making calves leaner/walking

[mullax]

hi everyone.

i'll preface this by saying i fully understand i can't spot train, point to a body part and assume things will magically work on that body part.

however, i did have a couple of questions regarding calves.

up until around a year ago, my calves were pretty thin and i didn't give them a second thought. over the past year, they have become very muscular to the point i'm ultra self conscous. if i put on a heel my muscle is bulging out, and i fear they look ungainly. i live in NYC and with my previous job spent a walking long distances in heels/platforms, which may have contributed how muscular they've become. that was pretty foolish (not to mention uncomfortable). my workouts are relatively mixed and i stay away from the stairmaster. but i realize walking miles on elevated heels may have created more muscle than i realize. i'm trying to stick to flat, comfortable shoes from now on. i know muscle is a good thing, but i'm exceptionally self conscious these days about my newly built legs.

my questions are
a) are there any specific exercises that are foolproof in terms of making your calves leaner if they are muscular/boxy? i know stairclimbing would be a bad idea, but is there any type of workout (walking, pilates, etc) that may be helpful in terms of making the leg a bit thinner?

b) will walking long several miles daily in comfortable sneakers help or hurt this problem? i've received some conflicting information. i know walking can be great exercise but i also was told it makes your legs bigger, the more you use them. if i were to walk a lot more in flat shoes would it be create even more mass?

 

[workoutdvdworld]

You may be prone to building muscle quite easily. Certain people just have that genetic predisposition. The high heels are likely to have done it, but generally walking in itself shouldn't really build calf muscles. I would say that there is no exercise that will actually make your calf muscle smaller. The only way it will get smaller is through lack of use! If you do exercises like Pilates and Yoga, which do not focus on calves in general, you won't be building the muscles, but will still get calorie burning benefits. Stretching will help to lengthen out the muscle, so make sure that you stretch really well even after walking. Yoga and Pilates are based on stretching and lengthening so once again this might help you.
If you are just walking with flat shoes you won't be building your calf muscle any more. If anything after a time of not walking in high heels they should go down naturally. Calves don't generally carry a lot of weight, but if you do have some fat there you could do regular fat burning cardio in order to shed fat from your body in general.