There’s a deleted scene in Pumping Iron (1977) that shows seven-time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger bent over a piece of equipment, mounted by a sweaty, scantily clad bodybuilder, bouncing up and down. Schwarzenegger was training his calves.
- In a 2023 edition of his newsletter, Arnold’s Pump Club, Schwarzenegger explained that the donkey calf raise is his favorite calf exercise.
But there’s a catch: “I promise you’ll make a scene in your gym if you try it,” the Austrian Oak wrote.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger & the Donkey Calf Raise
As the story goes, when Schwarzenegger first came to the States to pursue a career in bodybuilding (what a silly idea; the son of an Austrian policeman could never…) he was a bit gobsmacked by the importance of calf training in American muscle culture.
Known for his iconic barrel chest and sleeve-busting arms, Schwarzenegger’s calves were something of a weak point. The notoriously competitive Schwarzenegger hated the idea of giving other bodybuilders an edge of any kind, so he set about fixing the problem:
- “I trained calves daily, and my reasoning was you walk every day, so you’re already doing calf raises nonstop every time you take a step,” he wrote in his newsletter.
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Which brings us to the donkey calf raise. This calf raise variation gets its name from the posture of its performer; Schwarzenegger would bend over, allow a full-grown adult or three to saddle up on his lower back as though he were a pack animal, and then do calf raises. Giddy up.
Schwarzenegger didn’t rely exclusively on the donkey calf raise to raise his calves into cattle. According to Muscle & Fitness, the Oak’s calf-training routine looked something like this:
- Donkey Calf Raise: 5-6 x 15-20
- Standing Calf Raise: 5-6 x 10-20
- Seated Calf Raise: 4-5 x 10-15
It worked. After stumbling and bumbling through a few early appearances on American bodybuilding stages, Schwarzenegger went on to define the sport’s golden era, win seven Olympia titles, and cement his legacy as the world’s most famous musclesmith.
How To Do the Donkey Calf Raise
If you don’t have access to an arsenal of bodybuilders like Schwarzenegger did in his heyday, don’t worry. You can still beef up your calves with the donkey calf raise. There are four options for this exercise:
- Have a gym partner straddle your lower back
- Use a dip belt with weight plates
- Do it in the Smith machine, with assistance from a helper
- Find a specialty donkey calf raise machine
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The donkey calf raise exercise station exists (Schwarzenegger himself has one in his home gym), but it’s a very rare piece of gym equipment. For practicality’s sake, we’d suggest the dip belt:
- Stand with your toes on a slightly elevated surface of any kind, like a low riser or even a pair of bumper plates.
- Hinge at the hips and bend over, bracing yourself against something stable by your elbows.
- Drop your heels toward the floor, stretching your calves out. Then, press your toes to lift your legs up without bending your knees.
Why It Works
The donkey calf raise isn’t practical whatsoever, but it is effective. Bodybuilders commonly regard the calves as among the hardest muscles to grow — particularly superstitious physique enthusiasts would even say calf hypertrophy is a myth.
It isn’t, and you don’t need to let your workout partner straddle you in the weight room, either. But you do need to stretch your calves, which the donkey raise does a spectacular job at:
- Studies tell us that calf raises with the knee extended are much more effective at building muscle than bent-knee or seated calf raises. (1)
Of course, a regular standing calf raise would accomplish this just as well or better. They’re just a lot less fun, and if Schwarzenegger was big on anything during and after his bodybuilding career, it was making his bodybuilding workouts enjoyable.
Saddle up for some donkey calf raises (if you can find a willing partner, all the better) and give them a go.
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References
- Kinoshita M, Maeo S, Kobayashi Y, Eihara Y, Ono M, Sato M, Sugiyama T, Kanehisa H, Isaka T. Triceps surae muscle hypertrophy is greater after standing versus seated calf-raise training. Front Physiol. 2023 Dec 13;14:1272106. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2023.1272106. PMID: 38156065; PMCID: PMC10753835.
Featured Image: @schwarzenegger / Instagram
