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Technique tips

Keep these tips in mind as you perform the standing calf raise:

Lift as high as you can onto your toes and lower your heels down as

much as your ankle flexibility allows.

Push evenly through the entire width of your foot.Don’t push off from

your big toe or the outside edge of your feet.

Gym alternative: Toe press on the leg-press machine

Lie on the leg-press machine with your shoulders snugly underneath the pad.

To lift the weight stack, straighten your legs completely, and carefully walk

your feet down the foot platform until your heels hang off the end. Keeping

your legs straight, rise up on your tiptoes as high as you can (see Figure 14-4)

and then lower down until your heels are below the level of the foot plate.

After you complete all the reps, carefully walk your feet back to the center of

the foot plate before bending your knees and lowering the weights.

Photograph by Sunstreak Productions, Inc.

One-arm dumbbell row

Exercising your upper back without machinery isn’t easy, but this move is

one that does a good job. The one-arm dumbbell row also strengthens your

biceps and shoulders. Be especially careful if you have lower-back problems.

Figure 14-4:

As an

alternative

to the

standing

calf raise,

try the toe

press on the

leg-press

machine.

220 Part IV: Lift and Curl: Building a Stronger Bod with Weights