to do a lot of cardio? I play tennis already, but now I'm going to do that + HIIT running. Sounds good? Thanks for your help so far.

 

[Kerensky]

By the way, my calves are like 2 X my forearms. My forearms look liek sticks except my right one which looks bigger than my left because I am right handed (serve/forehand with my right arm in tennis, not wanking you fukers).

Anyhow, I feel like my bone down in my calf is just big, but I'm going to try to burn a lot of it off because even when I sit down, I still have a little fat roll around my mid section although my top 2 abs are showing a little. Still, I want a confirmation from you all saying that cardio is the answer. It won't make it fatter?

 

[Alpine]

I have thin calves haha haha haha.


Oh I wish I had thick calves.

How do I FIX __________ ? (insert your focus of attention here)

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Originally posted by TyTe`EyEs
The guy in the second pic looks pretty proportionate to me. He's just more muscular than the first. The first guy obviously does more cardio.

Whoops, my mistake. I meant the SECOND guy looks more proportionate. I also agree that the first guy looks like he does more cardio while the second looks as if his focus is on weight training.

Cardio isn't a bad thing though when it is coupled with any type of resistance training. I'm a cyclist and people generally think that riding a bike is just cardio. Depending on how you ride, you can gain mass and definition. Pushing big gears and climbing hills are great for cardio AND great for building muscle.

 

[Kerensky]

Yeah biking...sounds easy, but it's not. It's extremely tiring if you haven't trained before and your legs start burning FAST. Right now, I'm going to work on getting my %bf down to 10 because right now it is like 16%. Anyways, I'm just going to be doing like 4 hours of cardio a day from now on (counting 2 hours of tennis).

 

[FunnyCide]

4 hours of cardio a day is way too much some atheletes don't even train that hard even if they do their body's have been conditioned to handle that. You'll end up overtraining and get worse results than if you didn't train at all and probably end up having no energy for anything else.

I don't really think your problem is your calves. You seem way too focused on it...Trust me no girls are going to decide whether or not they'll go out with you because of your calves. I think this is more a confidence problem but then again I may be wrong.

Just go on intense bike rides for a shorter amount of time like 45 min at max. If you keep pushing your own limits during that 45 min ride, it'll do more than the low intensity you will inevitably be at the end of your 4 hour cardio.

 

[Kerensky]

Originally posted by FunnyCide
4 hours of cardio a day is way too much some atheletes don't even train that hard even if they do their body's have been conditioned to handle that. You'll end up overtraining and get worse results than if you didn't train at all and probably end up having no energy for anything else.

I don't really think your problem is your calves. You seem way too focused on it...Trust me no girls are going to decide whether or not they'll go out with you because of your calves. I think this is more a confidence problem but then again I may be wrong.

Just go on intense bike rides for a shorter amount of time like 45 min at max. If you keep pushing your own limits during that 45 min ride, it'll do more than the low intensity you will inevitably be at the end of your 4 hour cardio.

Thank you for your help. I'm off to do cardio. Yeah I didn't really mean 4 hours. I'm going to do more cardio though...high intensity, same time span. I'm off to be a do-er now instead of a poster. Good luck with your health pursuits!

 

[Diaoz]

I've got the same problem too mate, and it isn't really fats (at least for me)

It just seems like I don't stretch (warm up/cool down) much, so the muscles are rather lumpy.

I'm a mountain-biker too, but the calves stays...

Any idea anyone? I prefer the first pic kindda calves too

 

[FunnyCide]

BF % in the first guy is way lower than the 2nd guy. The 2nd guy is probably stronger than the first guy. Basically if you want calves like the first guy have a good portion of your work out based on cardio and more importantly you have to make strong effort in your diet to eat the right kind of foods. It's a lot of hard work but a lot of those guys you see in magazines are genetically predisposed with low BF% which is something none of us can replicate.

Kerensky, I don't know if you're being sarcastic but I used to train that hard a couple of years ago when I was having confidence issues. I had little to no gain...felt tired all the time had no energy for anything but my "training." I now train 6 hour in the gym and 6 hours of bball a week.

I realized that there was health persuits to being a DJ but more importantly the mental strength or the inner game most people talked about had to be worked out too. So don't be fooled into thinking that once you got your perfect calves that'll end all the problems. Even now when I fix one problem another one jumps to my attention almost right away.

