Q&A for How to Make Calves Smaller

If you want smaller calves, avoid doing a lot of calf exercises when you're working out, as these can make them bigger. For instance, you might only do calf exercises once a week, whereas most people might work their calves 3 times a week.

You can't lose weight in just one area of your body, so if your large calf size is due to fat mass, you'll need to do exercises that work your entire body, and cut back on calories so you can lose weight overall. Keep in mind that it will probably take a bit longer than a week to notice results.

Work your calf muscles with single leg calf raises, skipping, or running. Do these exercises two to three times a week to get bigger calf muscles.

All body proportions are at least partially controlled by genetics. If other people in your family have large calves, it may be your genetic predisposition too.

No. Walking up stairs on your toes will strengthen and tone the calf muscles unless you are extremely heavy (BMI over 29), in which case, the calf muscles are working hard and will get bigger to be able to move you.

To slim down your legs, you'll need to lose body fat and get plenty of cardio.

Wearing high heels or poor posture can make the calves tight. The good news is that stretching or massaging the calves is easy.

Calf raises, like other strength training exercises, can help you lose fat and slim down all over, including in your calves. They can also help the muscles in your calves look more sculpted and defined. However, if your calf muscles are already well-built and muscular (as opposed to fatty), you might wish to avoid calf-raises and other exercises that will bulk up the muscles.

Generally, muscle tissue should feel more firm and have a more clearly defined shape. However, it can be hard to tell, especially if there's a fat layer over the muscle. To be sure, ask a fitness pro at your local gym or your doctor's office to measure how much fat is on your calves using a device called a fat caliper.

Walking on a treadmill can help you slim down all over, so it might reduce your calves if they're large because of fat. However, it can also cause your calf muscles to bulk up, especially if the treadmill is set on an incline.

Eating a healthy diet and getting plenty of exercise can help you slim down all over, including your feet. It's also possible that your feet look chubby because fluids tend to accumulate in them throughout the day. To reduce water retention, stay hydrated and avoid foods that are high in salt. Try putting your feet up occasionally throughout the day if you're on them a lot.

If your thighs and calves are bulky because of fat, doing cardio and all-over strength training exercises, especially in combination with a healthy diet, can help them slim down. Doing exercises that target your thighs and calves will help define the muscles there, but won't cause you to lose fat in those specific areas. If you have very muscular thighs and calves, avoid exercises that target those areas to prevent the muscles from getting even bigger.

Different people retain fat in different parts of their body, so it's possible that your thighs are the last places to lose weight when you diet. Dieting and exercise can help you slim down all over, but unfortunately there's no way to target weight loss to a specific area. If you don't want to build muscle in your thighs, stick to exercises that don't target your upper legs and avoid things like lunges and squats.

It's possible that you are gaining muscle mass in your legs from all that walking. You might try swimming as a form of cardio that creates less resistance against your leg muscles while still helping you slim down all over.

No, they will not. This is all about losing the large calves, not building them.

No, this is how to make your calves smaller and will not effect your current height.

They might, as most exercises do cause weight loss over the entire body. Keep in mind that, because these exercises mainly target the calves, you will see the results mostly in your calves.

It's best to do them every day, if possible.

These exercises will surely help but it will take a lot longer. These work faster on fatty calves as fats are simpler substances than muscles and they break down easier, but you'll eventually see the results.

All the exercises that were shown will work in time.

That depends your starting point (the size and composition of your calves) and how frequently you do the exercises. Needless to say, the more you exercise them, the faster you'll see results.

If you want to lose calf muscle, try running or biking for 30 - 45 minutes per day on flat ground.

For a really, really long time because these muscles are working all day every day through your entire life. If they are only fatty it will take a little less time, but if they're overly toned it can take years.

Yes. These exercises are unisex.

Slimming your calves is simply making them smaller. Toning your calves is replacing the fat with muscle. Toning the calves might make your calves even larger.

You may have shin splints or an injury pertaining to your tibialis anterior. You should see your doctor about that.

Yes, this is normal. Everyone's body is different.

Yes, because most people do these things on their toes, which makes their calves work harder.

No, heavy and bulky shoes will not affect the size of your calves.

Yes, but it wouldn't be as effective as some other methods for weight loss. You can't target weight loss, so a stepper would just help you burn calories and maybe tone up a little bit of muscle.