Standing Dumbbell Calf Raise

Calves · Dumbbell · ×2 dumbbells

You hold two: the weight you log is ONE dumbbell's, and volume counts both.

How to do it

Stand tall with a dumbbell in each hand at your sides, the balls of your feet on a block or step and your heels free. Drop your heels as far as they go and rise onto your toes squeezing for two seconds at the top. With dumbbells the weight hangs and your spine carries nothing, but **your grip usually gives out before your calves**: use straps if that is you. The classic mistake is short sets: calves respond to high reps and full range, not to weight.

Variants

The drawing shows one way of doing it, and the technique above describes that one. Almost every exercise has variants — standing or seated, the grip, the bench angle — and is still the same exercise: if you do it another way, write it in the exercise note and you will have it every time you train it.

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