Calf raise

Movement

What the movement is

The muscles at the back of the lower leg mainly produce plantar flexion, which means pointing the foot down⁵. One study of the calf raise looked at the three muscles that do most of this work¹. Those three are the soleus and the inner and outer heads of the gastrocnemius¹.

The versions studies have used

The studies on this page tested the calf raise in several forms^1,2,3,4:

• Loaded, with the heaviest weight a person could lift ten times, a 10-repetition maximum¹.
• Seated, as one of a set of exercises compared for tendon load⁴.
• Standing, with the toes turned in or turned out².
• With the foot straight, turned in 30 degrees, or turned out 30 degrees³.

The calf-raise test is a related use of the movement⁶. A review found support for it as a way to assess the calf muscles and the Achilles tendon working as one unit⁶.

What it loads

The calf muscles

The triceps surae is a group of three calf muscles: the soleus and the two heads of the gastrocnemius¹. Together, these three do most of the work of pointing the foot down¹. The gastrocnemius is the calf muscle nearest the skin⁵. Its two heads, inner and outer, run from the thigh bone to the heel bone, so they cross both the knee and the ankle^1,2. The soleus is a wide, flat muscle that lies deeper⁵.

In a study of resistance-trained men, the authors suggested that calf raises can recruit these three muscles¹. In 22 trained men lifting a 10-repetition maximum, soleus and gastrocnemius activity did not differ significantly between the calf raise and the leg press¹.

How position shifts the work

Foot position made a difference to which gastrocnemius head was more active². In 33 people doing a standing heel-rise with the toes turned out, the inner head was more active than the outer head². With the toes turned in, the two heads did not differ².

Knee angle did not single out one calf muscle in a related test⁷. In it, 48 healthy people pushed the foot down as hard as they could, without the ankle moving⁷. They did this with the knee straight, bent to 45 degrees, and bent to 90 degrees⁷. No knee angle of the three worked the soleus or either gastrocnemius head alone⁷.

The Achilles tendon

The calf muscles nearest the skin end in the Achilles tendon, which attaches to the calcaneus (heel bone)⁵. The tendon holds fibres from the soleus and from both heads of the gastrocnemius⁸. A tendon passes force from a working muscle to the bone, and that pull moves the body⁹.

One study of eight healthy young adults estimated peak Achilles tendon load across a range of exercises⁴. The seated heel raise had the lowest estimated load of the exercises tested⁴:

Exercise	Estimated peak Achilles tendon load
Seated heel raise	0.5 times body weight4
Forward hop on one leg	7.3 times body weight4

In that study, peak tendon load differed more than twelve-fold between the lightest and heaviest exercise⁴.

In that study, peak tendon load differed more than twelve-fold between the lightest and heaviest exercise.

Deeper and outer lower-leg muscles

Three other lower-leg muscles also work during heel raises, and foot position changes how hard³. The tibialis posterior and flexor digitorum longus are two of the four deep muscles at the back of the leg⁵. They lie beneath the calf muscles that join the Achilles tendon⁵. The fibularis (peroneus) longus is one of two muscles on the outer side of the leg⁵. In the front and back of the leg, the muscles toward the inner and outer sides turn the foot in or out and rotate it⁵.

In 14 healthy men, the tibialis posterior and flexor digitorum longus were most active with the foot turned in 30 degrees³. The fibularis longus was most active with the foot turned out 30 degrees³:

Muscle	Where it lies	Most active in heel raises with the foot
Tibialis posterior	Deep, back of the leg	Turned in 30 degrees3,5
Flexor digitorum longus	Deep, back of the leg	Turned in 30 degrees3,5
Fibularis longus	Outer side of the leg	Turned out 30 degrees3,5

How the body adapts

What training does to tendon in general

Research on loading in general shows how tendons respond to repeated load, though it did not single out the calf raise¹⁰. A meta-analysis pooled exercise studies of at least eight weeks in healthy adults aged 18 to 50¹⁰. It found that loading made tendons stiffer¹⁰. Its Young’s modulus also rose¹⁰. Cross-sectional area, a measure of thickness, grew by a smaller amount¹⁰.

Gains in stiffness depended on how heavy the load was, not on the type of muscle contraction¹⁰. Most programmes in that analysis ran for 8 to 14 weeks¹⁰. Those of 12 weeks or more showed larger effects, though the difference was not statistically significant¹⁰.

