Calves are well known for being difficult muscles to develop. Using logic, I did 6 sets of 10 reps, 4 times per week. On the calf machine at my gym, the weight goes to 300 lbs. I managed to get up to 225 lbs. for 6 sets of 10, in a period of 6 months. At first, I could do 150 lbs. for 6 sets of 10. My calves got stronger, but not any bigger. I could actually do the whole stack, but it didn't even make my calves sore. (The numbers don't mean much, since the calf machine at my old gym went up to 500 pounds. 300 pounds on this machine feels heavier than 500 on the old machine. I'm really not sure how much weight I'm using, if it were translated into free weights.)

Heavy weight and low reps did not produce results, other than the fact I could insert the pin lower and lower in the stack. A few months ago, this guy that's training to be a professional bodybuilder was watching my calf workout and stopped me. He told me the secret is to use low weight and very high reps. In the past few months, my calves have gotten noticeably larger and are extremely sore after every workout.

I started out like this (must be supersets):

[90 lbs for 30 reps
bodyweight for 55 reps]
do superset 3 times, at least 3 times per week

So I do 85 reps for 3 sets, for a total of 255 reps in less than 20 minutes.
Currently, I'm using 120 lbs, as 90 became too easy for 30 reps.

To do your bodyweight, just find a raised platform (I use the back of the incline bench press). The reps must be done quickly and it will hurt considerably. But it works. It's not like developing other muscles, where you need heavy weights.

Also, when doing your bodyweight, keep your toes forward for 25 reps, point your toes out (inside of calf) for 15 reps, and point your toes in (outside of calf) for 15 reps.

I trained my calves to eat grass and say "moo."

They do that without training. A good bad joke, hehe.

I personally think most muscles are easy to train, but one of the  hardest groups is your abs.  Of course, it depends on what you expect.  You can certainly built strong abs, but it seems like most people want definition.  That of course, is mostly diet, which is hard for most people, especially in this country, because Americans LOVE to eat... I always get a kick of the fact that most of the really big guys at the gym also have really big (and nasty) guts!!

cheers,

-avatar!

To get a six-pack, visible, one needs low bodyfat.
That is all.

Training your abs, while retaining body-fat, will make one look like they have a gut.

Right, you need low body-fat, but you also need to train the abs (to have some definition).  Many people do have guts, it's not just an illusion!  It's quite dangerous to have substantial fat in your upper body (as opposed to your lower body) because of the risk in clogging the heart.

cheers,

-avatar!

Yeah, abs are the hardest for me to work out. As for calves, I do 200 calf lifts every other day, and I try to squeeze in the painful 50 squat jumps. Fortunately, my goal to more easily dunk the basketball is motivating me. The imporvement is only coming slowly though, eh.

run and bike and you wont need to spend half an hour with weights on calves,,,

Seconded. (Or play soccer and tennis.)

More easily, eh.  Okay now you're gonna have to divulge your height for me.  If it's 6'2" or less will be good motivation for me to get off my arse and hit the calves

What machine do you use?  Seated Calf, or Standing?

I can do 400lbs on a standing calf raise, with excellent form.  But, the size of the calves are not quite relative to my strength.

Standing calf machine. With calves, don't worry about how much you can lift. It's all about the high reps. Even though I've greatly reduced the weight, my calves are increasing in size. From what I understand, the calves are the hardest worked muscle group in the body. They are accustomed to torture, since there's no way to not use them unless you're paralyzed or missing your legs. So you have to go beyond torture to make them grow. They don't care about heavy weight; they just want to be ripped to pieces. One guy told me that I'm either going to rip my calves off the bone or they're going to grow.

I imagine that, as longhair stated, a lot of biking and running would also do the trick. Those activities are basically high rep workouts for the calves. But I don't have time for that. So I do a high burn scorcher in the gym a few times per week.

I'm 6' 5". I suppose that won't be much inspiration there. =P But on the other hand, I've been able to touch the rim of a full sized basketball goal since I was in 8th grade, which sums up to 6 years now. When I first touched it, I was 5' 11". There's hope.