No matter how dialled in your routine is, there’s always that one muscle group. The one that just doesn’t respond. Doesn’t pop. Doesn’t grow, even when the rest of your body seems to be making visible progress. For me, it’s the calves. Absolute nightmare. I’ve done the basics: standing calf raises, seated calf raises, machines, and bodyweight work. I’ve gone heavy with low reps, light with high reps, added pauses, played with angles, even tried two-a-days. And still… minimal growth. Over time, I started to ask: Is it just genetics? Or is there something in my training that needs to change? Here’s what I’ve tried and what’s actually made a difference: 1. Increased Frequency I used to hit calves maybe once, twice a week. Now I train them every other day, sometimes daily - just a few focused sets. It’s the only body part I’ve ever needed to “overtrain” to get a response. 2. Mind-Muscle Connection I used to bounce through reps. Now I slow down, control the stretch at the bottom, pause at the top. I even close my eyes during the set to focus more internally. Total game-changer for recruitment. ⚖️ 3. Standing vs Seated Balance I noticed that I was relying too much on seated calf work, which hits the soleus. Since I started focusing more on standing raises (which hit the gastrocnemius), I finally started to see some shape and definition up top. ⛏️ 4. Progressive Overload – for Real I was “doing calves” but not progressively loading them. Now I actually log my weights and reps and push to increase load week by week - just like I would with squats or deadlifts. Treating it like a major muscle group made a difference in how it responded. 5. Daily Movement & Step Volume This one surprised me. I added more hill walking and stair climbing into my week, not as formal workouts but just as lifestyle changes. That constant use and stretch through the full range seems to have helped just as much as gym work. So, my calves still aren’t huge. But they’re better. And I feel like I finally understand what they need. My question to you all is this: What’s the muscle group that’s been your hardest battle? What have you tried and what finally helped? Let’s share the tough ones. You never know who might read your tip and finally unlock some progress after months (or years) of frustration.
Great post, MarkB. For me, it’s the upper chest, just refuses to grow evenly. What helped was swapping flat bench for incline variations and really dialing in cable fly angles. Also, paused reps made a big difference in activation. Still a work in progress, but it’s slowly coming along!
Hi @micreal Have you tried the interactive muscle exercise page? https://www.realmuscleforum.com/content/choose-which-muscles-to-exercise I would be interested to hear what you think about it.
