How To Exercise Calf Muscles at Home

If you want to build larger, more aesthetically-pleasing calf muscles, the good news is that this is one of the easiest muscle groups to exercise at home without fancy equipment. The bad news is, because calf muscles are so accustomed to use every day in virtually every movement of the legs, they can be resistant to all but concerted effort and resistance training. The calf is actually a pair of muscles on the back of the leg, the gastrocnemius and the soleus, that in a proportioned body should be the same size as the biceps. Like all muscles, their shape is genetically determined, but they can be developed through regular exercise.

Instructions

Create a schedule. To see improvement in the calf muscle, it will take a regular training schedule of two to three workouts per week, each with multiple calf-building exercises. The schedule should be as regular as possible to make it easier to follow and allow your body to adjust. Avoid training the calves on back-to-back days, but space the workouts as evenly through the week as possible.

Stretch. Always begin a resistance training workout with adequate stretching of the muscles being exercised. This will help prevent injury and prepare them for intense blood flow. It can also be helpful to periodically stretch between sets of exercises to maintain elasticity and enable the muscle to train further. One easy calf stretch is to stand about a foot away from a wall and extend one leg behind, keeping both feet flat on the ground. Then lean forward to the wall, stretching the calf on the extended leg. Another is to sit with your legs straight out in front and hold the arches of your feet.

Warm up with body weight. After stretching, the calf muscles can be stimulated by standing on the toes repeatedly to the maximum height. Doing this on the edge of a stair or step can increase the possible range of motion on the lower end. This basic movement, called a calf raise, will only put the strain of the body's weight on the calf muscles, which is a good warm-up.

Do standing calf raises with weight. Keeping the knees slightly bent and feet shoulder width apart, use a barbell or dumbbells to carry weight on the shoulders, and do as many as 100 calf raises, stopping to stretch for a few seconds periodically if the pain becomes too intense. Most simple home gym equipment includes a leg apparatus that also allows seated calf raises, but the relative position is unimportant.

Increase weight. So far, the calf muscle will be stimulated and "pumped," but the real muscle mass is built by lifting heavy weights. After doing 100 reps at a relatively light weight, rest for several minutes and then repeat the standing or sitting calf raises with a weight heavy enough that you can only barely do 15 repetitions.

Alternate with donkey calf raises. Once you've found the weight that causes failure at about 15 reps, do two or three sets of calf raises at this weight per workout. Between these sets, and after a few minutes of rest, alternate with donkey calf raises, an exercise performed by wearing a medicine ball or other weight on the buttocks, and performing a calf raise while leaning the upper body on a wall or other support. Because relatively less weight is used in this technique, more repetitions should be possible.

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