Calf Raise Iso Hold
The Elite Hockey Drills app builds drills like this into your personalized off-ice program, week by week. Your first week is free.
How to Do It
Stand with the balls of your feet on the edge of a step (or on flat floor). Push to the very top of a calf raise — heels as high as they go. HOLD. Weight stays on the balls of the feet, ankles fully extended, knees soft. Single-leg version: same setup, one foot only (other foot lifted off). Hold steady — no bouncing or dropping mid-hold. Lower under control. Repeat or switch.
Why It Works
Ankle stiffness — the foot's ability to act like a spring rather than a soft pad on push-off — is one of the most under-trained qualities in hockey training, and it's directly tied to skating speed. Each stride, the foot transfers energy from leg drive into ice push, and that transfer is lossy if the ankle is sloppy. Holding the top of a calf raise builds soleus and gastrocnemius isometric strength — the muscles that lock the ankle into rigid spring mode. The bonus: same muscles that protect against Achilles strains and shin-splint pain. Cheap to do, high carryover, almost no one trains it. Easy win.
Hockey Transfer
Ankle stiffness is the most under-trained quality in skating — it determines how much of your leg drive actually transfers into ice push. Iso-holding the top of a calf raise builds it directly. Drop to single-leg as soon as two-foot is easy — same muscle, way more load.
Coaching Cues
- "Stand on the edge of a step (or flat floor). Push to the very top of a calf raise — heels as high as they go. HOLD. Two-foot for beginner"
- "Single-leg for advanced."
Common Mistakes
Rocking outward onto the pinky-toe edge of the foot — keep weight on the big toe through to the second-toe ball. Bending the knees to cheat the top — knees stay soft but extended. Bouncing in and out of the hold — defeats the iso; one continuous push to the top. Going single-leg before bilateral is bombproof — earn 45-60s solid two-foot first.
Progression / Regression
Single-leg calf raise iso hold. Or weighted (dumbbell in hand, kettlebell racked).
Bilateral on flat floor (no step edge) — shorter range, same iso quality.
Primary Muscles
Energy System
Strength/neural
Put it to work
on the ice.
The Elite Hockey Drills app builds exercises like this into a personalized off-ice program — created by a sport scientist and former national-team coach. Your first week is free.
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