Tips: Stand on a band so that the tension begins with hands by shoulders and standing straight up. (Make sure you are standing on the band with your toes). Keeping hands by your shoulder, stand up on your toes as you would with a barbell calf raise.

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Calves
Other Muscles Worked: None
Equipment: Other
Mechanics Type: Isolation

Tips: Many of you may have seen Arnold do this in his hayday, but how many of you actually know that it was called Donkey calf raises or even do them? I'll just give you a quick run through on how to perform them. First, go to a gym with obese people. (lol, alright, I'm joking, but they do accelerate calf development while doing this exercise!) Ok, lean over on a knee height or slightly lower bench/platform, forming an 'L' shape with your torso and lower body. Have a calf raise platform or a thick Olympic weight at the bottom of your feet, tip-toeing on them. Get a few buddies to sit on your back, like they do when horse riding and start repping out some donkey calf raises!

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Calves
Other Muscles Worked: None
Equipment: BodyOnly
Mechanics Type: Isolation

Tips: Draw a circle in the air with your big toe.

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Calves
Other Muscles Worked: Quadriceps, Hamstrings
Equipment: Other
Mechanics Type: Compound

Tips: There are devices designed to train balance boards centered on a pivot that tip easily and the more difficult ones can be useful for improving your balance. To start using the balance board, place the board in front of you while you stand on the board trying to balance. Repeat.

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Calves
Other Muscles Worked: None
Equipment: Barbell
Mechanics Type: Isolation

Tips: Place a block about 12 inches in front of a flat bench. Sit on the bench and place the balls of your feet on the block. Place a barbell over your upper thighs about 3 inches above your knees. Raise up on your toes as high as possible and squeeze the calves. Lower down to the starting position and stretch as far as you can. Repeat.

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Calves
Other Muscles Worked: None
Equipment: Machine
Mechanics Type: Isolation

Tips: While sitting a leg press machine, press the weight rack up as if you were going to do a leg press. Lock your knees and slide your feet down so that only the balls of your feet are on the rack and your heels are hanging off. Push with your toes and point the feet like a ballet stance, pushing the rack along with you. Let the rack come back down bringing the toes closer to your body and repeat. Make sure the handles remain in the locked position. If your feet were to slip off the rack and you don't have the handles locked you can be injured. Don't bounce the rack up and down. Use the muscles slowly with control. You can also focus on the inner or outer calves by pointing your toes in or out instead of keeping them straight.

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Calves
Other Muscles Worked: None
Equipment: Dumbbell
Mechanics Type: Isolation

Tips: When doing one-legged calf raises, stand on a dumbell handle (preferably one with round plates so it rolls). This tendency to roll will make you work to stabilize yourself as you're doing the calf raise, increasing the effectiveness of the exercise.

Be sure to hang onto something solid as you're doing this exercise as you don't want to slip off. The tendency for the dumbell to roll will allow you to roll your foot over the top of the handle, giving you full extension of the calf at the top. As you come up, roll the dumbell slightly backward. Roll it slightly forward as you come down to get a better stretch. You can also do these standing on the actual dumbbell plate, using a large 85 pound dumbbell that is wider.

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Calves
Other Muscles Worked: None
Equipment: Dumbbell
Mechanics Type: Isolation

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Calves
Other Muscles Worked: Hamstrings
Equipment: BodyOnly
Mechanics Type: Compound

Tips: To perform knee circles, stand with your legs at shoulder width apart. Move your knees in a circular motion while staying mobolized. Perform 'circles' with your knees.

Exercise Data
Main Muscle Worked: Calves
Other Muscles Worked: None
Equipment: Barbell
Mechanics Type: Isolation