Donkey Calf Raise

How to do it

1. Place the balls of your feet on a raised block or the edge of a step, heels hanging off.
2. Bend forward at the hips to roughly ninety degrees and support your upper body on a bench or bar in front of you.
3. Keep your knees straight — the bend is at the hips, not the knees.
4. Let your heels drop below the block until you feel a stretch through the calves.
5. Push up onto your toes as high as you can, keeping the legs straight.
6. Pause at the top, then lower under control to a full stretch.

Common mistakes

• Bending the knees while hinging at the hips. The hip hinge is the position; a bent knee turns it into a seated raise standing up.
• Using the arms to press off the support. The support is for balance, not to take weight.
• Cutting the stretch short at the bottom. The hip-flexed position is thought to put the gastrocnemius at a slightly different length, and the full stretch is the reason to bother with the setup at all.
• Skipping it because the position looks awkward. It is a straightforward straight-knee calf raise with the torso bent, and it works for the same reasons a standing raise does.

Muscles worked

Primary

• GastrocnemiusCalves