Calves exercise
Standing Calf Raise (Machine)How to do it, with form in numbers
How to do it
How do you do the Standing Calf Raise?
- Stand under the pads with the balls of your feet on the block.
- Let your heels hang off the edge, feet hip-width apart.
- Lower your heels slowly until your calves feel a deep stretch.
- Pause, then push up onto your toes as high as you can.
- Hold the top for a moment, then lower slowly again.
Cues
- Keep your knees straight; only your ankles move.
- Push through the base of your big toe.
- Slow down, pause at the bottom, squeeze at the top.
Common mistakes
- Bouncing at the bottom instead of pausing.
- Bending the knees to help the weight up.
- Cutting the range short at the top or the bottom.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Standing calf raise machine with a raised foot block and two shoulder pads. Duck under the pads so they rest on top of both shoulders, either side of the neck. Hands hold the handles on the pads. Feet hip-width apart, toes pointing straight ahead. Only the balls of the feet sit on the block: the block's edge runs just behind the big-toe knuckle, and the heels hang off in the air. Knees straight but not pushed back. Trunk upright, hips stacked over the ankles, gaze ahead.
The movement
Only the ankles move. The knees, hips and trunk stay fixed, so the whole body rides straight up and down as one piece. Lower the heels slowly below the block 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 for a moment. The weight stays over the balls of the feet, a little towards the big toe; the ankles do not roll out.
End position
Bottom: heels well below the block, ankle in about 20° of dorsiflexion. Heel height change is 19 × sin of the foot angle: sin 20° gives 6.5 cm down and sin 30° gives 9.5 cm up. The ankle joint sits about 14 cm behind and 7 cm above the pivot, so it rises about 6 cm and drops about 5 cm: the body and pads travel about 11 cm in total. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knee flexion, held through the rep | 0–5° (straight, not locked back) | 0–10° | [1][2][3] |
| Ankle dorsiflexion at the bottom | 20° | 10–25° | [1][2] |
| Ankle plantarflexion at the top | 30° | 25–40° | [1][2] |
| Total ankle arc per rep | 50° | 40–60° | [1] |
| Foot block height above the floor | 10 cm | 8–15 cm (machine) | |
| Feet spacing, centre to centre | hip width, about 20 cm | 15–25 cm | [2][4] |
| Toe-out, each foot | 0° | 0–10° | [1][4] |
| Trunk lean from vertical | 0° | ≤ 5° | [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 Standing 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"
- ACE, Get Stronger Calves With These 5 Exercises
- NASM, Calf Training: How to Program This Stubborn Muscle Group for Clients
- Riemann et al. 2011, J Strength Cond Res 25(3):634–639, "Medial and lateral gastrocnemius activation differences during heel-raise exercise with three different foot positions"
