Calves can be among the toughest muscle group to develop. They are extremely resistant to growth (unless you've got great genetics) and often, people completely give up on building them!

This technique is one of the best I've found for forcing the calves to respond...and I'll warn you up front. It's VERY painful.

You're going to be doing a "normal" Seated Calf Raise exercise in a very specific pattern.

First, set a weight that you could normally do for 15 reps for the exercise. You're going to be using this weight NON-STOP for 5 minutes.

You're going to do sets of 3 reps with 10 seconds rest between sets. The killer part is, instead of actually resting, you're going to "rest" by holding the bottom stretch position of the exercise. This keeps continuous tension and loading on the calves for the entire 5 minutes of the set.

(I'm demonstrating this exercise using an improvised setup on a leg curl machine because I don't have a Seated Calf Raise Machine.)

The video for this technique shows it more clearly...bottom line. Do 3 reps, hold the stretch for 10 seconds. Do 3 more reps. Then repeat for 5 minutes total.

If you can't get through the full 5 minutes (it's extremely painful!), just stop when you have to, shake out the lactic acid, then get right back to it as soon as possible.

This technique is extremely effective for forcing a lot of tension and stretch-overload onto the stubborn calves to help them grow.

And yes, you WILL have a hard time walking...both immediately after the set and a couple of days later.

If you can make it through the full 5 minutes without stopping, increase the weight a little next time. All you need is one set of this and you're done with calves for the day.

This technique can be used multiple times throughout the week. Because it's relatively quick to do, it's a great way to do high-frequency calf training for maximum results (which your calves will LOVE...you won't, but your calves will :)

I've got the video for this technique posted on my YouTube channel here.

If you want more unique calf-training ideas and exercises, you can find them in my book "The Best Leg Exercises You've Never Heard Of"

Enjoy!