THE WHOLE TRUTH

DON’T JUST TRAIN CALVES. TRAIN THE WHOLE LOWER LEG WITH THE KETTLEBELL TOE RAISE

It seems like everyone has a different recommendation for working calves—but I rarely see any advice on working the muscles on the front of my lower legs. Got any advice? 

The muscle you’re referring to on the front of the lower leg, the anterior tibialis, serves an important function: dorsiflexion, or  the flexing of the ankle to elevate  the toes off the ground. (Plantarf lexion is the opposite action, lifting the heel off the ground.) The anterior tibialis  also serves as an antagonist muscle to the calf—in other words, it ensures that plantarflexion occurs at a controlled pace. Most guys don’t worry about this area because it’s  not a sexy body part to train; plus, this muscle is even more stubborn than the calf when it comes to hypertrophy training
But failing to train the anterior tibialis is a mistake, especially if you put in a lot of extra time training calves. Train calves while ignoring the opposite muscle action for long enough, and  you’ll find that the anterior tibialis— which is actually more active than the calf muscle when you run—can become fatigued and sore with only minor activity. Luckily, because the anterior tibialis is such a small muscle, you don’t need a lot of weight or volume to strengthen it. Stack up a few plates, grab a moderately heavy kettlebell (20–40 pounds), and set  it near the edge of the plates. Stand on the plates, put one foot through the kettlebell handle and dorsiflex your foot, lifting your toes upwards. At the top of the rep, hold for 2–3 seconds, then slowly lower the weight.