Calves · 61 exercises

Calf workouts

A calf workout that trains both calf muscles: straight-leg raises for the gastrocnemius and seated raises for the soleus.

The calf has two main muscles: the gastrocnemius, trained by straight-leg raises, and the soleus underneath it, trained by seated raises with your knees bent. Both respond to a full stretch at the bottom and a pause there.

Calf workout

Pause at the bottom of every rep.

Lever Standing Calf Raise
Sets
4
Reps
8–12
Rest
60 s
Lever Seated Calf Raise
Sets
4
Reps
12–15
Rest
60 s
Dumbbell Single Leg Calf Raise
Sets
3
Reps
10–15 each leg
Rest
60 s
Sled 45° Calf Press
Sets
3
Reps
12–15
Rest
60 s

Can’t do one of these?

Machine taken or training somewhere else? Each of these has substitutes that work the same muscles.

Tips

Pause for a second at the bottom of every rep, heels as low as they go. Bouncing out of the stretch lets the Achilles tendon do the work.
Go all the way up onto the big toe at the top.
Calves handle a lot of volume. Train them three or four times a week with sets of 10 to 20.

Run this workout in SPLYT

Every exercise here is in SPLYT’s library. Save the workout as a template, log your sets on iPhone or Apple Watch, and next time your weights are already filled in from what you lifted.

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61 calf exercises

Every one links to step-by-step instructions and a demonstration. Swap any of them into the workouts above.

All calf exercises →

Questions

How many calf exercises are there?

SPLYT’s exercise library has 61 calf exercises, including Calf Raise, Sled 45° Calf Press and Lever Seated Calf Raise, each with step-by-step instructions, a demonstration and the muscles it works.

Why won’t my calves grow?

Usually too little range and too few sets. Pause at the bottom of each rep, go through the full range, and train them several times a week.

Fit it into a weekly split

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