Toe pointing during calf raise?

The calf’s are often a stubborn area to develop for many trainers, with the seated and standing calf raise a common choice of exercise to target both the gastrocnemius muscle, and the flatter soleus muscle which runs beneath the gastrocnemius. The gastrocnemius is best stimulated with the standing calf raise, and the soleus with the seated calf raise. This is due to the gastrocnemius being in a mechanically disadvantageous position when there is a significant bend at the knee joint, such as during the seated calf raise exercise. With the gastrocnemius composing the main bulk of the calf, the standing calf raise is often the exercise of choice for many trainers who wish to develop the calf’s. There has been some debate in gyms and on bodybuilding and fitness forums on whether pointing the toes in a variation of positions during the calf raise has some impact on which head of the gastrocnemius is targeted to a greater degree. The argument which is made by some is that pointing the toes outwards during the standing the calf raise will cause greater stimulation to the medial (inner) head of the gastrocnemius, and pointing the toes inwards will result in greater stress to the lateral (outer) head of the gastrocnemius. Is there any truth in this?

Research was carried out by Dr. Per Tesch which attempted to find out if the change of toe position during the calf raise had any impact on the stimulation to either of the two gastrocnemius heads. The results did support the view point of interchanging feet positions, but this was only shown when the toes were pointing outwards. Pointing the toes outwards caused a greater amount of stimulation to the inner medial head of the gastrocnemius, however the same could not be said when pointing the toes inwards. When performing the calf raise with the toes pointing inwards there was equal stimulation to both the lateral and medial head of the gastrocnemius, dismissing one half of the argument for changing feet positions.

So, it appears for those with lagging medial (inner) head of the gastrocnemius could benefit from performing the calf raise with the feet pointing outwards, but targeting the lateral head is not possible by pointing the feet inwards, from the results by Dr. Per Tesch research.

Do you interchange feet positions during the calf raise? Have you noticed any difference in calf development from changing the position of your feet during the calf raise? Leave a comment below to let us know what you think.