lower-body muscle group
Calf exercises
The calves point your foot and store energy like a spring. Every step, jump and sprint bounces off them.
The two calf muscles point your foot downward and act as the spring in walking, running and jumping. Training them is simple. Raise your heels against resistance, lower under control, and do more reps than feels reasonable.
Your calves already work all day with every step you take, so they respond better to higher reps through a full range than to heavy bouncing through a short one. Pause for a moment at the bottom of each raise with the heel low. That pause removes the bounce that would otherwise do the work for you.
Bending your knee shifts the work to the deeper calf muscle. Keeping it straight shifts it to the one nearer the surface. For general training, start with the straight-knee version, and move to one leg at a time once two legs stop being difficult.
Where the calves sit
Exercises that target the calves
Build a lower-body workoutAlso works the calves
These exercises train the calves as a secondary muscle. It is useful work that adds up across a program.