Leg Press Calf Raise
Trains the Gastrocnemius.
- Equipment
- Machine
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Push
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Sit in a leg press machine and place the balls of your feet on the bottom edge of the platform, heels hanging off.
- Press the platform out until your legs are nearly straight, then leave the safety catches engaged if the machine allows it.
- Keep your knees nearly straight throughout — this is what makes it a gastrocnemius movement rather than a soleus one.
- Let your ankles flex so the platform travels toward you and your heels drop, until you feel a stretch.
- Push the platform away by extending your ankles as far as they will go.
- Pause at the top, then lower under control to a full stretch.
Common mistakes
- Bending the knees as the set gets hard, which quietly hands the work to the soleus.
- Disengaging the safety catches. The platform is being held by the ankles alone, and a slip has nowhere good to go. Leave the catches where they can stop it.
- Placing the feet too high on the platform, so there is no room for the heels to drop.
- Using a short, fast range. Full stretch, full contraction, controlled throughout — the same rule as every calf movement.
Muscles worked
Primary
- GastrocnemiusCalves