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Calf raise
The exercise almost everyone does badly, fast and at the end of the session, when there's no energy left. Your calves can take plenty of work: what they can't take is half reps.
What it works
- Gastrocnemius, the heart-shaped muscle you see when your knee is straight
- Soleus, the one underneath that does almost all the work when your knee is bent
- The Achilles tendon and the foot, which build endurance over time
How to do it
- 1Rest only the front of your foot
On a step, on the machine platform or on a plate. Your heel has to hang free so you can lower it.
- 2Drop your heel as far as it goes
Until you feel the stretch in your calf, without bouncing. This is where the exercise really starts.
- 3Rise up onto your toes
The full range, all the way to the top, pushing through your big toe. Hold for a second at the top, squeezing.
- 4Lower slowly again
For a count of two or three. Rushing the lowering phase is the number one reason this exercise doesn't deliver results.
The mistakes you see most
- Bouncing. Using the tendon like a spring moves the weight without the muscle working. If your set makes noise, you're bouncing.
- Half reps. Neither going all the way down nor all the way up. It's the most repeated mistake in the gym and makes the exercise pointless.
- Bending your knee when standing. Standing, your knee stays straight; if it bends, the work shifts to the soleus and you're doing a different exercise without meaning to.
- Only doing them standing. With your knee straight, the soleus barely gets trained, and it's half of your calf. You also need the seated version.
Variations
- Standing, on a machine or with a barbell. Knee straight: the gastrocnemius leads. It's the version you see most.
- Seated, with weight on your knees. Knee bent: the soleus leads. Essential if you want to train the whole calf.
- Single-leg. No machine, holding onto something. More range and each side on its own.
- On the leg press. Pushing the platform with just the balls of your feet. Comfortable and allows quite a bit of load.
Frequently asked questions
Why won't my calves grow?
The most common reasons are short range, bouncing and doing too few sets. It's a muscle you use all day walking, so it needs more volume and more tension than others. And part of it you're born with: the length of the muscle belly and where the tendon starts can't be trained.
Standing or seated?
Both. Standing, with your knee straight, works mainly the gastrocnemius; seated, with your knee bent, works the soleus. Leaving one out means training half a calf.
How many reps?
Twelve to twenty, or even more, works well. Calves handle long sets and respond to tension held at the top.
How many times a week?
They recover quickly, so two or three times a week is reasonable, spreading the sets across the week instead of doing them all on the same day.
And to keep track of what you lift
In the Reverfit Workout app every exercise comes with its animation, and you log the weight and reps set by set, with what you did last time right in front of you. Free and with no ads.
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