Tibialis exercise
Tibialis RaiseHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Tibialis
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Tibialis Raise?
- Stand with your back against a wall, heels a foot away.
- Lean back so your bottom and upper back touch the wall.
- Keep your legs straight and lift your toes towards your shins.
- Hold for a moment, then lower your feet slowly.
Cues
- Heels stay glued to the floor.
- Pull the whole front of your foot up, not just your toes.
- Lower slowly; no slapping.
Common mistakes
- Bending the knees as the toes come up.
- Rocking the body off the wall for momentum.
- Letting the feet drop and slap the floor.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Stand with your back to a wall. Walk the feet forward so the backs of the heels are about 25 cm from the wall, feet hip-width apart, toes straight ahead, whole feet flat. Lean back until the buttocks and upper back rest on the wall. Legs straight with the knees soft, not locked back. Arms hang by the sides or the hands rest on the thighs. Brace the stomach lightly so the body stays in one line from shoulders to heels. Because the feet are in front, the shins lean back from vertical, which puts the ankles in a little plantarflexion at the start and gives the shin muscles a bigger range.
The movement
Only the ankles move. Keep the heels on the floor and pull the toes and the front of both feet up towards the shins as high as they go. Hold briefly, then lower the forefeet slowly until they just touch the floor, and go again. The body stays still against the wall: the hips do not slide or push away from it.
End position
Bottom: forefeet back on the floor, feet flat. A 30° foot lift then puts the ankle about 15° into dorsiflexion from the shin, inside the usual active range of about 20°. The toe tip is about 25 cm in front of the heel's contact point, so 25 × sin 30° gives a 12.5 cm lift. Feet further out make the lean and the range bigger.
Tempo
1 s up, 0.5 s hold at the top, 1.5 s down, 0.5 s with the forefeet touching.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heel distance from the wall | 25 cm | 20–30 cm | [1][2] |
| Knee flexion, held through the rep | 0–5° (soft, not locked back) | 0–10° | [2] |
| Feet spacing, centre to centre | hip width, about 20 cm | 15–25 cm | |
| Toe-out, each foot | 0° | 0–10° | |
| Foot angle up from the floor at the top | 30° | 20–35° | [1][2] |
| Heel lift | 0 cm | 0 cm | [1][2] |
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 Tibialis 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
