What the Soleus Push-Up Actually Is

The soleus is a flat muscle deep in the calf, under the more visible gastrocnemius. It makes up only about 1% of body weight, according to the University of Houston, but it is built for endurance. It helps you stand, walk and pump blood back from the legs toward the heart. Unlike most muscles, it can run on blood glucose and fats rather than burning through its own stored glycogen, which is why it can keep working for hours without tiring.

Marc Hamilton, a professor of health and human performance at the University of Houston, developed the soleus push-up to exploit that property. “It’s been inside our bodies all along, but no one ever investigated how to use it to optimize our health, until now,” he said in a university statement reported by IFLScience. The movement looks like a seated heel raise, but with a specific rhythm that keeps the soleus, rather than the larger calf muscle, doing most of the work.

1. Step 1Sit tallFeet flat, knees bent about 90 degrees, shins vertical.Setup: 10 seconds
2. Step 2Lift the heelsPress through the front of the feet; toes stay down.Up: about 1 second
3. Step 3Lower fullyLet heels return to the floor at a relaxed pace.Down: about 1 second
4. Step 4Keep goingRepeat smoothly; the lab version ran continuously.Lab dose: up to 270 min

Hamilton has cautioned that the movement is harder to master than it looks. “It’s a very specific movement that right now requires wearable technology and experience to optimize,” he said, according to IFLScience. Bouncing your heels quickly, standing up or pushing hard through the toes may shift effort onto other muscles.

Inside the 2022 University of Houston Study

The research, published in September 2022 in the journal iScience by Hamilton, Deborah Hamilton and Theodore Zderic, ran two experiments with a total of 25 participants whose lifestyles ranged from sedentary to active. In the first, 10 people sat for four and a half hours while researchers took muscle and blood samples, according to a summary in the Stansberry Research health bulletin. Oxygen use roughly doubled compared with ordinary sitting, yet MRI showed the muscle barely touched its glycogen stores.

In the second experiment, 15 participants drank a 75-gram glucose drink and either sat still or performed soleus push-ups throughout the following three hours, with blood samples taken every 15 minutes. Compared with sitting still, the movement produced a 52% smaller blood glucose rise and a 60% lower insulin response. Fat metabolism between meals roughly doubled, the researchers reported.

The Detail Most Retellings Skip

Participants did not do 20 heel raises and return to typing. They continued the contractions throughout the entire three-hour glucose test, and in the longest sessions the movement ran for up to 270 minutes. Summaries of the paper note that the 52% and 60% figures came from that prolonged, closely controlled protocol. It cannot be assumed that a few casual seated heel raises each hour produce comparable results. The study also compared the movement with sitting still, not with walking or other exercise.

How It Compares With Short Walking Breaks

The most useful comparison comes from a 2023 Columbia University study led by Keith Diaz and published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Eleven adults sat in an ergonomic chair for eight hours on separate days, testing five schedules: one minute of walking every 30 minutes, one minute every 60 minutes, five minutes every 30 minutes, five minutes every 60 minutes, and no walking.

Five minutes of walking every 30 minutes was the only schedule that significantly lowered both blood sugar and blood pressure, and it reduced blood sugar spikes after large meals by 58% compared with sitting all day. A one-minute walk every 30 minutes gave modest blood sugar benefits. Walking every 60 minutes, for either one or five minutes, provided no blood sugar benefit, according to Columbia. All walking schedules lowered blood pressure by 4 to 5 mmHg.

The pattern is instructive for an hourly soleus routine. Once an hour may simply be too infrequent for blood sugar, at least for walking. That does not prove the same holds for soleus push-ups, but it suggests doing them more often, or for longer stretches, is a safer bet than relying on a single hourly burst. Walking every 30 minutes also improved mood and reduced fatigue, a benefit worth having even if blood sugar is not your main concern.

Totals are calculated by this desk from each schedule. Results come from different studies with different people and meals, so they are not a head-to-head comparison.

Why Desk Workers Care About This

The appeal makes sense given the numbers. A CDC analysis published in JAMA in 2018 found that 25.7% of U.S. adults reported sitting more than 8 hours a day and 44.6% were physically inactive. About 1 in 10 reported both. Meanwhile, the CDC’s National Diabetes Statistics Report estimates that 97.6 million U.S. adults, or 38.0%, have prediabetes, and 38.4 million people have diabetes, with 22.8% of affected adults undiagnosed.

Prediabetes rarely causes symptoms, and many people with it do not know. Repeated large blood sugar swings after meals are one target for prevention, which is why any low-effort movement that blunts them draws attention. The soleus push-up’s real promise is for people who cannot easily get up, such as those in long meetings, on flights or with mobility limits.

A Realistic Hourly Plan for Your Workday

If you want to try the hourly approach, structure it so you get more total movement, not less. The plan below pairs soleus push-ups with short walks and leans toward the 30-minute rhythm that worked in the walking study. It is an indicative template, not a tested protocol.

1. 9:00Start the day with soleus push-ups during email triage5 min SPU
2. 9:30Stand and walk to refill water2 min walk
3. 10:00Soleus push-ups through the first call or meeting10 min SPU
4. 10:30Walk a lap of the floor or take stairs5 min walk
5. 12:00Post-lunch walk, the highest-value break of the day10 to 15 min
6. 1:00Soleus push-ups while reading after lunch10 min SPU
7. 2:30Stand, stretch calves and walk5 min walk
8. 4:00Soleus push-ups during the afternoon slump5 min SPU

Indicative schedule built by this desk. Adjust times to your workday and any medical advice.

Setting Yourself Up to Stick With It

The hardest part is remembering. Tie the movement to existing cues such as calls, video meetings or reading long documents, when your hands are busy but your legs are free. A quiet timer works better than willpower. Wear shoes that let your feet press comfortably, and keep the knee bent around 90 degrees so the soleus, not the larger calf, does the work.

1. Pick two anchorsOne morning meeting and one post-lunch task.
2. Start at 5 minutesBuild toward 10-minute stretches as the rhythm feels natural.
3. Add a 30-minute nudgeStand or walk 1 to 5 minutes every half hour when possible.
4. Prioritize after mealsThe glucose study measured the 3 hours after sugar intake.
5. Keep real exerciseAim for 150 minutes of moderate activity a week.
6. Ask about testingA simple A1C or fasting glucose test can reveal prediabetes.

• Knees at 90 degreesKeeps the work on the soleus
• 5 to 10 minute setsLonger beats shorter
• Every 30 minutesMove in some way
• After mealsThe key window in the study
• Not a workoutKeep 150 weekly minutes
• Calf pain or swellingStop and check with a doctor