The Heel-and-Toe Calf Rock-a-Thon

Trail Log · Movement Breakdown

Most calf raises just have you rising up on your toes and coming back down. The rocking standing calf raise says 'why stop there?' and adds a toe-lift at the bottom, giving your shin muscles a turn at the microphone. It's like a calf exercise and a shin exercise got together and decided to share the spotlight, which is unusually generous for gym exercises.

You set up inside a squat rack with a barbell across the back of your shoulders — just below the neck, in the same position you'd use for squats. Step away from the rack, place your feet at shoulder width with your toes slightly pointed, and keep your head up and back straight with a slight bend in your knees. The slight knee bend is important — locked knees shift the work away from your calves and onto your joints, which is not the kind of transfer we're looking for.

First, you raise your heels as high as possible, extending your ankles and contracting your calves at the top. Hold that peak contraction for a second, because your calves need time to understand that you're serious about this. Then lower your heels all the way down, stretching your calves at the bottom. But instead of stopping there like a normal calf raise, you now lift your toes by contracting the muscles on the front of your shins, hold for a second, and lower them back down. That toe-lift portion trains your tibialis anterior, which is the muscle that runs along the front of your shin and is responsible for lifting your foot. It's the complete lower-leg experience in one exercise.