Top 2 Women's Calf Muscle Exercises

Women often overlook the calf muscles in search of a good legs or butt workout. However, to get overall legs development one needs to add some extra attention to the calfs.

Where are the Calfs?

The calf muscles run from the heel up to the back of the knee on the back of the lower leg. They are involved with every running or walking motion and play a big part in speed and power that one can get when using the legs. For example, a lot of a sprinters speed comes from the final explosive push that the calf muscles provide.

Women Calf Exercises Cautions

When working out the calf muscles it is important to know your limits as some people are not as flexible as others. Make sure you warm up very well and start with a light weight.

Top 2 Women’s Calf Muscle Exercises

Here are the top two exercises for developing your calf muscles:

1 - Standing Bar Bell Calf RaiseThis is the ultimate calf exercise and alone would be enough to completely exhaust your calfs.

How to - Stand in a squat rack and bring over a block to stand on. Place a medium heavy bar bell on your shoulders and stand so that your toes are on the block but your heels are over the edge. The motion consists of slowly lowering your heels off of the edge of the box and then using your calf muscles to push yourself back up until you are standing on your tip toes.

Tip - Allow the stretch at the bottom to be as low as possible and slowly lift yourself back up.

2 - Leg Press Machine Calf Raise
This exercise uses the leg press machine. Make sure the weight on the machine is right for you before sitting down!

How to - This is exactly the same as in the above exercise but you are sitting down in the leg press machine. Make sure only your toes are doing the work by keeping your heels off the press plate. Make sure the safety is set so that if your feet slip off the plate will stop after only a few inches of movement.

Tip - Alternate your feets position on the plate to emphasize different areas on your calf. Change the tempo and height at which you do the exercise.

These are my top two favourite calf exercises. It is very easy to do with very little chance of injury. However, make sure you warm up and warm down and stretch before, during and after the set.