Calves are a trouble spot for many people, with some feeling that they have large calves that they are trying to slim down, or non-existent calves that make their knees look like the biggest part of their legs. This routine can help both groups of people with just minor adjustments.

First off, this routine is not necessarily meant for building a lot of size and strength, instead it is intended to build definition and shape. If you have large calves that you want to slim then you can focus on doing this routine with high repetitions on the easiest versions of the exercises.

If you want to get bigger calves, focus on doing the hardest variations of each of the exercises. You can also use this workout to get bigger calf muscles by adding extra weight to any of the moves.

We start this routine off with 2 full minutes of jumping rope. This inexpensive cardio tool targets the calves effectively while also engaging the glutes, quads, abdominals, deltoids, triceps, biceps, and more. It’s also a great way to get your heart rate up and burn calories with almost no equipment.

The routine then moves straight into four different calf exercises. If you like, pause the calf workout video at the jump rope interval and go for longer in order to increase your caloric burn, increase the cardiovascular benefit, and really exhaust those leg muscles.

Exercises in this routine:
Single Leg Calf Raises – This movement isolates the calf muscle better than any other exercise out there, because if forces just one leg’s muscle to lift the entire body weight.

Agility Dots – Agility dots not only build dexterity in this particular leg muscle, it also strengthens the ankles and knees.
This move can make for faster, more agile feet, meaning it’s a great exercise for anyone who plays sports of almost any kind.

Double Calf Raises (with both legs) – Similar to the single leg version, this variation allows you to share the work load between both legs, allowing you to get more repetitions out of already tired calves.

Wall Jumps – These will burn out both your calves and your lungs. While the primary focus is the calves, this move really becomes more of a total body exercise about half way through the repetitions.

To wrap up the two rounds of muscle specific movements, there is another 2 minutes of jump roping.

Number of calories burned:
As always, the exact figure will depend on a large number of variables, however, we estimate that this routine can burn 120-165 calories.

If you want to burn more calories by doing this calf workout video, simply add longer intervals of cardio onto the beginning and end of the routine.

Doing this regimen is likely to give you some very sore calf muscles the next day. Make sure that you warm up properly and that you stretch when you are done to help minimize soreness.