maratoolSeated One Leg Calf Raise with Dumbbell
How to do the seated one leg calf raise with dumbbell
- This version of a calf raise allows you to exercise each leg individually. This exercise is helpful to people who are rehabilitating from injury as it allows you flexibility with the weight.
- Place a block on the floor about one foot in front of a bench.
- Sit on the bench with a dumbbell across your upper thigh and the balls of one foot on the block.
- Slowly raise and lower your toe up as high as possible without lifting your foot off the block.
- Switch feet and repeat.
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
Dumbbells let each side work on its own, surfacing a strength difference between limbs that a barbell would quietly cover for, and leaving the wrist free to rotate through the movement.
Every exercise using:Dumbbell
These train the calves too, using equipment this one does not:
- Smith Machine Calf Raisemachine
- Smith Machine Reverse Calf Raisessmith machine + machine
- Standing Barbell Calf Raisebarbell
- 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.
Illustration: Everkinetic — CC BY-SA 4.0 — license. Modified versions are shared under the same license. Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.