Calves exercise
Smith Machine Calf RaiseHow to do it, with form in numbers
How to do it
How do you do the Smith Machine Calf Raise?
- Put a step under the bar and rest the bar on your upper back.
- Stand with the balls of your feet on the step, heels off.
- Unhook the bar and lower your heels slowly.
- Pause, then rise onto your toes as high as you can.
- Hold the top, lower slowly, and re-hook the bar when done.
Cues
- Bar over the balls of your feet.
- Knees straight; only your ankles move.
- Pause at the bottom, squeeze at the top.
Common mistakes
- Standing too far in front of or behind the bar.
- Bouncing the bar out of the bottom.
- Bending the knees to push the bar up.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Set a stable step or a stack of weight plates about 10 cm high under the Smith bar. Rest the bar on the upper back as in a high-bar back squat: on the upper trapezius below the bony bump at the base of the neck. Hands just wider than the shoulders, wrists straight. Stand on the step with only the balls of the feet on it: the edge runs just behind the big-toe knuckle and the heels hang off. Feet hip-width apart, toes straight ahead, the bar directly over the balls of the feet or just behind them. Knees straight but not pushed back, trunk upright. Unhook the bar by turning it.
The movement
Only the ankles move. The bar rides straight up and down the rails and the body moves with it as one piece. Lower the heels slowly below the step until the calves are fully stretched, pause briefly, then push through the balls of the feet and rise as high as possible. Hold the top, then lower again. The weight stays over the base of the big toes.
End position
Bottom: heels below the step, ankle in about 20° of dorsiflexion. As the heels rise the ankle moves about 7 cm forward, so on a fixed vertical rail the whole body tips forward by about 3° at the top, which is within the accept range. Scale with foot length.
Tempo
2 s up, 0.5 s hold at the top, 2 s down, 0.5 s pause in the stretch.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Step height | 10 cm | 8–15 cm | |
| Knee flexion, held through the rep | 0–5° (straight, not locked back) | 0–10° | [1][2] |
| Ankle dorsiflexion at the bottom | 20° | 10–25° | [1] |
| Ankle plantarflexion at the top | 30° | 25–40° | [1][4] |
| Feet spacing, centre to centre | hip width, about 20 cm | 15–25 cm | |
| Toe-out, each foot | 0° | 0–10° | [3] |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Smith Machine Calf Raise is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
Sources
- Kinoshita et al. 2023, Front Physiol, "Triceps surae muscle hypertrophy is greater after standing versus seated calf-raise training"
- NASM, Calf Training: How to Program This Stubborn Muscle Group for Clients
- De Azevedo et al. 2023, J Phys Educ Sport 23(8):2266–2272, "Activation of triceps surae during exercises on leg press, Smith and seated calf raise machines"
- ACE, Get Stronger Calves With These 5 Exercises
