Single Leg Smith Machine Calf Raise

In SetGrip: Smith Machine Calf Raise (Single Leg)

Secondary muscles
Hamstrings, Glutes
Body part
Lower Legs
Position
Standing
Laterality
Unilateral (one leg at a time)
Category
Strength

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Running the calf raise one leg at a time inside the Smith machine gets you unilateral loading well past what a hand-held dumbbell allows, because the fixed bar handles the balance for you. Set the safety stops before your first rep; on single-leg work a calf can fail abruptly mid-set.

How to do the Single Leg Smith Machine Calf Raise

  1. Position yourself on the floor under the smith machine bar, facing away from the machine.
  2. Place the balls of your feet on a raised surface, such as a weight plate or block.
  3. Position the smith machine bar across your lower legs, just above your ankles.
  4. Hold onto the bar with your hands for stability.
  5. Raise your heels off the ground by extending your ankles, lifting your body up.
  6. Pause at the top of the movement, then slowly lower your heels back down to the starting position.
  7. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

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

Muscles worked

Primary

Calves · Legs

Standing raises target the gastrocnemius while seated raises target the deeper soleus; either way you should feel a hard cramp-like squeeze at the top and a strong stretch at the bottom.

Secondary

  • Hamstrings — The hamstrings only stabilize here — it is the gastrocnemius that shares the knee-crossing role, so straight legs keep it loaded while bent knees hand the work to the soleus.
  • Glutes

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

Similar exercises

Without smith machine

Easier and harder

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.

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More exercises

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.

Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.