Heel Raise Progression for Achilles Strength: A 4-Stage Daily Guide from Floor to Eccentric Drops

A lot of people describe the same moment: they get out of bed, take that first step, and the tissue right above the heel feels stiff and tight, almost like it needs to warm up before it works normally. Walk a few steps and it eases off, so it gets ignored. Then, walking down a flight of stairs later, or after a long day on your feet, the same spot twinges again. If that pattern has been repeating for a few weeks, the tendon has lost load tolerance, and rest alone will not rebuild it. What actually restores it is controlled, progressively increasing load that realigns the collagen fibers and raises the pain threshold over time.

This guide skips the background on why the tendon reacts this way and goes straight to what to do in your living room today. If you want the underlying mechanism, that's covered in Achilles tendinopathy conservative care. Here, the focus stays on four stages in order: floor heel raises, step-edge full-range heel raises, single-leg heel raises, and eccentric heel drops. At each stage you'll find the exact starting position, rep count, how much discomfort is acceptable, and the point at which you should stop rather than push through.

One thing to check before starting. If you ever felt or heard a pop above your heel while walking or running, or if you genuinely cannot rise onto your toes at all, get evaluated for an Achilles rupture before attempting any of this. Loading a partially or fully torn tendon can make the tear worse.

Before You Start

You need one thing beyond your own bodyweight: a step. Stages 1 and 3 can be done on flat ground, but stage 2 onward requires a stair edge or a raised threshold. Do this barefoot or in thin socks so you don't slip, and for the first few days, position yourself near a rail or wall you can touch. Having something to steady yourself against lets you focus on the heel movement instead of on balance.

When and How Much During the Day

The Achilles is stiffest in the morning. Hours of sleep with the ankle held in a slightly shortened position let the collagen fibers in the tendon tighten up overnight. Rather than loading it hard the instant you wake up, walk around briefly or move your ankle back and forth a few times to take the edge off that stiffness before starting the actual sets. Splitting the routine into a morning session and an evening session works better for tendon recovery than cramming everything into one sitting.

Self-Check Before You Begin

If any of the following applies to you, hold off on this routine today and get checked first.

• You felt or heard a pop above your heel during walking or running, followed by a sudden loss of push-off strength
• Lying face down, squeezing your calf with your hand does not make your foot move at all (a positive Thompson test is suspected)
• You physically cannot rise onto your toes, not because of pain but because the strength isn't there
• The area is hot, red, and swollen with noticeable warmth (possible infection)
• You've recently taken a fluoroquinolone antibiotic (such as ciprofloxacin) or had a steroid injection into that area

If none of these apply, work through the four stages below in order. Not skipping stages is the single most important rule in this routine.

Why Skipping Stages Backfires

Eccentric heel drops get all the attention in Achilles rehab literature, so there's a strong pull to skip straight to stage 4. But when a tendon can't yet tolerate basic two-legged loading, adding eccentric load on top of that often causes a sharp flare-up rather than progress. For a person around 70kg, the load through the forefoot during walking has been estimated at three to four times bodyweight, so a tendon that isn't ready for that shouldn't be pushed into it prematurely. Confirming pain-free reps at stages 1 and 2 before moving to stages 3 and 4 is, in practice, the faster route to recovery, not the slower one.

Stage 1: Floor Heel Raises, Both Feet

Starting Position

Stand on flat ground or a thin mat with feet hip-width apart. Rest your fingertips lightly on a wall or chair back for balance, but don't shift weight onto your hands. Keep your knees straight.

Movement Steps

1) Press through the balls of both feet and slowly rise onto your toes. 2) Hold at the top for 1 to 2 seconds. 3) Lower over 3 to 4 seconds. 4) Just before your heels fully touch down, keep a bit of tension and roll straight into the next rep.

Breathing

Exhale as you rise, inhale as you lower. Holding your breath through the set adds unnecessary tension through the calf and makes the movement feel stiffer than it needs to.

Sets, Reps, and Frequency

15 reps per set, 3 sets, twice a day (morning and evening). In the first week, rest about a minute between sets so your tempo stays consistent from one set to the next.

Common Mistakes and Fixes

The most common mistake is bending the knees slightly and bouncing up using the whole leg. That momentum lets the quads take over from the calf and Achilles. Think about keeping the back of the knee straight as you rise. The second common mistake is letting weight drift toward the little toe, rolling onto the outside edge of the foot. Weight should stay along the line between the big toe and second toe so the load reaches the medial fibers of the Achilles evenly.

Stop If You See This

If pain during the set goes above 5 out of 10, or if next-morning walking pain is clearly worse than it was before you started, cut the set volume in half that day and watch it for a day or two. General calf muscle soreness rather than tendon pain is a normal response and fine to keep working through.

