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Calves workout

Calves Workout

A full calves session built from everything a full gym has — 5 movements, 16 working sets, about 43 minutes including rest.

Exercises
5
Working sets
16
Time
~43 min
Goal
Hypertrophy
Trains the calves · tap any muscle

Warm up first

  1. 5 min easy cardio to raise your temperature
  2. Band pull-aparts — 2 x 15
  3. Two ramp-up sets of your first movement at 50% and 75%

The session

  1. 1
    Jump Rope
    Other · Gastrocnemius, Soleus
    4 × 30-45 secrest 150s
  2. 2
    Tibialis Raise
    Bodyweight · Tibialis anterior
    3 × 10-15rest 75s
  3. 3
    Standing Calf Raise
    Machine · Gastrocnemius
    3 × 10-15rest 75s
  4. 4
    Seated Calf Raise
    Machine · Soleus
    3 × 10-15rest 75s
  5. 5
    Donkey Calf Raise
    Machine · Gastrocnemius
    3 × 10-15rest 75s

Why this order

The heaviest movements come first, while you are freshest: the compound at the top is the one that decides whether the session was worth doing. The 4 isolation movements come after, when being a little tired costs you less. Rest shortens as the movements get smaller: 150 seconds after Jump Rope, 75 after Donkey Calf Raise.

Calves wants 8–16 hard sets a week and 2-3x per week, so this is a session you can run twice a week and land in that range. More about training the calves.

Same muscle, different kit