A calf raise is an exercise that targets mainly your calf muscles in the back of your lower legs. Although this exercise increases the structural strength of your ankles and calves, it does little to improve how your calves move with other parts of your body, such as your legs, hips and torso, says physical therapist Gray Cook, author of "Athletic Body in Balance."
Types
You can perform calf raises with a calf raise machine or by carrying a barbell or a pair of dumbbells. The calf raise machine provides support for your body which allows you to lift a large amount of weight without worrying about balance. Calf raises with free weights, however, provide no external support. This forces your spine, abs and pelvis to stabilize your body to maintain your balance and alignment as you raise your heels off the ground.
Functional Anatomy
Your calves share a continuous network of nerves and sheathes of connective tissues -- or fasciae -- that extends from the bottom of your feet, through your legs and torso and into the top of your skulls, says massage therapist Thomas Myers, author of "Anatomy Trains." This network, which is one of many fascial networks in your body, is called the superficial back line that extends and flexes your body from your neck to your hips. When you stand and bend your torso forward to touch your toes, you should feel a stretch radiating from your calves, through your hips and into shoulders and spine. This indicates that your calves are connected with other body parts and can influence how other parts move and vice versa. The calves also work with other muscles in your feet, legs and hips to produce force when you start to move and to reduce force when you slow your body down.
Benefits and Drawbacks
Calf raises increase calf muscle size and strengthens the ankle joint and calf muscles. It also improves your stabilization strength in your torso and hips. However, isolating your calves by doing calf raises does not improve various movement patterns that are essential to human performance, such as squats, jumps and overhead lifting. Thus, training your calves by doing calf raises without integrating other body parts will not improve your movement patterns, strength and other aspects of human movement, says Cook.
Considerations
Cook suggests that you perform full-body exercises that use your lower body to generate force to produce a lifting maneuver -- and use your spine, abs and pelvis to stabilize your body when you move. These types of exercises include overhead lifting, deadlifting, squats, sprinting, martial art katas, yoga poses, and bodyweight strength training. Focus on movement patterns rather than on what muscles you are training. This approach will improve your strength, stability and mobility without wasting time and energy on exercises than do not improve function.
References
- "NASM Essentials of Personal Fitness Training"; Michael Clark; 2007
- "Anatomy Trains"; Thomas Myers; 2008
- "Movement"; Gray Cook; 2010
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