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I say work on endurance. See if you can ride for an hour straight. You don't need to go all out balls to the wall either. If you're in decent shape, you should be able to get in at least 12-14 miles. After a few rides you'll notice that you'll be able to gain more mileage in the same amount of time with seemingly the same effort.

When I started cycling a couple of years ago, I was lucky to be able to ride 14 miles in an hour. Nowadays I ride that speed in a 15-20 mile per hour headwind. Balls to the wall I can go a good 22-25 miles in an hour (without the wind).

However, the impressive part is when you can go 40, 50, 60 miles without feeling whipped afterward. Are you going 20+ miles an hour for the entire ride? Not unless you are an elite athlete. Otherwise a constant spin that will get you 14-15 miles an hour will do you very well in your endurance and overall muscle tone and definition without getting overly bulked up.

 

[padrote]

Originally posted by Disconnect
Ideally, calves and forearms should be the same size.

Your biceps and calves should be same size, not forearms.

And cry me a river about having big calves, I wish mine weren't so scrawny.

 

[coolguy676767]

yeah calves are weird, either you have small calves and people obcess about having bigger ones, and if you have big thick calves, muscular or not, you want smaller ones. I have big calves, that are mostly muscular but they are not that great, they make you looke shorter, fatter, and sometimes a little to unproportionate.

 

[Diaoz]

Originally posted by Francisco d'Anconia
I say work on endurance. See if you can ride for an hour straight. You don't need to go all out balls to the wall either. If you're in decent shape, you should be able to get in at least 12-14 miles. After a few rides you'll notice that you'll be able to gain more mileage in the same amount of time with seemingly the same effort.

When I started cycling a couple of years ago, I was lucky to be able to ride 14 miles in an hour. Nowadays I ride that speed in a 15-20 mile per hour headwind. Balls to the wall I can go a good 22-25 miles in an hour (without the wind).

However, the impressive part is when you can go 40, 50, 60 miles without feeling whipped afterward. Are you going 20+ miles an hour for the entire ride? Not unless you are an elite athlete. Otherwise a constant spin that will get you 14-15 miles an hour will do you very well in your endurance and overall muscle tone and definition without getting overly bulked up.

Hmm, I actually have a fair endurance cycling.

Cycle on 6hour trips often, though not at consistent speed, sometimes slower, somtimes faster.

Anyway, any idea how to get smaller calves?

I'm skinny/underweight, I cycle but still have big weird calves

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Originally posted by Diaoz
Hmm, I actually have a fair endurance cycling.

Cycle on 6hour trips often, though not at consistent speed, sometimes slower, somtimes faster.

Anyway, any idea how to get smaller calves?

I'm skinny/underweight, I cycle but still have big weird calves

Work of building up your cadence. My guess is that your speed isn't constant because you may be pushing the big gears too often. After long, non-race rides you shouldn't feel winded nor should your muscles ache, they should just feel a little fatigued for the first 15 or 20 minutes after the ride.

Your on a nice constant spin. You should be able to have a conversation while riding without gasping for air. It should feel comfortable and almost effortless.

Ride often and gradually raise your sustained cadence by a couple or so revolutions a minute. Don't rush it, again it should feel comfortable and effortless.

The key is balance your breathing with your muscle effort. If you start breathing heavy, shift to a harder gear to allow your legs to do more of the work. If your legs start aching, switch to an easier gear and spin a bit faster.

Remember, if you depend solely on pushing big gears, your legs are going to be working harder than normal. They will tear themselves down during the process and gain mass when then rebuild and repair themselves.

Work on focusing your peddling effort on smooth, 360 degree, complete rotation spins and not just putting effort into the downstroke. There should be effort being put forth through the entire peddle stroke. Doing this will engage your quads, hamstrings and glutes along with your calves. THEN you'll begin to notice a symmetry to your legs.

I forgot to mention that these skills work best if you have a cycling computer with cadence AND ride on a road bike. Mountain biking takes a completely different set of skills and normally merits bulky calves since they are the most necessary in mountain biking.

If all you have is a mountain bike, put some slicks on it and take it out on the road. If it's a FSR, you may want to lock it out or borrow someones hardtail. Having a good spin on a hardtail rocks. The other day I was on a paved trail with a MTB buddy who was riding a FSR and I had my hardtail. Let's just say that my road skills shined more-so on the pavement than on the single track even though the bike weighed almost 30 lbs.

Hope this helps.