maratoolRocking Standing Calf Raise
How to do the rocking standing calf raise
- This exercise is best performed inside a squat rack for safety purposes. To begin, first set the bar on a rack that best matches your height. Once the correct height is chosen and the bar is loaded, step under the bar and place it on the back of your shoulders (slightly below the neck).
- Hold on to the bar using both arms at each side and lift it off the rack by first pushing with your legs and at the same time straightening your torso.
- Step away from the rack and position your legs using a shoulder width medium stance with the toes slightly pointed out. Keep your head up at all times as looking down will get you off balance. Also maintain a straight back and keep the knees with a slight bend; never locked. This will be your starting position.
- Raise your heels as you breathe out by extending your ankles as high as possible and flexing your calf. Ensure that the knee is kept stationary at all times. There should be no bending (other than the slight initial bend we created during positioning) at any time. Hold the contracted position by a second before you start to go back down.
- Go back slowly to the starting position as you breathe in by lowering your heels as you bend the ankles until calves are stretched.
- Now lift your toes by contracting the tibia muscles in the front of the calves as you breathe out.
- Hold for a second and bring them back down as you breathe in.
- Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
Muscles worked
The prime movers 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.
Every exercise for:Calves
How this movement works
One joint moves, and it moves the load away from the body. With nothing recruited to assist, the target muscle reaches its own limit rather than the limit of the weakest link in a chain — which makes this useful for adding volume after the heavy compound work, not for opening a session.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.
Every exercise using:Barbell
These train the calves too, using equipment this one does not:
- Seated Calf Raisemachine
- Seated One Leg Calf Raise with Dumbbelldumbbell
- Smith Machine Reverse Calf Raisessmith machine + machine
- Ankle Circlesbody only
- Calf Raises - With Bandsband
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.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.