How to get smaller calves

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SophieeBrook
SophieeBrook Posts: 29 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Does walking on your toes make your calves slimmer ? Do you guys recommend an exercise that does that.
I have fat calves and want to slim them down.

Replies

  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    edited February 2017
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    Not much you can do to specifically target them. Continue to reduce body fat through a modest calorie deficit and appropriate training. If your genetics will allow your calves to get smaller, they will (given enough time and consistency).
  • jessef593
    jessef593 Posts: 2,272 Member
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    Eat in a deficit and avoid all forms of muscular stimulus in order to engage atrophy. Which includes: walking, biking, going for hikes, climbing stairs, squats, leg press, deadlifts, running, STANDING ON YOUR TOES. When you push your toes down and raise your heel it's because you're engaging your calves, locking them in a contraction. So I doubt that would help if not make them larger.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    SophieeBrook wrote: »
    Does walking on your toes make your calves slimmer ? Do you guys recommend an exercise that does that.
    I have fat calves and want to slim them down.

    You can't spot reduce fat.
  • dwulet130
    dwulet130 Posts: 108 Member
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    [quote="

    You can't spot reduce fat.[/quote]

    But assuming it's not fat and you want tighter muscles?
  • Cat3141
    Cat3141 Posts: 162 Member
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    (1) You can't spot reduce fat. (2) Walking on your toes engages the muscles in your calves, which over time will increase muscle mass in your calves--in other words, making them larger.

    Reducing body fat overall will likely reduce the amount of FAT in your calves, which may or may not make them noticeably smaller.
  • mdcoug
    mdcoug Posts: 397 Member
    edited February 2017
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    dwulet130 wrote: »
    wrote:

    You can't spot reduce fat.

    But assuming it's not fat and you want tighter muscles?

    It doesn't work that way. It's either fat or muscle. You either eat at a deficit and reduce fat (and muscle) or you eat at a surplus/maintenance and lift to build muscle or you can just do nothing to gain fat. < That's stating it from my layman's point of view and way over simplified, but that's the basic story.
  • KickassAmazon76
    KickassAmazon76 Posts: 4,649 Member
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    a) embrace your calves, I have serious calve envy and think people don't love them enough
    b) like everyone says, you cannot spot reduce fat. You can eat at a deficit in order to reduce your overall body fat, but there isn't anything you can do to get rid of fat in one specific area
    c) walking on your toes causes your calve muscles to contract (that's why high heels look 'sexy', because they make the legs appear curvier). Walking on them extensively would likely strengthen the muscle, which may make them appear bigger.
    d) lets see these calves, maybe they're bigger in your mind, and when others see them, they just see awesomeness?

    but more than anything...
    learn to love the body you have (big calves and all) and work toward becoming healthier and more fit. Accept that the changes that come with that can be somewhat unpredictable - but wholly yours. Even if you lose all the weight, you may still come away with shapely calves, and if so - that's perfectly wonderful.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited February 2017
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    You can't spot reduce fat.
    "dwulet130 wrote: »
    But assuming it's not fat and you want tighter muscles?

    In all respect, there isn't a thing called loose muscles. They are either contracted (flexed) or not. There is no tightening of a muscle regardless what marketing or infomercials claim.

    OP, you will have to eat in a deficit and eventually whatever fat you gave on your calves will be gone. Genetics will come into play on when you do as well as how big your calves would be regardless of bf%.



  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    I lost several inches off my calves when I lost weight, but they're still larger than most. I've known this for 45 years, so I got over it a long time ago.
  • Jules_farmgirl
    Jules_farmgirl Posts: 225 Member
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    Learn to love them. I have large muscular calves that won't go anywhere with weight loss, this is how my body is. Through my life women have made fun of them and men have envied them. It took me a very long time to make peace with my body shape.
  • alyangel123
    alyangel123 Posts: 41 Member
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    Once my thighs/rest of my legs looked muscular and defined, or as my bf endearingly says >.> horse legs, my freaky huge, defined (can't fit in boots) calves matched lol ratios and all. Might be a way to go you hadn't thought of.

    That made me sound like a circus freak but I look normal I swear lolol and I no longer hate my calves, they look right next to the rest of my legs instead of stand-out
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,694 Member
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    I have always had large calves, even when I was young and slim. I have never worn boots, because they are so big they are hard to fit. For the past 30 years, I have been a hiker, a bike rider and more recently, a runner. All build strong muscular calves, though in somewhat different ways. Losing weight makes them a little smaller, but they are still noticeably big. Some people (like my husband) like them. I have learned to love what they can do and accept that I will never have thin legs.
  • NannersBalletLegs
    NannersBalletLegs Posts: 207 Member
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    Oh, man. Good luck with that. I inherited my mother's thick, muscular calves and also played softball for years as a youngster, so even when I was at the lower end of a normal BMI many moons ago, my calves were still quite prominent, along with my thighs and butt. There wasn't an inch of fat on my arms and you could see bones in my chest, shoulders, and ribs...but I still had those big calf and thigh muscles. Sigh. That said, I could wear regular knee-high boots back then, which is something I can't do now with my sixteen-inch calves...so you can trim fat and reduce size somewhat just by losing weight. To get skinny, ectomorph-type calves, though, you'd have to let you muscles atrophy...which I would hope you wouldn't want to do.

  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
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    Continue to lose fat.
    Then I would rock them and rub it in the faces of all the bro's with small calves.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    TresaAswegan wrote: »
    Continue to lose fat.
    Then I would rock them and rub it in the faces of all the bro's with small calves.

    Not it...
  • zdyb23456
    zdyb23456 Posts: 1,706 Member
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    I'm just thankful for boot cut jeans.

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