Training & Nutrition - Floppy calves...

I was sitting in my car yesterday with my mom... and she poped another one of here leg shaving questions... your a guy... blah blah blah. She then noticed my right calf and how big it was... then she hit my leg and the muscle kind of flops around... basically flat foot, no pressure, calf doing no work...

When the foot stretches out the calf stretches and hardens up, the little muscles on the outside bulge, normal, but why is the calf so floppy side to side under no load? Is it because it is huge and just sits there?

Just curious... :D

I have searched all over the net and not found anything on it...

I've noticed butts can do the same thing too (rather screwed up story, don't ask)...prolly just something that happens all over the body, but is just more obvious due to the way a calf is shaped.


edit: the front of my thighs do this as well....so it might just be something to do with larger muscle masses.

I was sitting in my car yesterday with my mom... and she poped another one of here leg shaving questions...

Brings back memories of when my Mom first caught sight of my pasty white shaved legs... she had to leave the room...

To your question... the calf is a fairly large muscle structure and like you guessed it's not under load and just sags. When you stand up gravity will pull down and give the impression of tautness. When I'm massaging my calf I'll actually sit so that it's floppy... I can work the muscles better like that.

A muscle that lacks tonacity? Do you exercise the muscle (calf raises)?

Koffee

its a regularly stretched fully relaxed muscle what do you expect? Go grab a raw boneless steak and give it a shake you'll see.

Boneless steak is dead. That's different.

Koffee

It's normal, everyone is like that, more noticable on well developed muscles.

Boneless steak is dead. That's different.

Koffee
But the cell structure is the same and will infact tense and twitch with proper electrical stimulation. (At least with a whole muscle like a roast) Heck shark steaks will twitch just from touching the nerve centers(like the spine) for quite a time after the fish has lost its head.

It's normal. Get a photo of Sean Yates or Florian Rouseeau or George Hincapie's calves if you really want to frighten yourself.

Yep, it's totally normal; during calf massage I'll flibble the calf around to make sure it's nice and loose. Some liveliness is needed (physios call this "tonus" and its what capsicum refers to) but relaxed, there's no need for anything more.

some people i work with have floppy stomachs. i guess they just have really large muscles in that area...
;)

MERTON's calves are not floppy. maybe you could join a freak show?

some people i work with have floppy stomachs. i guess they just have really large muscles in that area...
;)
Floppy doesn't mean squishy :p

Merton has a floppy brain.

which brain you talkin bout? O_o