Calf Exercises At Home For Women Without Weights

One of the primary goals for women working out their calves is to improve their appearance; however, calf machines can be quite expensive and take up a lot of space. Fortunately, there is a wide variety of calf exercises that women can perform at home without the use of weights and weight equipment. It is important the calf exercises utilized work both the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles. These are the two muscles that make up your calves and both must be trained to optimize calf appearance.

Single-Leg Calf Raise

Assume a standing position and place the top of your left foot behind your right ankle. Hold your arms out to your sides to help keep you balanced during the exercise. Push through the bottom of your feet and toes and elevate your right ankle off of the floor. Raise your heel three inches and hold for five seconds. Relax your calves and tap your heel to the floor. Continue raising and lowering a total of 20 times.

Bridge To Calf Raise

Lay on your back, keeping it flat on the floor with your knees bent at a 45 degree angle. Position your arms to the side of your bottom with your palms flat on the ground. Raise your butt off of the ground as high as you can. Maintain this position and push off of the front of your feet raising both of your heels off of the ground. Once your heels are 3 inches off of the ground, lower your heels and then your butt to the floor. Not only does this exercise work your calves but you hamstrings and gluteal muscles are worked as well. Ideally, you want to perform 20 bridges with 20 heel raises.

Squat to Calf Raise

This is another combination exercise that works your calves, quadriceps, glutes and hamstrings. Get into a standing position with your feet spaced a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Place your hands on your hips. Lean forward at the waist slightly and move your butt downward, as if you were taking a seat on a chair. Once your hips reach knee height, stand back up and lift your heels off of the ground. Hold this position for a brief moment and then perform another squat.Perform a total of at least 20 repetitions.

Toe Tappers

The toe tapper trains your calves in a more dynamic manner and requires a moderate level of cardiovascular fitness. Get into a normal calf raise position with your feet together and your heels off of the ground while in a standing position. Push down quickly by flexing your ankle so that both of your feet are lifted off of the ground. Land on the balls of your feet and then quickly bounce off of the ground again. Continue jumping up and down on the balls of your feet for 60 seconds.