What happens without load

Tendon also changes when load is taken away⁹. A review concluded that keeping a limb still lowers tendon mechanical properties in animals, and that human data largely mirror this⁹. Even one to two weeks of unloading a limb seems to reduce tendon stiffness, without changing its thickness⁹.

Progressive overload

A 2026 position stand describes progressive overload as the need to increase the stimulus placed on the muscle throughout a training programme¹¹. The calf-raise studies here each raised the work in their own way^12,13,14,15:

Who trained, and for how long	How the work was raised
14 untrained adults, standing and seated calf raises twice a week, 12 weeks	Sets rose from 3 to 4 to 5 over the first three sessions. After that, 5% of one-repetition maximum was added whenever a person finished the whole session without help12
23 untrained men, standing Smith machine calf raises twice a week, 10 weeks	The bar load rose by 0.25 to 0.50 kg once a person managed 20 or more full-range repetitions on the first set13
16 untrained men, single-leg standing calf raises twice a week, 10 weeks	Sets rose from 4 to 6 in week 7 (2 to 3 in the leg that used partial repetitions). Load rose 5% to 10% once a person went past 14 repetitions to failure on the first set14
22 young men, single-leg calf raises on a seated leg-press machine three times a week, 9 weeks	3 sets of 20 to 25 repetitions in weeks 1 to 3, then 4 sets in weeks 4 to 915

In the first study, each added step was 5% of one-repetition maximum, the heaviest load a person can lift once¹². The second used a Smith machine, a barbell that slides up and down on fixed vertical rails¹³.

More load or more repetitions

One study compared two ways of progressing in 43 people with at least a year of lower-body resistance training¹⁶. Their 8-week programme included straight-leg and seated calf raises twice a week¹⁶. Increasing load and increasing repetitions produced similar growth in the soleus and gastrocnemius¹⁶. That result belongs to the whole programme, not to the calf raises on their own¹⁶.

How many sets a week

In 61 untrained young women, groups did 6, 9 or 12 weekly sets of calf raises for 6 weeks¹⁷. Each set used a 15- to 20-repetition maximum, the heaviest load a person could lift 15 to 20 times¹⁷. All three groups grew calf muscle¹⁷. The 12-set group grew the outer gastrocnemius head, the soleus and the triceps surae as a whole more than the 6-set group¹⁷. The 9-set group did not differ significantly from either¹⁷.

Light loads, with and without a cuff

A randomised trial in trained men used 4 sets of standing calf raises at 30% of one-repetition maximum, taken to failure¹⁸. They trained twice a week for 6 weeks, with 30-second rests between sets¹⁸. One group wore blood flow restriction cuffs, which partly limit blood flow to the limb. Both groups gained gastrocnemius thickness and calf-raise one-repetition maximum, with no difference between them¹⁸.

Connections

The tendon it loads

The calf raise loads the Achilles tendon, which joins the calf muscles to the heel^4,5. The calf-raise test is described as a way to assess that tendon together with the calf muscles⁶.

The muscles it works

• The soleus, a wide, flat calf muscle beneath the gastrocnemius^1,5.
• The gastrocnemius, both inner and outer heads^1,2.
• The tibialis posterior, a deep muscle at the back of the leg^3,5.
• The flexor digitorum longus, another deep muscle at the back of the leg^3,5.
• The fibularis longus, on the outer side of the leg^3,5.

A related exercise

In 22 trained men, soleus and gastrocnemius activity in the leg press did not differ significantly from the calf raise¹.

