Standing Dumbbell Calf RaiseMuscles Worked
The standing dumbbell calf raise works your calves, mainly the gastrocnemius since your knees stay straight, with the soleus helping. Holding dumbbells makes it easy to do at home, and you can switch to one leg at a time for more load on each calf.
PrimaryCalves
- Equipment
- Dumbbell
- Level
- Intermediate
- Type
- Isolation
- Force
- Push
How to do it
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand at your sides and stand with the balls of your feet on a sturdy step or plate, heels off the edge.
- Stand tall with your knees straight but relaxed and your feet pointing forward.
- Lower your heels slowly until you feel a good stretch in your calves.
- Rise onto the balls of your feet as high as you can and squeeze your calves for a second at the top.
- Lower back down under control and repeat.
Form tips
- For the single-leg version, hold one dumbbell on the working side and steady yourself with the other hand on a wall or rack.
- Keep your weight over your big toe as you rise so your ankles don't roll outward.
- Go slow at the bottom; the stretch is where your calves do much of their work, and bouncing skips it.
Why it made the list
No. 5 of 11
Best Calf Exercises
Dumbbell version for home gyms or when machines are busy. Single-leg version is great for addressing imbalances.
More calf exercises
See it on your own body map
Log your Standing Dumbbell Calf Raise sets in KasMaker and watch your calves fill in on the map, weighted by how much you did. Logging and the body map are free on iPhone.