If Balance Is the Limiting Factor

Using both hands on a wall at first is fine. But the more weight you put through your hands, the less actual load reaches the tendon, so as balance improves, taper down to a single fingertip on the wall.

Stage 2: Step-Edge Full-Range Heel Raises

Starting Position

Stand with the balls of both feet on the edge of the bottom stair or a raised threshold, heels hanging off the back. Hold a rail or wall lightly with both hands.

Movement Steps

1) Slowly drop your heels below the step until you feel a stretch through the Achilles. 2) Hold that stretched position for 1 second. 3) Push through the balls of your feet and rise as high as possible. 4) Hold at the top for 1 to 2 seconds. 5) Lower slowly back to the stretched position.

Breathing

Exhale as you push up, inhale as you drop into the stretch. Avoid holding your breath while sitting in the stretched position.

Sets, Reps, and Frequency

12 reps per set, 3 sets, twice a day. Since the range of motion is larger than stage 1, extending rest between sets to 1 to 2 minutes is fine.

Common Mistakes and Fixes

The most common mistake is never actually dropping below step level, just bobbing at the same height as stage 1. That makes this stage functionally identical to the previous one and defeats the point of progressing. Check with a mirror or a quick video to confirm your heels genuinely go below the balls of your feet. The opposite mistake is shifting all your weight backward into the stretch to force a deeper stretch. Stop at a pulling sensation, not at the point where pain starts.

Stop If You See This

If dropping into the stretch position produces sharp pain, or if morning stiffness after starting this stage becomes noticeably longer-lasting than it was at stage 1, lower the step height (use a shallow threshold instead of a full stair) or drop back to stage 1 for a day or two.

If One Ankle Feels Stiffer Than the Other

It's common for one ankle to feel noticeably tighter. Rather than forcing both sides through identical sets, add one or two extra sets to the stiffer side at the end of the session to close the gap gradually.

Stage 3: Single-Leg Heel Raises

Starting Position

Stand on flat ground on one leg. Lift the other foot slightly behind you with the knee softly bent, and touch a wall or chair with your fingertips just to prevent sideways drift.

Movement Steps

1) Rise onto the toes of the standing leg only. 2) Hold at the top for 1 to 2 seconds. 3) Lower over 3 to 4 seconds. 4) Just before the heel touches down, roll into the next rep.

Breathing

Same pattern as stage 1: exhale rising, inhale lowering. Breathing tends to get shallow when balancing on one leg, so consciously deepening it helps stability more than people expect.

Sets, Reps, and Frequency

10 reps per set, 3 sets, twice a day, done separately for each leg. Since the entire bodyweight now goes through one tendon, it's fine to start at 8 reps for the first few days if that's more manageable than stage 2's volume.

Common Mistakes and Fixes

The most common mistake is letting the hip on the lifted-leg side drop, using the glutes to hold balance instead of the ankle. The more the hip tilts, the less load actually reaches the ankle, so keep the belt line level, as if your belly button is pointed straight ahead. The knee caving inward is another frequent issue — in most beginners, the knee drifts inward right around this stage. Consciously aim the knee toward the second toe to keep it tracking straight.

Stop If You See This

If pain stops you from reaching the top of the range and you're only getting halfway up, this stage isn't ready yet. Either press harder into the wall with your free hand to offload some bodyweight, or go back to stage 2's two-legged raises for another one to two weeks before retrying.

If Balance Keeps Failing

Age or a history of ankle injury can reduce proprioception enough that balance itself becomes the bottleneck, even without pain. In that case, running the 4-stage single-leg balance program alongside this one for a few days lets you focus purely on the heel raise mechanics once balance improves.

Stage 4: Eccentric Heel Drops

Starting Position

Place the ball of the affected foot on a stair edge, lift the other foot slightly, and rise onto the toes using both feet to get to the top position. This stage is about the lowering phase, not the rise, so using both feet to get up is fine.

Movement Steps

1) Rise to the top on both feet. 2) Shift all your weight onto the affected foot and lift the other foot off the ground. 3) Lower slowly over 4 to 5 seconds to the stretched position below the step. 4) Plant the other foot again and rise on both feet to start the next rep.

Run this movement with the knee straight and with the knee bent to roughly 20 to 30 degrees, as two separate sub-sets. The straight-knee version loads the gastrocnemius along with the rest of the Achilles; the bent-knee version shifts more load onto the soleus.

Breathing

Exhale slowly through the 4 to 5 second lowering phase, using breath to help pace the tempo. Dropping too fast defeats the purpose of eccentric loading, so let your exhale set the speed.

