Is it true that massage could help reduce the size of muscly calves?

[Joanne]

I have really muscular calves and desperately want to reduce the size. Some people suggest Pilate's and yoga but I have done ballet for 5 years which i believe uses the same muscles and this has not helped. Some people also suggest reps with low weights but i find it hard to believe that this will reduce muscle size and besides i am not risking it lol! i found one answer that suggests massage but have not found any more info on this, does anyone know if this is true?

 

[ClickMaster]

No. Massage can do nothing to increase or decrease the size of muscles.

To understand what is required to reduce muscle size, you need to understand why the muscles are large. Muscles are large for three reasons.

1. Nature (genetics) - some people have naturally large muscles. It simply the way their bodies developed owing to genetics. There is no way to reverse inherited muscle size.

2. Hypertrophy - Strength training will increase muscle size. That is because more muscle tissue is required to move more weight. So, a muscle which has become enlarged by strength training can be reduced in size by allowing it to atrophy by stopping the strength training...or decreasing the force the muscle is required to contract with.

3. Intramuscular fat - some muscle contain fat like the marbling in beef steak. A fat muscle can be reduced in size the same way anything which is fat can be reduced; through diet control.

Beyond the above, there is no way to make muscles smaller. The idea that aerobic exercise will make muscles smaller is a misconception which comes from the fact that marathon runners have small, lean muscles. They have lean muscles because that's what's required to run marathons, not because endurance running makes muscle smaller. That is a process of natural selection. People with naturally large musculature don't win marathons so they don't try. The requirements of the race is what creates distance runner with small muscles.

The bottom line is you can't make your calves smaller without allowing them to atrophy. And, stopping ballet is probably as close to minimizing the load on your calve as you will get. So, if you have not practiced ballet for a year and still have large calves, you'll just have to learn to live with those big calves.

If we could all train to have perfect bodies, you would see a lot more prefect bodies. We all have to work with what nature has provided and that's seldom perfection.

Good luck and good health!!

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[Mia Jones]

if you stop exercising, the muscle will just waste away (although this is bad for your health and not a good idea) im not sure if a massage will make any difference.