Seated Calf Raise Benefits. Besides the obvious benefit of accelerating your calf muscle growth and strength progress, this calf exercise has a couple distinct benefits that may appeal to you.
- Isolate the Soleus. There are two main calf muscles: the soleus and the gastrocnemius. The soleus is smaller, but nonetheless, makes a significant contribution to the size and shape of muscularly developed calves. When your knees are bent during seated calf raise exercise, your gastrocnemius is deactivated; thereby giving full attention to the soleus.
- Treat & Prevent Shin Splints. Do you ever get painful shin splints? Both seated as well as standing calf raises strengthen the calf, which is important for preventing shin splints. Note that calf raises alone are not an be-all-end-all solution for shin pains. The addition of exercises such as toe raises, heel walking and resisted dorsiflexion are also necessary for a well-rounded treatment or prevention strategy.
Seated calf raises will help you succeed on your journey to more muscular calves.
A progression to seated calf raises would be Seated Dumbbell Calf Raise. For further general calf training exercises checkout the Calf Training Guide.
