Knee 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.

Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the hamstrings assist hip extension and slow the knee down; the quadriceps straighten the knee and take load on the descent.

Every exercise for:CalvesHamstringsQuadriceps

How this movement works

The load travels toward you and several joints bend to bring it there. The arms finish work the back starts, so grip and elbow flexors sit in the path of every repetition: when people stall on a compound pull, it is more often the hands giving out than the primary muscle running out of force.

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:

• Peroneals-SMRfoam roll
• Rocking Standing Calf Raisebarbell
• Seated Calf Raisemachine
• Seated One Leg Calf Raise with Dumbbelldumbbell
• Smith Machine Reverse Calf Raisessmith machine + machine

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.