The History Behind The Movement

I don’t know if I invented this or saw it somewhere and buried it in my subconscious, so I won’t make any claims to ownership. However, I’ve never seen anyone else do this movement except for the guys I’ve trained.

The theory is based on several well-accepted principles in the HIT (High Intensity Training) circle: first, the ‘negative’, or descending part of a movement, is where the majority of muscle fiber damage is done. Carrying this one step further, it is theorized that one can “lower” a much heavier weight than one could lift and accentuate this facet of muscle development, hence the birth of ‘negative-only’ training. Explosive positive movements are very important as well, but there are some muscle groups that tend to respond better to negative-only training. Dorian Yates, a long-time HIT advocate, would train at length using negative-only movements. I do not advise this for the majority of people due to the incredible stress this puts on the central nervous system, but for short periods of time it is a great way to break a plateau and gain extra mass.

The calf is a very dense muscle and therefore one that can take quite a bit of punishment. Training negatives with calves is much easier on the nervous system simply due to the fact that the movement doesn’t involve a tremendous amount of total body energy.

Performing The Negative Calf Raise

Obviously you’ll be using more weight than you could use if you were training in a traditional way. The key is to raise the weight with BOTH feet and lower the weight using one foot at a time as slowly as possible. The movement I personally like is shown below, the dumbbell calf raise, but you can use standard machine calf raises, toe presses, or any other calf exercise you wish. You will only want to do one or two sets—trust me, that’s all you’ll want or need if you do this correctly. Each set should be carried out to the point to where your descending time rapidly drops (i.e. you cannot hold the negative portion of the movement any longer.)

First, raise the weight using both legs. If you are using the dumbbell raise, as shown in the picture to the left, you’ll want to balance yourself by grabbing on to a bar or steady object. Also note that you’ll need a platform. Like Vince Gironda, I prefer to train calves without shoes on, but this is optional. I simply feel there’s a better stretch involved sans shoes, and stretching is one of the most important aspects of calf growth.

Next, lower the weight using only one of your calves. I like to perform 8-12 reps with one calf, rest for about 30 seconds, switch hands, and hit the other calf. I then stretch between sets. I never perform more than two sets total as this is very intense and you’ll be sore for days afterwards. Remember to raise the weight back up using both legs (speed is not important) and lower the weight very slowly. A count of 10 is a good start to gauge your negative intervals. Stretch at the bottom of the movement and contract as hard as you can at the top prior to descending. One final note: I use wrist straps as the weights will tire out your grip faster than your calves otherwise if you’re using dumbbells.