Triceps Surae, Is the Way!

Hi everyone! In this video, we will be highlighting the Triceps Surae group, also known as the calf muscles. Okay! Let’s get started.

The Triceps Surea group is comprised of 3 muscles. The Gastrocnemius, with its 2 heads (lateral and medial), the Soleus that is deep to the gastroc, and the Plantaris.


The Gastrocnemius is a muscle with 2 heads and 3 attachment points, the lateral and medial epicondyles of the femur, and the posterior surface of the calcaneus (or heel bone) using the Achilles tendon. Since it crosses both the knee and ankle joints, that means it works on both joints. The gastroc contributes to flexion at the knee joint, as well as plantar flexion at the ankle joint.

The Soleus is right underneath the gastrocnemius and attaches at the tibia, and fibula, and joins the gastrocnemius with the Achilles tendon to attach at the calcaneus. The soleus only crosses the ankle joint and only produces plantar flexion.


Fun Fact: Did you know that we don’t know as much about the plantaris muscle as we do with the other Triceps Surae muscles? But a paper from 2021 found that there are many anatomical variations in the muscle, and that could mean that my plantaris muscle is different from my friend’s.

Alright now, lets look at some exercises.

We are going to start them off with calf raises. There are so many different ways to do calf raises that target muscles differently. You can do a basic calf raise that starts on flat ground. To increase difficulty and also get a good stretch in that gastrocnemius how about we add some elevation? With the elevation we are able to produce more dorsiflexion and lengthen that gastroc before we engage it. Now if this doesn’t seem hard enough, lets add some ankle weights. Your gastrocnemius will have to work extra hard to get us the plantar flexion we are looking for.


If we want to target the soleus, we need to sort of eliminate that gastrocnemius. I say sort of because they do share an attachment point. Start off in a seated position with knees at a 90 degree angle and we are going to do some calf raises. Weights can be added for intensity or they could be left out. With the knee passively being flexed, we are taking the proximal gastroc out of the equation.

Another good soleus exercise are Tip Toe walks with the knees bend. Because we are actively bending our knees the gastroc is more engaged than the last exercise, but we are for sure targeting the soleus in this instance.
We are going to finish out these exercises with one last stretch. Remember those elevated calf raises stretched out our gastrocnemius? Well this “almost” kneeling position is going to help us stretch out the soleus. Make sure your weight is over that back leg. You should be feeling the stretch around the Achilles.

Let me know if yo uhave more exercise ideas in the comments. Thanks for coming to learn with me. I’ll see you in the next one.


Images and Videos:

Muscle&Motion (2023). Strength Training (Version 2.7.5.87) [Mobile app]. App Store
https://apps.apple.com/il/app/strenth...

3D Atlas of Human Anatomy (2023). Anatomy 3D Atlas (Version 5.1.0) [Mobile app]. App Store
https://apps.appl;e.com/us/app/anatomy-3d-atlas/id103469206

Fun Fact:

Gonera, B., Kurtys, K., Paulsen, F., Polguj, M., LaPrade, R. F., Grzelecki, D., Karauda, P., & Olewnik, Ł. (2021). The plantaris muscle - Anatomical curiosity or a structure with important clinical value? - A comprehensive review of the current literature. Annals of anatomy = Anatomischer Anzeiger : official organ of the Anatomische Gesellschaft, 235, 151681. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aanat.2021....

Image Credit: SomkiatFakmee from iStock