Coach’s Tip: Prioritize the full stretch and contraction at the top of the raise. Tension and contraction are key in the calf raise, and are more important than using a ton of weight. The amount of stress placed on your calves is a big benefit of this exercise and it’s possible with a minor variation of your body position. Andre HI, Carnide F, Moco A, et al. Can the calf-raise senior test predict functional fitness in elderly people? A validation study using electromyography, kinematics and strength tests. Phys Ther Sport. 2018;32:252-9. doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2018.05.012 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 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

The calves are fatigue-resistant muscles due to carrying around the weight of your body all day. You will have to work hard to fatigue them using methods like myoreps (see the Renaissance periodization article above), occlusion and short rest times. Stand upright with your foot on the edge of the step or surface, and go into a deep calf stretch while holding a weight. Keep your knee extended. Push through your toes to lift the heels upwards, going into full plantar flexion of the ankle joint. Hold yourself in the top position for a second, focusing on strong muscle contraction, then lower yourself slowly under control.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. You can either do this in shoes or barefoot but the latter is better for optimally utilizing your calf muscles. Occlusion or blood-flow restriction (BFR training) is a simple way to increase the difficulty of lower body exercises without having to modify load or leverage. The calves and tibialis respond particularly well to this style of training, so of any muscle group in the legs they are the most likely to benefit from this. 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. Note: Untrained sprinters can incur injuries if proper form is not learned and adhered to. Having proper sprinting technique is very important and if not adhered to,you can cause structural damage in your joints and tendons. 7. Tiptoes

This exercise is hugely improved by the use of a band to make the top of the calf raise more challenging. 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. Move from double leg to single leg variations to increase difficulty. Use assisted variations as a stepping stone when needed. For the exercise,you want to make sure to warm up with some light jogging and moderate intensity running for at least 5-10 minutes. Then, you can jump into 15-second sprints before working up to 30-second sprints.Position Calf Raise Technique: To emphasize the different areas of the calf, make sure to use the 3-position calf raise technique. You can do this for bent and straight leg variants. Here is a demo of how to modify your foot positions accordingly https://youtu.be/UiSaISW70B8 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 But they are also great for isometric holds, joint flexibility, while also reducing joint pain. ( 9) Some people naturally have big calves. If you’re not one of them, don’t give up. You can still make good progress on what nature gave you by working your calves with a variety of rep ranges and angles. The tibialis muscle is the antagonist muscle to the calves. It is important to train these to have a balanced lower leg musculature and avoid injury. There is only one basic tibialis exercise, with a few variations to modify difficulty. The tibialis muscles, in my experience, respond well to higher rep "pump work", much like the soleus.

Myerson MS. The gastrocnemius, an issue of Foot and Ankle Clinics of North America. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2014. For the exercise plan a set distance and start with a light or moderate resistance load. Then, once you’re warmed up, really push yourself but don’t go so heavy to where it compromises your ability to walk for a set distance. 9. Climbing

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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. 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. Now, it’s best to use a combination of exercises to provide a variety of stress to the muscle. But it’s a good idea to include both a sitting and standing version to isolate the Gastrocnemius and Soleus muscles. The calf muscles are made up of the gastrocnemius and the soleus. Both muscles are responsible for flexing the ankle joint. Gastrocnemius

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. The more challenging bodyweight calf exercises have a horizontal lean, so bands are even more useful as a way to improve the resistance curves. Any aspiring bodybuilder should know they have to train every muscle in their body to look good — including their calves. Whether you dream of stepping on stage or not, underdeveloped calves can hamper the appearance of your legs overall and contribute to an “imbalanced” look. Add load gradually but consistently with lower leg training. Contrary to the previously mentioned old-school bodybuilding ideas, extremely high rep calf training is not efficient for continued growth in most trainees. Instead, I recommend getting in sufficient volume by training the calves more frequently, with mostly more intense sets in the 6-20 rep range, and occasional 20-30 rep pump work. Follow the principles of progressive overload.I've personally grappled with how to train the calves for almost a decade, and had to try and then disregard much of the advice I've encountered over that time period. It was only when I figured out what truly worked that I was able to take my calf development from mediocre to slightly-above-adequate. While overall lower body strength is also a key factor in both jumping and sprint performance, having stronger calves and training the muscles of the ankle can have a direct impact on your power output. Stronger Ankles 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. This promotes muscle hypertrophy and strength in the calves as well as the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes.