How to Perform the Seated Calf Raise with Dumbbells

Step-by-Step Exercise Instructions

1. Seated Dumbbell Calf Raise

This is your primary compound movement for the soleus.

1. Setup: Sit on the edge of a flat bench. Place a block or step about 12 inches in front of the bench.
2. Position: Place the balls of your feet on the edge of the block, letting your heels hang off. Your knees should be bent at 90 degrees.
3. Load: Hold a dumbbell vertically on each knee (or one heavy dumbbell across both if preferred), stabilizing them with your hands.
4. Descent: Slowly lower your heels toward the floor until you feel a deep stretch in your calves. Pause for 1 second.
5. Ascent: Push through the balls of your feet to raise your heels as high as possible. Squeeze your calves hard at the top for 1 second.
6. Repeat: Perform the prescribed reps without bouncing at the bottom.

2. Standing Dumbbell Calf Raise

This targets the gastrocnemius.

1. Setup: Stand upright holding a dumbbell in each hand by your sides, or one heavy dumbbell in the hand opposite the working leg if doing single-leg variations. Ideally, stand on the edge of a step.
2. Posture: Keep your legs straight but not hyper-extended (soft lockout at the knee). Keep your core tight.
3. Action: Lower your heels below the level of the step to stretch.
4. Drive: Press up onto your toes as high as possible.
5. Control: Lower back down slowly.

3. Single-Leg Dumbbell Calf Raise

This addresses muscular imbalances.

1. Setup: Stand on a step with one foot, holding a dumbbell in the hand on the same side for balance support (hold a rack with your free hand).
2. Execution: Perform a standard calf raise using only one leg.
3. Focus: Ensure your ankle doesn’t roll outward (supination) or inward (pronation) during the movement. Keep the pressure on the first two toes.

4. Farmer’s Walk on Toes

This builds isometric strength and stability.

1. Setup: Hold a heavy pair of dumbbells at your sides.
2. Position: Rise up onto your tiptoes.
3. Movement: Walk forward for the prescribed time or distance, maintaining the high heel position. Don’t let your heels drop.

5. Jump Rope

This provides plyometric stimulus and metabolic stress.

1. Setup: Hold a jump rope handle in each hand.
2. Action: Jump continuously on the balls of your feet.
3. Rhythm: Keep the jumps small and quick, focusing on the elasticity of the lower leg.

For those who are interested in bodyweight alternatives, you may want to explore calisthenics for calves.

Should Seated Calf Raises Be Fast or Slow?

Whether you perform seated calf raises fast or slow depends entirely on your goal. The tempo of your lift is an acute variable that often gets ignored, but it dictates the outcome of your training.

According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), due to the principle of specificity, training should be tailored to the goal of the lifter (6). If your goal is muscular hypertrophy, it’s beneficial to vary the repetition range and utilize a variety of loads and loading strategies.

For Hypertrophy (Muscle Growth)

If size is the prize, research has suggested that maximizing time under tension/mechanical stress along with metabolic stress is key (7). A controlled, moderate tempo is usually best. A 2-1-2-0 tempo is a great starting point:

• 2 seconds lowering the weight (eccentric phase)
• 1-second pause at the bottom (to eliminate the stretch reflex)
• 2 seconds lifting the weight (concentric phase)
• 0-second pause at the top.

The pause at the bottom is crucial. Your Achilles tendon acts like a rubber band – if you bounce out of the bottom, the tendon does the work. Pausing places a greater tension and stress on the soleus.

For Strength and Power

If you’re an athlete who is looking for explosiveness, you might utilize a faster concentric phase. You might lower the weight under control (2-3 seconds), but explode up as fast as possible (intentionally moving the weight quickly, even if it moves slowly due to the load).

However, even for power, the eccentric (lowering) phase should rarely be uncontrolled. Dropping the weight rapidly increases injury risk and reduces muscle stimulation.

To learn more about how tempo affects your results, consult resources on proper lifting cadence from organizations such as ACE Fitness.

How Heavy Should Seated Calf Raises Be?

Determining the “right” weight can be tricky, as “heavy” is a relative term.

We need to move away from vague descriptors. When we say “heavy”, we typically mean a load that is 80% or more of your one-rep max (1RM), usually allowing for 1-5 repetitions. When we say “moderate”, we’re traditionally looking at 60-80% of 1RM, allowing for 8-12 repetitions (8).

Start conservatively. The calves are dense with pain receptors and prone to delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).

• Recommendation: Select a weight that allows you to perform 15-20 repetitions with perfect form. This is roughly 50-60% of your estimated 1RM.
• Focus: Your priority is learning the motor pattern and feeling the stretch and squeeze, not moving maximum poundage.

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Progression

Once you can complete the upper end of your rep range (e.g. 20 reps) with good form for two consecutive workouts, it’s time to increase the load.

• The 2-for-2 Rule: If you can perform two extra reps over your goal in the last set of two consecutive workouts, increase the weight.
• Increment: For dumbbells, increase by 5 lbs (approx. 2.5 kg) per side.

Recent research has highlighted that effort – taking sets close to failure – is a more practical approach than focusing on the specific weight used (9). You can achieve hypertrophy with lighter loads (30-50% 1RM) if you take the set to failure, just as you can with heavier loads. However, for the soleus, which is composed of predominantly slow-twitch fibers (3), slightly higher rep ranges (15-25) often yield excellent results as they extend the time under tension.

How Often Should I Do Seated Calf Raises?

The calves are incredibly resilient. As they’re used to carrying your body weight around all day while you walk, they require a significant stimulus to adapt.

A common pitfall is treating calves as an afterthought, throwing in a few half-hearted sets once a week at the end of a leg day. This is rarely sufficient for growth.

Recommendation: Train your calves at least twice per week.

• Frequency: 2 to 3 sessions per week.
• Volume: Choose 2-3 calf exercises per session, performing 3-4 sets of each.

As the soleus recovers relatively quickly compared to larger muscle groups such as the hamstrings or quads, you can train them with higher frequency. A Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Friday split works well, but you should pay attention to how your calves feel and take rest days if you’re experiencing prolonged soreness.

If you find your calves to be particularly stubborn, you might even benefit from a high-frequency approach, training them 4 times a week with varying intensities (e.g. two heavy days and two light/high-rep days).

For those with access to more equipment, integrating the standing barbell calf raise can be a powerful addition to your weekly rotation.

What Is a Common Mistake for Seated Calf Raises?

We often see people wasting their time at the gym simply because their execution is slightly off. Here are the most likely mistakes that kill your calf gains.

1. Limited Range of Motion

This is the cardinal sin of calf training.

• The Mistake: Performing “half-reps” where the heel barely drops below parallel and barely rises above neutral.
• The Fix: You must lower your heels until you feel a distinct, uncomfortable stretch in the calf. Then, you must rise all the way up onto the very tips of your toes, like a ballerina. The top and bottom 10% of the movement are where the most value lies.

2. Bouncing (Using the Stretch-Shortening Cycle)

• The Mistake: Only doing reps rapidly, bouncing the weight up and down.
• The Reality: This utilizes the elasticity of the Achilles tendon more than the contractile strength of the muscle fibers, which will have less of an impact on muscle size.
• The Fix: Pause for a full second at the bottom of every single rep. This dissipates the stored elastic energy and forces the soleus to do the work from a dead stop.

3. Improper Foot Placement

• The Mistake: Letting your ankles roll outward (supination) as you press up. This shifts the load to the outside of the foot and reduces activation of the big toe, which is essential for maximal plantarflexion.
• The Fix: Press through your first and second toes (the big toe and the one next to it). Keep your ankles aligned vertically with your knees.

4. Ignoring Progressive Overload

• The Mistake: Using the same 25lb dumbbell for six months.
• The Fix: Track your workouts. If you did 3 sets of 15 with 40lbs last week, aim for 3 sets of 16, or 3 sets of 15 with 45lbs this week. You must give your body a reason to change.

5. Low Training Volume

• The Mistake: Doing 3 sets of 10 once a week.
• The Fix: As mentioned earlier, calves need volume. Aim for 10-15 hard sets per week as a starting point for hypertrophy.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Which is better, seated or standing calf raises?

Neither is strictly “better” – they target different muscles. Seated calf raises target the soleus muscle as the bent knee puts the gastrocnemius on slack, while standing calf raises target both the gastrocnemius and the soleus. For complete lower leg development, a comprehensive program should include both variations.

• Why are calves the hardest muscle to build?

Calves can be difficult to build, potentially due to their high density of androgen receptors and their specific muscle fiber composition (often a mix of slow and fast-twitch). However, the evidence here is weak (10).

Furthermore, as they are used constantly for walking, they are conditioned for endurance and require high-intensity overload or high volume to be stimulated significantly enough to grow.

• Do seated calf raises increase size?

Yes, seated calf raises could increase the size of the soleus muscle. While the soleus sits underneath the gastrocnemius, growing it pushes the gastrocnemius out, adding overall width and thickness to the lower leg. It contributes significantly to the overall circumference of the calf.

• Why do calves hurt so much after calf raises?

The calves are often subject to intense delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) as exercises such as calf raises involve a loaded stretch under tension. This eccentric loading causes micro-tears in the muscle fibers, which leads to inflammation and soreness as part of the repair and growth process (11).

• Will 100 calf raises a day grow my calves?

Doing 100 bodyweight calf raises a day might provide some initial growth for a complete beginner, but it will quickly lead to a plateau. Muscle growth requires progressive overload (12). Once your calves can easily handle 100 bodyweight reps, you’re training endurance, not hypertrophy. You need to add external resistance (weight) to continue growing.

The Bottom Line

Building impressive calves requires more than just genetic luck – it demands a strategic approach that’s rooted in anatomy and biomechanics. The seated calf raise with dumbbells is an indispensable tool in your arsenal, offering a precise way to target the often-neglected soleus muscle. 

By adhering to strict form, managing your tempo, and committing to progressive overload, you can turn a stubborn weak point into a powerful asset. Remember, consistency is the currency of fitness – spend it wisely on the exercises that yield the highest return.