I've read that, perhaps more so than any other muscle group, calf size is almost entirely genetically determined.
Set extensions?
- Thread starter Frederick Foresight
- Start date
For the reason noted above, I'm thinking about going from 1x/week to 2x/week, beginning Monday. I'll probably do that for a month or two and then reevaluate. If at that time I have increased joint pain or don't feel fully recovered for any reason (or if I get smaller and/or weaker!), then I may give 3x/2weeks a try again. I remember that working out 3 times every 2 weeks felt pretty good, but I preferred the constancy of either once or twice a week. Perhaps I can just reframe it as twice a week with the occasional day off.
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I expect you're right, because I have done so for years in the past. I just wish to revisit whether there is any incremental benefit to be derived from the second workout. As I mentioned elsewhere in the past, I initially saw no deficit from a reduction in frequency. But, in the fullness of time, I did get a bit smaller and not quite as lean. So now I will be better able to determine if this marginal loss can more readily be attributed to a reduction in workout frequency or my getting older. (And, as I get older, whether I can continue with a 2x/wk frequency at full intensity.) Gotta be objective about these things, eh?
Baron
ET Founder
Even if it doesn't produce any additional muscle above and beyond what you already have, it will produce one key element to getting lean: energy expenditure that you wouldn't have had otherwise.
Sure. But at what cost, if any? This laboratory and sample size of one intends to find out.
Baron
ET Founder
The problem with using additional exercise to get leaner is that the calories you burned from those extra workouts are easily made up for by eating just a little bit more food. Your diet basically has to be flawless for additional exercise to really help you get leaner. If your diet could use some help, then your time would be much better spent in the kitchen crafting quality meals.
My diet is a good one and perhaps better than it was a few years ago. Meanwhile, I'm a bit less lean and I'm a bit smaller. I posted more than once that you can't outrun a bad diet. So I get it. But I'm also looking to see if I can regain a bit of the muscle mass I lost if it was indeed the reduction in workout frequency that caused it. And, as you well know, the metabolism remains elevated for a while after a resistance workout. So it can only help with the leanness, all else being equal. Yes, leanness largely depends on diet. But activity levels also factor into the equation. It is the latter that I am looking to assess.