Single Leg Calf Raise (Dumbbell)

How to do the Single Leg Calf Raise (Dumbbell)

1. 1Stand with your feet hip-width apart and hold a dumbbell in one hand.
2. 2Lift one foot off the ground and balance on the other foot.
3. 3Slowly raise your heel as high as possible, using your calf muscles.
4. 4Pause for a moment at the top, then slowly lower your heel back down.
5. 5Repeat for the desired number of repetitions, then switch to the other leg.

Tip: Count two seconds up, hold one at the top and take three seconds down.

Muscles worked

Common mistakes

• Bouncing out of the bottom — the Achilles tendon does the work if you rebound; pause at the bottom of the stretch for a count before pressing up.
• Cutting the range short — go all the way down until you feel a full stretch in the calf and all the way up onto the big toe.
• Rolling onto the outer foot — drive through the big toe side of the ball of the foot to keep the whole calf working.
• Too heavy, too fast — calves handle high loads but they respond to controlled reps with a slow descent, not bouncing partials.

Where it fits in a workout

Calf raises go at the end of a lower body session or between sets of an upper body lift. Superset seated and standing raises to hit both parts of the calf back to back.

How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.

Variations and alternatives

When to talk to someone

• Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
• Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
• Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.

More exercises

• All legs exercises
• All calves exercises
• All dumbbell exercises
• Dumbbell calves exercises
• Single Leg Banded Tibialis Raise
• Barbell Seated Calf Raise
• Plate Barbell Seated Calf Raise
• Barbell Standing Calf Raise
• Plate Barbell Standing Calf Raise
• Step Barbell Standing Calf Raise

Sources

1. ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
2. ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
3. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
4. CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)

Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.