calf size and shape

is there any strength workout that can change the shape of my calf?

There are "lifts" - you can stand on the edge of a solid object like say, a stair, keeping only the front part of your foot on the stair, and slowly lift yourself up and down (and not with the aid of a railing..lol.)

Other than that, there are a variety of yoga stretches that can both strengthen and lengthen your calf muscles..

Here's one site I found with a list of calf stretches.

I have really big, well-defined calves. I think it's genetic though, 'cause my mom has them too and neither of us does calf workouts. Too bad the rest of my body's a mess. :(

Running and, in my experience, Dance Dance Revolution.  DDR skill requires calf strength!

Well, you can make it bigger, but you can't change the shape really, that's pretty much entirely determined by where the muscle attaches to the bone, which depend on your genetics.

i'm interested in decreasing the size of my calfs.

i'm replying to this to bump you back up to the top of the page cause I have the same question. My calves have always been larger proportionally to the rest of my leg. I can't pinch an inch though so I know it's muscle but can you get rid of muscle?

I would also like to know if its possible to decereas the size of very muscular calves. Mine are totally all muscle coming from years of dance and lots of walking. People seem to envy them, but I'd like to be able to zip up a pair of really hot boots...

stretching in a deep lunge position, back leg straight front knee bent and feet parallel, will help with a more linear shape, guaranteed. Also RUNNING and weight training tend to increase calf size.

So what about decreasing the size of them? I really want to know the answer to that one!

 Well, if you deliberately want to destroy muscle, purposefully overtraining or excessive cardio could possibly do the trick.

 Hard to do though, calves are mostly connective tissue with a whole lot of slow-twitch muscle, and crazy strong - they're designed to keep your body moving all day and to push your whole weight doing it.

 When trying to grow larger calf muscles, it takes a whole heck of a lot of work in fact, so much so that I have a hard time seeing how it could be possible to overtrain. I walked 22 miles uphill last weekend, and my calves grew - which they hadn't done for a long time.

 So while in theory it should be possible to deliberately overtrain and thus reduce the size of the muscle, in practice you'll probably only make the muscle grow. Best thng for it is probably to not do a whole lot of direct calf training, and learn to love your current shape...

im slightly jealous. i have puny nothing calves. if they were bigger they would help to portion out my jiggly thunder thighs. but i also cant really wear high heels & my mother's calves got all puny too once she stopped wearing heels. so one piece of advice is to try to just wear flats. also i had some growth after wearing mbt's so don't buy those either although they are great!

You can do nothing to decrease the size of your calves. Literally, do nothing and the muscle will go away. When I broke my ankle a couple years ago, I was on cruches for about 2 months. Once I finally got my cast off and everything, my left calf was about half the size of my right (I thought it was actually kinda amazing how quickly a change in muscle could occur) . So, I guess if you want small calves, you can break an ankle...but that's probably not so good if you want balance too, jeesh, some people are jsut impossible ;)

True, smartjock256 - muscle atrophy will decrease the size of your calves - but you'll be likely to injure other parts of your body that compensate for the loss of that strength.  I have puny calves like rnjt; too bad the two of us can't take on a bit of helpless's large, lovely calf muscle!  :D

Yoga and pilates tend to lengthen muscles and while toning-you might try this. Think about the exercises your are doing now. If you have a job that has you on your feet most of the day- that could be contributing. If you have always had big calves or most members of your family have big calves, you may have to embrace them. 

same issue here ...... i use to (and still do to some extend) walk on my toes.   Well what i mean is that my weight is not evenly spread over my entire foot- toes carry bulk of the weight... hence the well developed calf muscles.   I doubt i'll be able to fix 29 yrs of damage......

 

breaking my ankles sounds just what i need to do to decrease those enormous calfs of mine! and puny shapeless calves are just what i'm asking for!

i usually stand most and do some walking, no major workout that should be contributing to enlarging my calf muscles.  guess it's good old fashion dieting and exercising to burn more than what i take in to lose weight in that area and everyelse.

Original Post by fuelqueen:

Yoga and pilates tend to lengthen muscles...

 The only way to lengthen muscles is to rip them from where they are attached to the bone and re-attach them to another point, I doubt yoga or pilates do this.

Haha, floggingsully, you have obviously never seen seen me do yoga :P

I think you would be better off accepting the beautiful calf muscles that you have and dressing to flaunt them!  The size and shape of your calves is pretty much genetically determined, and while you can add some muscle with weight training, it's very difficult to decrease the size of the calves.  Revel in those beautiful leg muscles -- they're sexy!  Show them off in some beautiful pumps  or sexy sandals...