The protocol for COWS: - Use 45° or Horizontal Leg Press - Straight basically locked knees/legs - 3-5 second pause in the BOTTOM stretched (dorsiflexed) position on EVERY rep - Raise only to NEUTRAL foot - 5-10 rep range - Sets end at or near failure 2-3 sets, 2-3x... a weekshow more

Most people train Calves ALL WRONG and then wonder why they never grow Your genetics aren’t holding you back…your protocol is Here’s the RIGHT way to go about building COWS:

Similar to what I do and can attest that it works. Took me years to grow them too

It’s a BANGER method

I do these almost exactly this way on a horizontal stack weight leg press machine. I don’t only go to neutral foot, I extend out to a full “calf raise” followed by lowering back down to dorsiflexed position hold before the next rep. Why go only to neutral position?

It appears the calves experience low levels of voluntary activation when in the plantar flexed position It is likely they do benefit a ton from the passive tension experienced in the stretched (dorsiflexed) position however

My ankles are not so flexible. I do try and go as far as possible

the stretched-position part has data. in a 2023 study, calf raises done only in the bottom half grew the gastrocnemius about twice as much as full reps (Kassiano et al.).

Don't have one of these. Barbells, plates, dumbbells

I have a barbell and dumbbells at home. How do u suggest I use them for calves ? Thx

Single leg dumbbell calf raises on a stair

Thx, but I find my arm fails before my calf

Should you kind of also feel it towards the bottom of your hammie, with this method?

Your hams are lengthened but most of the sensation should be felt in the calves

I’ve been playing around with loading my hamstrings when doing standing raises. Almost like I’m at the bottom of an RDL. The stretch is insane. Anything beneficial with doing this?

The hams lengthen when you flex the hip But you aren’t (shouldn’t) changing hip position when doing calf raises

Gotcha, I’ll keep em straight then. Thanks for the reply!

🤝💪🏻

this is a great way to rake the skin off your shins

Playing a lot of sports particularly when relatively younger helps a lot.

Would this also work well pushing on a leg press plate that does not move?