My last planned activity of each day is 100 calf raises over the course of ten minutes. Without your inspiration, I may have already quit the calf challenge. Thank you.
If you’re lost, take a peek at this and rejoin us.
Monday through Friday I’m in the studio until around 10:30 PM. After a long drive home, my brain is relatively mushy, and I’m prepared to crawl into bed. What can I say? I’m a morning person. The last thing I want to do is perform a second workout at the end of the evening. To motivate myself, I think of you and our commitment to each other, then plow through it. Maybe I shouldn’t thank you; you’re directly responsible for my anguish and diminished hours of sleep.
A progress report is in order.
My calves are still tiny, but my endurance is improving. The first few days, I got to about rep number forty and broke. I needed a minute or so of recovery before I could complete the session. Additionally, I was sore (cue the string instruments). Nearly ten days in, I can now get through rep eighty, and all aches are ghost (slang; gone, leaving, exited). Up, two three, down, two three. Boring as hell. Hell-o lactic acid. From scientificamerican.com:
Contrary to popular opinion, lactate or, as it is often called, lactic acid buildup is not responsible for the muscle soreness felt in the days following strenuous exercise. Rather, the production of lactate and other metabolites during extreme exertion results in the burning sensation often felt in active muscles.
This buildup doesn’t necessarily translate to muscle tissue development.
In fact, I have very little confidence that I’m going to see growth. I know, based on my research and personal experience, that the best way to add lean mass is the incremental addition of weight, coupled with ample rest and recovery and added calories. This workout is the opposite; it’s purely an exercise in endurance. That said, I put aside my personal bias to participate in a science experiment, and I fully intend to see it through.
As you know, I didn’t elect to tackle this challenge without company. I have you of course and the devoted Ben Linbergh, the former editor-in-chief at Baseball Prospectus. I wonder how he’s doing? One thing is for sure; he digs links.
Week one resulted in some soreness, which made it hard to maintain proper form. Workout plans normally recommend rest days for a reason! The soreness has subsided since then, though, which I choose to see as a sign of progress, even if I still don’t look like Mike Aviles in the lower-leg region. My biggest problem now is finding something to watch while raising myself slowly up and down and mentally replaying the “tippy toe” scene from Seinfeld.
Seems both Ben and I have some work to do. We’ll keep you posted (see?). Please add your progress to the comments section below.
No judging,
Kap
Push through your genetics kap!!!!! Love it..might do some raises today myself..
Do it, Jason. With you, brother.
Looking for exercises to get taller. Willing to do them daily.
Guessing squats would defeat the purpose.
One of my favorite all-time comments, Kevin. Well done.
You will soon be known as “Calf” instead of “Kap”
Can’t wait, Bill.
I’ve worked them into my daily routine also, though I need to up the reps. Brings back memories of my old wrestling days. Also probably responsible for shocking me into getting back in shape. After 20 years of 70 hour days and little exercise, I looked at my legs one day and in horror realized my once proud calves had deserted me. I’ll be very disappointed if I don’t whip them back into shape, since I’m lifting a whole lot more than I used to when I do my toe raises. Is it okay to do them when on the leg press machine? Seems that someone warned me not to.
Gotta tell you, Bill, I’m the wrong guy to ask about machines. I stay away from them in general. I’ll write an upcoming post on the topic, though. Stay tuned.
Thanks! I’ll be taking notes!
As I said on twitter, I think it’s 65/35 genetics vs exercise. Still, exercising them, when done properly, can’t hurt. Keep it up, Kap!
You’re likely not far off, Chris. Won’t stop us from experimenting though, right? Have a great weekend.
I can’t say I’ve been doing them consistently as I have begun using them as my filler between sets every day and on leg day I do weighted calf raises. I’m seeing more definition in them and strength as well. Just body weight isn’t enough for my tree trunks! But I do 20 between sets no matter what day and it keeps the blood flowing and sweat pouring. I end up doing more than 100 because of it so maybe I’m cheating, but the size has not changed. However progress is progress!
Isn’t it lovely that you get to be you? Take care, Caitlin.
I’ve been doing the daily but have not reach the 100 mark. I see more definition but I think the size is the same. I haven’t measured yet but I don’t think their bigger. I’ll keep pressing on now that they are in my workout. Kap they may not get bigger but I bet their getting stronger. Our fearless leader my get to the finish line. Push on Kap, push on!
We’ll figure this out, my man.
Thanks for the update everyone! I liked reading the comments about this post as much as I read the post. I was curious as to if anyone has seen any progress. It’s interesting that Kap says he does see an increase in endurance, since in dance, that’s exactly why we do them. One of my instructors had us do them doing warm-ups for years and they are put of my warm-ups when I teach. My students hate them at first (lots of grumbling but we only do 40). However, they only do them during class. So one of my brave ladies decided to try the daily challenge as well after me mentioning it during class and she has started doing them everyday to see if it will work in increasing the size of her calves. She has reported feeling stronger but not bigger.
So that’s my two cents. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday My KapLife Fam!
-Kelebek
You as well, Kelebek. Thanks for your continuos support.
I do them in a mini-skirt and 4″ heels if necessary
By any means…
Just my two cents but instead of the mindless muscle pumping with no resistance go the opposite route for growth, train calves with 5×5 like other bodyparts. The late John Christy who espoused 5×5 programs almost exclusively talked about doing this in detail and added inches to his calves as well as increasing his rep max when switching back to a higher rep range…Look up John Christy and you will find a treasure trove of old school mass/strength programming centered around 3×5 work sets!
Any updates?