Question: I am in the process of losing weight and gaining muscle through diet and exercise, and I’ve already made huge strides. However, the one area of my body that I’m not losing inches on are my calves.

I know they are mostly muscle rather than fat (judging by the “pinch test”), and I’ve always had larger calves (I think it may be genetic). But I’d like them to be strong and still look feminine and shapely rather than stocky. Any suggestions?

Rachael

Answer: There are a couple of problems with your question and goals. If you were fat for a number of years and you walked around on your legs and not someone else’s than your calves would have been involved in that walking. The heavier you are the more work your calves would be doing and the larger and stronger they would become. It’s a basic overload principle scenario.

You happen to have two sets of muscles that are the densest muscles in your body, one is your forearms and the other is your calves. The denser the muscle the less likely it will get smaller, especially if you’re still walking around all the time. You would literally have to stop walking around on your two feet for your calves to reduce in size and that’s probably not likely. Well, unless you are rich enough to have servants carry you around and be at your beck and call. If that’s the case then what the hell are you asking me this question for.

So I can assume you don’t have servants, so the answer would be to create and optical illusion. In order to create this optical illusion you need to build your lower quadriceps (the muscles over your knee). Leg extensions for between 20-25 reps will build this area, balance out your leg and make your calves look smaller. You won’t lose the muscle and you will be creating a more stable knee joint. See, you win all around.