Exercises That Make Your Calves Smaller

Most people especially ladies do not like having big calves. It is important to note that calves can grow big for different reasons.

Genetics

Genetics determine a lot of things including the size of our calves. If you were born with big calves and there is nothing specific you have done so far that made them bigger, you may find it hard to reduce them in size no matter how many types of exercises you undertake. This is because exercises do not have any impact on the body genetics but rather metabolism. And you can perhaps see where you stand on this by looking at your siblings or even parents. Do they have as big calves as yourself? If not, then it may be possible to reduce yours by a size or even more than that.

Fat

If the main component of your calves is fat, then that will be easy to reduce by working out.

Muscle

Certain exercises would particularly boost and strengthen the muscles on your body. If your calves grew bigger because of such exercises then they can be reduced with below workouts.

There is no harm in putting in your best to try and reduce your calve size, right? So, let’s look at the available exercises that could help bring these calves to their lean nature.

What Exercises Make Your Calves Smaller?

Running

Not all running will help you cut down on your calves size. Yes, it may help you reduce the body weight but if you are straining and exerting more pressure on the calves, they will grow bigger and stronger to ensure they support your strenuous activities. The following are the recommended running exercises that will definitely help you cut down on the size of your calves.

• Use a Treadmill

Because treadmills traditionally run horizontally beneath the feet, you actually do not use a lot of your calve muscles to run. This way, the calves will end up reducing in size, even the body loses the overall body weight. Any kind of running that strains the calves like running up the hill will certainly make your calves grow bigger.

• Run but avoid sprinting

Long distance measured running does not put much strain on the calves as much as the sprints do. This is because sprinting requires more and sudden energy to keep you moving. This way, the calves are compelled to adopt accordingly by growing bigger and stronger muscles that are needed to handle the exertion of the sprint.

• Avoid running on your toes

Sprinters run on their toes and do not use their entire heel to do so. This is because running on their toes leverages on the size and strength of their calves to propel them much further. They also use more energy to achieve that. Any muscle, if it is put to use every so often, it grows bigger. Consequently, because you want to reduce the size of your calves, make sure you run but you must do so, while using your entire heel-to-toe style with supporting shoes. This puts less strain on your calves and as the body losses weight, so shall your calves.

• Cardio at incline

Whenever running, make sure you do so on a flat surface. This way, you end up losing weight without necessarily working hard to strengthen your calves. Any running that does not strain your calves will almost always help reduce the size of your calves.

Low intensity cardio

Do a lot of walking. This helps your heart stay healthy and consequently enhance a stable metabolic rate that will easily break down the food you consume without much left to store. But you must also avoid taking too much processed foods whose carbs are difficult to break down.

When you lose weight, you will lose both fat and muscle. This without doubt shall also cause the size of your calves to reduce with the rest of the body.

Swimming

While swimming can help you lose weight, just like walking, it puts little strain on your calves. As a result, as you work out in the pool, you ultimately end up losing your body weight which of course partly goes away with the size of your calves.

Yoga

Since yoga is not a vibrant physical activity, by properly stretching yourself out and doing some meditation, the overall size of your body will reduce with the ultimate impact of reducing the size of your calves as well.

Conclusion

Using the work out exercises recommended above, would by all means help reduce the size of your calves. But working out alone, without watching your diet and eating healthy, will ultimately frustrate your efforts and encourage the calves to grow bigger again.