Cows are big, calves are tiny baby animals. I don’t like to go to the gym, placing self limitations on myself by saying: “I’m going to train calves today”. No, I go to the gym thinking: “I am going to train my cows”. I try to think big and so should you. If you don’t believe me, read the chapter in my world renowned book “THE BEST OF THE REST OF BRUTALLY HUGE-THE BRUTAL YEARS, called “How Worshiping Numbers Stunts Growth! Any way, I digress. Most people don’t do what you’d call calf raises. They do some kind of semi-bouncing , jerking, half squat, half calf raise movement! I want you to observe the video. Too many lifters try to go too heavy. That’s the first mistake. I’m 55, and I no longer throw around the kind of weights I used to. I pay more attention to form as a way of injury prevention. While I am only using 335 lbs on one of my warmup sets, you will notice that: A) I do the reps slowly, B) I go all the way down, C) my legs are very straight with head up (to keep the spine straight and aligned, and D) I squeeze the reps at the top for a second or two! Have you ever seen the calves of ballet dancers? They never stretch. They are always up on their toes for prolonged periods! While they may not have 20 inch cows, all their calves bulge nicely! Too many lifters put on so much weight, they can’t perform a decent peak contraction. I never go over 450-500 lbs. There’s no need to subject your vertebral column to that! You want to make a set of COW work torturous! They should burn horribly. Rivulets of sweat should pour down your face. If after a set, you can walk around and talk, you didn’t train your calves but some other muscle instead! Lastly, if you want tiny little calves, keep doing 20 sets. If you want BRUTAL COWS, then limit the sets that you do to no more than 3 sets, and do those sets to failure with more strictness (stop doing “partial squat jerks”), deliberation, concentration, slow motion, peak contraction, and go to failure. Also, on a final note, as your whole body gets heavier, your calves should get bigger. You have a better chance of having 20 inch cows if you weigh 250-300 than if you weigh 150. Once again, you can find the course called BRUTAL 20″ COWS in the above mentioned book. You also need to learn how to train your whole body properly as even if you train your calves properly, if your whole body is overtrained, you probably won’t grow well, if at all. And remember calves are tiny cute furry little animals, cows are HUGE! The choice is yours! Best wishes, stay healthy, and GET BRUTALLY HUGE NOW!
Brutally Huge 