Elevated Heal Squats: These allow you to stay more upright and help develop the quads. There are many benefits that we just won’t get into here, but you can Google It: Benefits of squatting with elevated heels. Nevertheless, the platform is an excellent way to do this type of squat in a safe way. Sure, the slanted part of it is probably a good DIY project, but this is another benefit to having this piece of equipment. For the exercise,you want to warm up your joints with progressive resistance since your calves are in a potentially vulnerable position with this movement. Below are three calf raise variations that you can perform to isolate the calf muscle directly. You can also add in single-leg variations of any of the below movements. Smith Machine Calf Raise The standing calf raise is one of the best options for getting your calves to grow. But this is because training them in a standing position mimics functional human movement (Walking, jumping, running, etc).

If you don’t want to carve out training time to train the calves directly, you can do some workable alternatives to train the joint action while still remaining true to your specific training style. Sled Push The gastrocnemius is one of the muscles of the calves responsible for ankle plantar flexion. Unlike the soleus, it also assists somewhat in knee flexion as it crosses the knee. Due to the attachment location of the gastrocnemius, calf raises done from a standing position tend to target the gastrocnemius more than the soleus. Soleus To bring up your calves, start by increasing your training frequency. Work up to sessions 3 – 4 times per week, aiming to hit up to 20 sets overall. Your rep ranges can vary between 5 – 10, 10 – 20, and up to 30 reps per individual set. Start on the lower end of the volume, assess your ability to recover, and work up from there. To Increase Strength and Power

WANT TO TRY BEFORE YOU BUY?

Two of the other most important dimensions are the height of 5″ (12.7 cm) and the top surface width of 5.5″ (14 cm). Calf and tibialis raises are easy to "cheat" at the top of the movement, so the accommodating resistance prevents this from happening. Bands are also the most portable and convenient way to add external load to the lower leg. Stretch your heels heels on a raised surface. Leaning forward like this puts your calves into a position of worse leverage, adding to the difficulty. Load bands and weight at the hip. For bent leg variations, get into the same position and bend the knee. You can do a squat heel raise with your feet in a narrow or wide stance. This movement is ideal for when you don’t have access to training equipment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh8L34lAKC0 Video can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: How to: Smith Machine Calf Raise (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh8L34lAKC0) Seated Machine Calf Raise Since the calves are super stubborn you can work them every day. But the best method is to do 2-3 sets per day alternating a moderate and heavy day.Elevate your feet on a solid surface that allows you to maximally dorsiflex your heels. The strong stretch at the bottom is very important for hypertrophy and developing end-range strength and stability in the ankles. Contracting hard at the very top of the movement is also important. While direct calf training may not be necessary for every type of athlete — as general training may provide enough indirect calf work — additional calf isolation exercises within a training program may benefit some athletes. Olympic Lifters

The double leg bodyweight calf raise is the starting point for all calf training. It will not be very challenging after a while, but focus on clean form while building mobility and stability in your ankles. I recommend dprogressing after being able to handle 4x20 reps for single leg variations. Smith machine are great tools because they take the balancing act (Pun intended) out of the equation. Which means that there are little balance and stabilization required. Nelson NL, Churilla JR. A narrative review of exercise-associated muscle cramps: factors that contribute to neuromuscular fatigue and management implications. Muscle Nerve. 2016;54(2):177-85. doi:10.1002.mus.25176 Strong calves help us to walk, run, jump, etc.and a good pair of calves also does a lot for the appearance of your legs. But, what most people don’t know is that calf size is mostly genetic and not everyone can get them to grow as big as they want.

Customer Services

We walk on our calves all day long and it makes sense to stimulate them with even more resistance to convince them to get bigger and stronger. Force Your Stubborn Calves Into New Growth But, if you have a short calf insertion relative to your Achilles tendon, well… you’ll have to accept this fate and train your calves while hoping for the best… ( 2) 1. Seated Calf Raise For direct calf strength, start by performing 3 – 5 sets for 5 – 10 reps within a full range of motion. But, another benefit o the seated version is that you don’t have your upper body and quads to assist in the movement. Which means you can really isolate your calves and make them do all the heavy lifting. But the biggest benefit perhaps is that you don’t have to worry about balance or stabilization. You’re in a fixed position and only have to focus on the actual movement. ( 3)

The benefits of the single-leg calf raise are that you develop stabilization, balance, unilateral function, and you can improve muscular imbalances. ( 4, 5) Most athletes will be able to increase the strength and power of their calves by lifting heavier loads for 5 – 10 reps, or simply by performing their sport-specific tasks like heavy clean pulls, sprinting, jumping, and sled work.If you are a keen runner, one thing that won’t have escaped your attention is that you don’t run on two legs at the same time, so it’s a good idea to train your legs individually. You can, and should, try standard calf raises, bent-knee raises, seated raises, or raised raises on one leg, and progress to adding weight to the move. Supine gym ball calf raise The more challenging bodyweight calf exercises have a horizontal lean, so bands are even more useful as a way to improve the resistance curves. Don’t worry too much about overtraining your calves. They need a lot of Stimuli to actually grow and you can use these great exercises and methods to make that happen. Of course, the list could go on but we thought 11 exercises were plenty. But, we want to go over the anatomy of the calves, followed by the benefits, and the “genetic factor” before we get to the chosen movements… Calf Muscle Anatomy