Ankle Circles

Muscles worked

The muscles under tension are the calves — gastrocnemius over the knee and soleus beneath it, which point the foot down and absorb load every time the ankle takes weight.

A stretch loads them at the far end of the range they normally work in, so the position you hold is itself the resistance.

Every exercise for:Calves

How this movement works

One joint changes angle and the resistance travels toward you along a single arc. Nothing is positioned to help, so tension stays where you aimed it and the usable load drops sharply against a multi-joint pull for the same muscle. Protect the range of motion; buying weight by shortening the arc defeats the point.

It is filed under stretching, so the target is range of motion rather than force — a position you can settle into and breathe in, held long enough for the tissue to give.

What you need

No equipment at all. The resistance is your own bodyweight, so you progress by changing leverage, range or tempo rather than by adding plates — and you can do it anywhere.

Every exercise using:Body only

These train the calves too, using equipment this one does not:

• Calf Pressmachine
• Calf Raise On A Dumbbelldumbbell
• Calf Raises - With Bandsband
• Calves-SMRfoam roll
• Rocking Standing Calf Raisebarbell

Difficulty

Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.

Of the 33 calves exercises in this database, 19 are listed at beginner level.