18 best calf exercises to strengthen skinny legs

medinews October 31, 2022

72 1 minute read

You might not want straight logs for legs, but if you’re craving more solid muscle mass – particularly in those notoriously hard-to-build calves – you need targeted calf exercises aside from just pounding your lower body into colossal leg-day workouts.

Calves can be particularly challenging. We’ve heard many lifters complain that they just don’t have the right genetics to build big calf muscles. But those stubborn muscles can grow if you approach your training the right way.

First some anatomy: The calf consists of two main muscles. The gastrocnemius is a lower leg muscle that sits just under the skin and makes up most of the calf. Then there’s the soleus, a broad, flat muscle that starts below your knee and runs down your lower leg, joining the Achilles tendon above the heel. These muscles connect the knee and ankle to help flex and straighten the knee so you can walk, run, and jump.

Here we’ve rounded up some of the best muscle-building calf exercises (think single-leg calf raises) you can do to add some definition to your legs. Try these on during your next leg day workout; Just make sure to move methodically with the right range of motion to really stimulate the muscles. Also, consider working on some explosive cardio like sprinting and jumping rope to develop stronger, more muscular calves. They create micro-tears in the muscle fibers that cause the body to send blood and nutrients to the cells that need it, making your calves bigger and stronger.