Standing Calf Raises

Calf raises are the only way to develop the calf muscles that run down the back of the lower leg. The two muscles of the calf are called the gastrocnemius and soleus, which form the upper and lower calf muscles. This is an isolation exercise for the calves, and particularly emphasises the gastrocnemius muscle. Calves are often neglected by amateur athletes and bodybuilders. Arnold Schwarzzeneger famously failed to train his calf muscles in his early bodybuilding days, resulting in many amusing photos of him standing up to his knees in water to disguise his disproportionately developed calves.

Without a calf resistance machine, the easiest way to work the calf muscles is to simply raise your body up on to your toes, squeeze the calf muscles (important to remember the squeeze) and drop back to a stand.

Resistance can be added by either holding two dumbbells at your side, or as you progress by supporting a barbell across your shoulders, as you would in a squat. To work the calves more stand with your toes and balls of your feet on a small step to increase the range of movement when you rise and fall.

When lifting heavier weights, then a two legged calf raise has to be done, but while lifting lighter weights one legged calf raise is ideal, as it ensures that you work both calves equally.

If is generally thought that the leg muscles (gastrocnemius, soleus, tibialis anterior and posterior, fibularis longus and brevis) are made up of the slow twitch fiber muscles and therefore higher rep ranges should be performed to help build more muscle. However, there is still a big debate over what works best. Two sets of 8 reps should be sufficient to make good progress so long as the weight is so that the final raises are hard work. Just experiment until you find which rep range gives you maximum gains.

Frank Sepe doing Standing Calf Raises

Bodybuilder Frank Sepe demonstrates how to properly do Standing Calf Raises.

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Recommended Reading • Seated Calf Raise • Leg Raises – Lower Abs and Hip Flexors • Lateral Raises • How to Shoulder Shrug to Build Huge Shoulders • Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Bodybuilding Workout

Tags: brevis, calf muscles, calf raises, Calves, fibularis longus, Frank Sepe, gastrocnemius, leg, lower leg, soleus, tibialis anterior

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 28th, 2009 at 3:37 pm and is filed under Bodybuilding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.