Hello all. First time, long time. I have a gym setup at home and my last missing piece is
something for the calves. I have enough room left for either a standing calf machine or a
seated calf machine. Which one would be recommended for a better workout?
Thanks for any help!!
Without a doubt; a leg-press machine…if you already got one, go with the seated machine. You can blast the gastrocs on the leg-press machine, and then hit the soleus with bent-knee calve raises (seated). If it’s one or the other…leg-press wins; hands down.
do you have a squat rack at home? if so then you can do standing calve raises on that. Or you can even do single leg raises holding a dumbell in one hand. On the other hand the sit down machine i a little more difficult to mimick. you need to be in a seated position with a load placed on top of your legs which might hurt. i would definitely go with the sit down machine. laters pk
I think seated calf machine is better since you can just do standing calf raises on a wooden block holding a barbell.
A block of wood, and a dumbbell, and you have a good standing calf raise. I would say get the seated calf raise, and a block of wood that gives good support, and you can do both.
In truth you don’t need any more equipment - just dumbells for standing calf raises. I bought a hip belt from Ironmind which is great for any lowerbody work where you can use a lot of weight. You can use the hip belt for stand calves raises or donkeys - which is great as you don’t need a partner. I looked at some seated calf machines too - but the hip belt is just so flexible for a great many exercises. Also is takes up virtually no room.
depending on what your home gym set up is like already you may want to spend the money and space on something else as you can do both of these movements using free weights (although seated are harder to do using free weights)
I would go with the standing calf because the calves (gastrocnemius) can handle extreem amounts of weight and a standing calf makes this easier. You can work the soleus by sitting down and putting a bar across the top of the thigh.
Thanks for all the responses. Yes, I do have a
squat rack at home and a leg press machine ( the HOIST H310) but the weight stack is only 205 lbs tops. The problem I have doing standing
calf raises with the barbell is how the hell are you supposed to keep your balance?! If I put any decent weight on , standing on a block,
I can’t stand for more than a quick second! I
feel like an idiot. My bro will stand in front of me with his hands on my chest to keep me from falling forward, but still it’s not enough
to feel the burn…! It sucks because the calves are really missing out.
Oh well, thanks again.