Hello to all, I'm new here. Just looking for recommendations on building up the calf muscles. At the moment my calves look are about as slender as this guys> http://www.tattoo.dk/colins/diverse/...%202%20300.jpg , and I'd like to get them rounder better defined. What I'm doing over the past week is going up and down on my tip toes with 8kg dumbells in each arm for 2 x 30, and then 1 x 40. I'd say I'd be doing about 2 reps a second, and speeding up towards the end for the burn. Any recommendations?

more weight. I am by no means a bodybuilder, but I happen to have genetically large, muscular calves. I basically go up to the standing calf raise machine, put the pin at the very bottom (485 lbs I think) and rep to failure, about 20 reps. Its the only way I can pump my calves.
Moral of the story: your calves should be able to do way more than 16kg plus your bodyweight. put your feet on a step, so that you can drop the heels 3" lower than your toes to stretch the calf fully, and just increase the weight.

Aside from inceasing weight and range of motion, go slower and contolled. Don't do it too fast. Remember to get on your tip-toes and finish down clean.

Thanx lads

everyones body reacts differently to calf exercises so its a hit and miss. It has been hell trying to get my calves to grow, but I finally found a workout routine that works for me. I do seated calf raises(4-5sets) first starting at 15 reps and increasing the weight untill i can only do 5-6 reps. Next I use a leg press machine(4-5sets) following the same routine, 5-15 reps. depending on how i feel after those two exercises, I may do 2-3 sets on the standing calf machine. My workout is only an example and i would not recommend it for you if you are a novice lifter.

I would recommend doing good clean reps in perfect form, but it may not work for you. I say this because I did slow conotrolled reps for years and never got any gains from it. since I started doing super heavy weights and maybe cheating a few of them I have made great gains.

very important with calves:
Make your rest period no longer than 45 seconds!

I also just read over the weekend that you should give almost 2 seconds rest between reps...the achillies tendon is very elastic, and if you just rep out without stopping, you're using a lot of tendon elasticity, rather than calf muscle, to keep the weight moving.