Sources

1. Gentil P, Souza D, Santana M, Alves RR, Campos MH, Pinto R, Bottaro M (2020). Multi- and Single-Joint Resistance Exercises Promote Similar Plantar Flexor Activation in Resistance Trained Men.. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. doi:10.3390/ijerph17249487 PMID 33352879
2. Cibulka M, Wenthe A, Boyle Z, Callier D, Schwerdt A, Jarman D, Strube MJ (2017). Variation in medial and lateral gastrocnemius muscle activity with foot position.. International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. PMID 28515978
3. Akuzawa H, Imai A, Iizuka S, Matsunaga N, Kaneoka K (2017). The influence of foot position on lower leg muscle activity during a heel raise exercise measured with fine-wire and surface EMG.. Physical Therapy in Sport. doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2017.08.077 PMID 28950148
4. Baxter JR, Corrigan P, Hullfish TJ, O'Rourke P, Silbernagel KG (2021). Exercise Progression to Incrementally Load the Achilles Tendon.. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000002459 PMID 32658037
5. Betts JG, Young KA, Wise JA, Johnson E, Poe B, Kruse DH, Korol O, Johnson JE, Womble M, DeSaix P (2022). Anatomy and Physiology 2e. OpenStax. Link
6. Hébert-Losier K, Schneiders AG, Newsham-West RJ, Sullivan SJ (2009). Scientific bases and clinical utilisation of the calf-raise test.. Physical Therapy in Sport. doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2009.07.001 PMID 19897168
7. Hébert-Losier K, Schneiders AG, García JA, Sullivan SJ, Simoneau GG (2011). Peak triceps surae muscle activity is not specific to knee flexion angles during MVIC.. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology. doi:10.1016/j.jelekin.2011.04.009 PMID 21669538
8. Pękala PA, Henry BM, Ochała A, Kopacz P, Tatoń G, Młyniec A, Walocha JA, Tomaszewski KA (2017). The twisted structure of the Achilles tendon unraveled: A detailed quantitative and qualitative anatomical investigation.. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. doi:10.1111/sms.12835 PMID 28139009
9. Magnusson SP, Kjaer M (2019). The impact of loading, unloading, ageing and injury on the human tendon.. The Journal of Physiology. doi:10.1113/JP275450 PMID 29920664
10. Bohm S, Mersmann F, Arampatzis A (2015). Human tendon adaptation in response to mechanical loading: a systematic review and meta-analysis of exercise intervention studies on healthy adults.. Sports Medicine - Open. doi:10.1186/s40798-015-0009-9 PMID 27747846
11. Currier BS, D'Souza AC, Singh MAF, Lowisz CV, Rawson ES, Schoenfeld BJ, Smith-Ryan AE, et al (2026). American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand. Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy Adults: An Overview of Reviews.. Medicine and science in sports and exercise. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000003897 PMID 41843416
12. Kinoshita M, Maeo S, Kobayashi Y, Eihara Y, Ono M, Sato M, Sugiyama T, Kanehisa H, Isaka T (2023). Triceps surae muscle hypertrophy is greater after standing versus seated calf-raise training.. Frontiers in Physiology. doi:10.3389/fphys.2023.1272106 PMID 38156065
13. Larsen S, Swinton PA, Sandberg NØ, Kristiansen BS, Fredriksen AB, Falch HN, et al (2025). Resistance training beyond momentary failure: the effects of past-failure partials on muscle hypertrophy in the gastrocnemius.. Frontiers in Psychology. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1494323 PMID 39995432
14. Goli A, Attarieh P, Nunes JP, Nehegadar S, Khani S, Fashi M, et al (2026). Does Performing Partial Repetitions Beyond Momentary Failure Enhance Muscle Hypertrophy in Volume-Load-Equated Calf-Raise Resistance Training?. International Journal of Exercise Science. doi:10.70252/IJES2026403 PMID 42006449
15. Nunes JP, Costa BDV, Kassiano W, Kunevaliki G, Castro-E-Souza P, Rodacki ALF, et al (2020). Different Foot Positioning During Calf Training to Induce Portion-Specific Gastrocnemius Muscle Hypertrophy.. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000003674 PMID 32735428
16. Plotkin D, Coleman M, Van Every D, Maldonado J, Oberlin D, Israetel M, et al (2022). Progressive overload without progressing load? The effects of load or repetition progression on muscular adaptations.. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.14142 PMID 36199287
17. Kassiano W, Costa BDV, Kunevaliki G, Lisboa F, Tricoli I, Francsuel J, et al (2024). Bigger Calves from Doing Higher Resistance Training Volume?. International Journal of Sports Medicine. doi:10.1055/a-2316-7885 PMID 38684187
18. Gavanda S, Isenmann E, Schlöder Y, Roth R, Freiwald J, Schiffer T, et al (2020). Low-intensity blood flow restriction calf muscle training leads to similar functional and structural adaptations than conventional low-load strength training: A randomized controlled trial.. PLoS One. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0235377 PMID 32603351

Every source the library cites

Changes

• October 23, 2026 Added a Progressive overload section.
• September 29, 2026 First published.