It is a universally recognized truth that you should not skip leg day, but how much attention do you pay specifically to your calves? In the latest video on his YouTube channel, the bodybuilder and fitness influencer jesse james west spends an entire month dedicating his training to the often overlooked muscle group, with the goal of growing his calves as much as possible in 30 days through a combination of bodyweight exercises and light/heavy resistance training .
“I would say the worst thing about this challenge is that for the next 30 days I have to wear shorts and show off my tiny calves to everyone,” she says.
West keeps the volume relatively low at the beginning of the challenge so as not to overtrain the muscles and make them too sore to continue daily workouts, starting with exercises like leg press, calf press, reverse calf raises. and jump rope. However, even with his moderate focus, fatigue soon builds up after the first few days.
“My calves are really sore,” he says, “and the combination of calves every day and then cardio every day adds up, so hopefully we don’t have any problems, that we don’t get leg cramps.”
Another thing West notices as the challenge progresses is that his calf-first strategy is affecting some of his other workouts. “I think doing so much calf work is making me very tight, which then translates into kind of an improper squat, because I’m not going as deep with my ankles and I don’t have as much mobility,” he says. “By prioritizing one muscle, you’re going to hinder something else, so it’s one of those things where you need to pick your battles, basically.”
At the end of 30 days, West has gained a quarter of an inch in his calves and is pleased with the visible progress he has made and what he has learned in the process.
“The most important thing to focus on when training your calves is full range of motion,” he says. “If you’re not training the full range of motion, you’re not getting the full benefit of everything.”
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