What Are the Best Calf Exercises? How to Build Bigger Calves at Home!

Table of Content

• Toe raise
• Leg Press Machine Calf Raise
• Farmer’s Walk (On Toes)
• Calf exercises with dumbbells for max gain
• At Home Donkey Calf Raise
• Seated Calf Raise

Keep pushing down as you slide your heel back toward your buttocks. Begin with a light press and increase as you can tolerate. To increase the difficulty of this lunge, grasp a weight with both hands at hip level.

It’s not advised to use weight if performing this exercise on a step greater than 2 inches high due to the risk of falling. Keep your back straight and look straight ahead to keep your neck in line with your trunk. Reach down to grasp a weight, such as a barbell, kettlebell, or box. Your hips should be lower than your shoulders when you prepare to lift the weight.

Toe raise

Remember to engage your core as you continue to lengthen your spine and lift your hips as high as possible. Aim to do both — foam rolling first, then stretching — after a leg-intensive workout. This will help relieve tension in your muscles and set you up for a quicker recovery. Stand in a staggered stance with your right foot 2 to 3 feet in front of your left foot.

The question of weight vs. reps when it comes to weightlifting is rarely met with a definitive answer. For a jumping lunge, explode up quickly from the bottom of the lunge, switching your feet in the air and controlling your landing. This more advanced jumping version adds a cardiovascular and stability challenge.

Leg Press Machine Calf Raise

You begin by standing on the floor with your feet slightly apart (I’ll get to the stair variation in a moment). While keeping your knees extended, you raise yourself up on tiptoes. Hold this position and feel the strain in your calves. If you have a little more time, you can also do a calf workout using resistance bands. To do this, attach a band to a sturdy object and stand facing away from it.

If you’re not raising your heels as high as you can reach, it doesn’t target the muscle well, so focus on making good use of your extended range of motion. Hold the dumbbells in your hands, stand up straight. Start pressing on your toes and try to raise your heels high. Hold the dumbbells in your hands and leave them straight on either side of your body.

Farmer’s Walk (On Toes)

Bend knees slightly, and then hinge at your hips. Keeping core engaged, drive hips back until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. What you do is sit on a chair with both feet on the floor. Place a dumbell on each thigh close to your knee and hold them with your hands so they don’t fall off. Don’t grab them, just press them into your thighs. With both hands on the wall, bend both knees and press the both heels into the floor.

Hold the stretch for anywhere between 2-3 seconds. Flex the right heel back towards your face and lean over to grab onto the toes. Inhale and rise to the balls of your feet, engaging the calves. Switch sides and continue to hold the stretch for 5-10 seconds on each side. By following these tips, farmers can help calves to reach their full potential and grow into healthy, productive animals.

Keeping your back straight and your chest pushed forward, it is important to be alert. Repeat for several repetitions and try to remain as balanced as possible. Your chest is pushed forward, your back is straight. Choose a dumbbell with a weight that allows you to handle it without difficulties.

With the help of Mathew Forzaglia, an NYC-based fitness pro and the creator of Forzag Fitness, we’ve put together three leg workout plans you can do completely at home. As you do more stretching you should feel your range of movement improve and you’ll be able to stretch further. When doing the exercise you should be able to feel a gentle stretch. It’s better to do small amounts throughout the day. For example, practise your repetitions every hour.

Tilt your ankle so that your toes point towards the left. If you are a fan of bodyweight workouts, you can rely on these workouts at home, believe me, you may not need anyone to build strong fitness only at home. Try to have a good relationship with muscle contract during the exercises, try to prepare your mind that you want to develop muscles to advanced levels. It enables you to get strong legs and be strong supportive for weight lifting exercises.

This is what makes it effective in strengthening the calf muscles and keeping them tense throughout the exercise. So, if you're struggling to develop bigger calves, odds are your form needs some fine-tuning, or your simply not using heavy enough resistance. Remember, you should feel the tension in your calf muscles, not your ankle or feet.

At Home Donkey Calf Raise

This is why performing a walking movement with more weight than you normally use is another way to develop the calves. Aim for a minute of jump rope without taking a break. Ultimately, your level of hand eye coordination and cardiovascular fitness will determine your total time for the set, but the more you do it, the better you will become.