Sets, Reps, and Frequency

15 reps, 3 sets with the knee straight and 15 reps, 3 sets with the knee bent, twice a day (morning and evening). That adds up to roughly 180 reps per side per day, in line with the volume commonly prescribed in chronic Achilles tendinopathy rehab protocols.

Common Mistakes and Fixes

The most common mistake is rushing the descent down to 1 or 2 seconds. The entire point of eccentric loading is a slow, controlled lengthening contraction, so practice counting out loud to hit the full 4 to 5 seconds before worrying about volume. The opposite mistake is dialing intensity down until there's zero discomfort at all. This stage is designed to be done with some discomfort present; chasing a completely pain-free version of it under-loads the tendon and blunts the stimulus.

Stop If You See This

If pain during the set exceeds 5 out of 10, or next-morning walking pain is clearly worse than the day before, reduce set volume or shift more weight onto the trailing foot to lighten the load. On the other hand, discomfort in the 3 to 4 range during the set that resolves back to baseline by the next morning falls within the expected range — keep going.

If You Can't Complete 15 Reps Without Pain

If bearing full bodyweight on one leg is too much right now, keep the trailing foot lightly touching the ground to offload 20 to 30 percent of your bodyweight and build from there. Over several weeks, gradually reduce how much the trailing foot is contributing until you're handling full single-leg bodyweight.

Week-by-Week Progression Chart

Alfredson, Pietilä, Jonsson, and Lorentzon published a study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine in 1998 in which 15 patients with chronic Achilles tendinosis (12 completed the program) followed a 12-week eccentric heel-drop protocol, straight-knee and bent-knee, 15 reps for 3 sets, twice daily. Every completer returned to their pre-injury activity level without pain. That said, this was a small, uncontrolled study, and later research has generally reproduced a smaller improvement than the original figures suggested, which is worth keeping in mind.

A later randomized controlled trial by Beyer, Kongsgaard, Hougs Kjær, Øhlenschlæger, Kjær, and Magnusson, published in the same journal in 2015, compared eccentric heel drops against heavy slow resistance training (closer to loaded heel raises) in 58 patients with mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy over 12 weeks. Both groups improved significantly on the VISA-A symptom score, with no statistically significant difference between groups, though the heavy-slow-resistance group reported somewhat higher treatment satisfaction and adherence. The study was conducted at a single center, so caution is warranted before generalizing the findings to other populations. The chart below draws on both protocols as a target guide; actual pace will vary a good deal depending on individual pain response.

Don't advance to the next stage just because a week has passed if you haven't met the criteria above. The Achilles tendon recovers more slowly than muscle tissue, and staying at a stage for an extra week or two often shortens the overall recovery timeline rather than lengthening it.

Still Stuck at Week 4

If you've seen no progress for more than two weeks at the same stage, check three things first. One, whether you've actually completed both daily sessions consistently — skipping a day or two breaks the loading adaptation. Two, whether you recently switched to flatter shoes, since a lower heel drop increases Achilles tensile stress. Three, whether other activities like running or hiking are adding load faster than the tendon can recover from between sessions. If all three check out and there's still no change, a direct evaluation from a physical therapist or orthopedic specialist is more efficient at this point than continuing to self-manage.

Warning Signs and When to Avoid This Routine

Stop Immediately If You Notice These (Red Flags)

• A pop or sudden give-way feeling above the heel during or right after exercise, suggesting a rupture (seek emergency care)
• Noticeably weaker push-off strength, or an inability to rise onto your toes at all
• Heat, redness, and swelling at the exercise site, suggesting possible infection
• Pain that keeps worsening even at rest, unrelated to activity

When to Avoid This Routine

• A diagnosed or suspected partial or complete Achilles rupture (see an orthopedic specialist first)
• A steroid injection into the area within the last 6 weeks (tendon strength may be temporarily reduced)
• Current or recently completed fluoroquinolone antibiotic use (associated with tendon injury and rupture risk in the literature)
• Diabetes or chronic kidney disease with documented impaired tendon healing capacity
• An acute inflammatory flare with swelling and heat severe enough that even walking is difficult (address the inflammation first, load second)

This routine does not replace a physician's diagnosis or treatment plan. If any of the above applies to you, talk to a specialist or physical therapist before starting. Even without those flags, if you've followed this routine consistently for more than 4 weeks with no change, or with worsening symptoms, that's the point to get reassessed.

Can This Be Combined With Other Treatments?

This routine isn't mutually exclusive with shockwave therapy, manual therapy, or a calf strain recovery protocol. That said, starting several new interventions at once makes it hard to tell which one is actually responsible for any change. Once heel raises have brought daily pain down noticeably, reintroducing higher-load activities like jogging or jumping one at a time makes it easier to track how the tendon is actually responding.