How to Train Your Tibialis Anterior: Exercises and Workout

The tibialis anterior might sound like a character from a Roman epic, but it’s actually an important muscle on the front of your lower leg, and you wouldn’t be able to walk normally across the room without it.

Most people don’t pay the same attention to the tibialis as the biceps or shoulders, and unlike those muscles, it doesn’t get very much work in the gym unless you do exercises specifically for it.

When you’ve read this article, you’ll know all about the function of this unique muscle, the best exercises to hit it directly, and how to train it the best way.

Tibialis Anterior Anatomy and Function

The tibialis anterior starts just below your knee on the outside of your shin bone (the tibia) and runs down to attach to the inside of your foot.

It’s the most prominent muscle on the front of your lower leg.

You can feel it working if you put your hand on your shin and lift your foot up and down.

Here’s the anatomical rundown in simple terms:

The tibialis anterior begins on the upper, outer part of your shin bone. From there, it travels down your leg and turns into a tendon, which crosses the front of your ankle and attaches to the inside of your foot, to one of the small bones in your midfoot and the base of your big toe’s long bone.

When you need to use it, it’s the deep peroneal nerve that sends the signals for it to contract.

What the Tibialis Anterior Does for You

The tibialis anterior has a few very important jobs that you probably take for granted every day:

• The main job of the tibialis anterior is dorsiflexion, a textbook way of saying “pull your foot upward,” like when you lift your toes toward your shin. That’s the opposite of what your calves do when you press your foot down, so you could think of the tibialis anterior as the calves’ rival.
• It also helps turn the sole of your foot inward (inversion), control the slapping motion of your foot when it hits the ground, and stabilize your ankle.

Basically, without a functioning tibialis anterior, you’d be tripping over your own feet a lot.

Like any other muscle, the tibialis anterior can become weak or tight if it is not used enough or is used incorrectly. This can lead to painful and rather common problems like shin splints or tendinitis.

Exercises for the Tibialis Anterior Muscle

Showing the tibialis anterior some love, eh? That’s what I like to see. Most people forget about that little muscle on the front of the shin until they’re dealing with shin splints and can barely walk without wincing. Smart move getting ahead of it.

Finding five solid exercises can be tricky because it’s not like you can walk in and find a shin curl machine at every gym. But don’t you worry, here are my top five tibialis exercises, from the do-it-anywhere variants to the more advanced stuff.

1. Tibialis Raise

The tibialis raise is the simplest way to isolate the tibialis anterior muscle, and you can do it literally anywhere you find a wall.

It’s the perfect entry-level tib exercise and teaches you how to activate the muscle properly. But the further you walk your feet out, the harder they get, so they work for more advanced lifters, too.

Keep your legs straight to really isolate the tibialis anterior; avoid using momentum to lift your toes; and make sure you’re using a full range of motion, bringing your toes up as far as possible and controlling the movement all the way down.

How to Do Tibialis Raises

1. Stand with your back and butt firmly against a wall.
2. Walk your feet out about 8–12 inches (20–30 cm) from the wall.
3. Keeping your legs straight and your heels on the ground, pull your toes up towards your shins as high as you can.
4. Squeeze at the top, then lower your feet back to the floor with control.
5. Repeat for reps.

2. Tibialis Band Pull

The tibialis band pull, or as many people call it, the banded tibialis raise, is my go-to for working the shin muscles with resistance but without needing expensive or heavy equipment. You can knock out a set pretty much anywhere.

It is the next step up from the bodyweight wall raises we just talked about. With a band, you get constant load through the range of motion you want, forcing the muscle to work without rest at any point.

If it feels too easy, scoot back a bit to increase the tension on the band. Too hard? Move a little closer.

How to Do Tibialis Band Pulls

1. Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you.
2. Anchor a resistance band to a sturdy object like a squat rack post or a heavy dumbbell.
3. Loop the other end of the band around the top of one foot.
4. Without moving your leg, pull your foot back towards your shin against the band’s tension.
5. Squeeze for a moment, then return to the starting position.
6. Repeat for reps, then switch legs and repeat.

3. Tib Bar Raise

Now you’re graduating to the big leagues of shin training. If you see someone doing a tib bar raise in the gym, you know they’re serious about building lower legs.

A tib bar is a small, T-shaped metal bar. You slip your feet into it, add a weight plate, and secure it. It allows you to directly load the tibialis anterior muscle and perform the tibialis raise with added weight.

It’s the most direct and probably the most effective way to progressively overload the shin muscle. The problem is finding one. Not many gyms have a dedicated tib bar, but if you find it, don’t walk past it.

How to Do Tib Bar Raises

1. Sit on a high bench or a box where your feet can hang freely without touching the floor.
2. Slide your feet into the tib bar and secure it.
3. Pull your toes up towards you, lifting the bar and the weight.
4. Squeeze at the top, then lower the weight back down.
5. Repeat for reps.

4. Kettlebell Tibialis Raise

Moving from the specialized tib bar to a piece of equipment almost every gym has: a kettlebell. The kettlebell tibialis raise is the best solution when you don’t have a tib bar but still want to add weight to your tibialis workout.

Instead of a bar that clamps onto your feet, you rest the handle of a kettlebell on the top of your foot, and your shin muscle has to work against its downward pull.

It’s the perfect middle-ground between a resistance band and a dedicated tib bar. It also adds an extra challenge: keeping the darn kettlebell from falling off your foot. Doing it barefoot or in flat shoes (like Converse) can help you “grip” the kettlebell handle better with your foot. Running shoes can be too bulky, and weightlifting shoes can be slippery. Experiment and see what works.

How to Do Kettlebell Tibialis Raises

1. Sit on a high bench or a box where your feet can hang freely without touching the floor.
2. Hook the handle of a kettlebell over the top of your foot. Wedge your foot in there securely.
3. With control, flex your foot upwards (dorsiflexion), lifting the kettlebell.
4. Squeeze at the top, then lower the weight back down.
5. Repeat for reps.

5. Heel Walk

Sometimes, the simplest exercises are the most effective. The heel walk is the perfect complement to the weighted raises we’ve discussed. The weighted raises build muscle mass and strength, while heel walks build endurance. It might look a little goofy, I’ll admit. You’ll waddle around like a penguin, but the burn you’ll feel in your shins is no joke.

Heel walks are a great exercise for runners and often prescribed for both preventing and treating running injuries like shin splints. You can also do them at the end of a calf workout as a finisher to completely fry the lower legs from all angles.

If you’re not used to heel walks, it’s easy to slip into a slight backward lean, but try to stay as upright as possible. Don’t overcompensate by sticking your butt out and leaning your torso back. Take short, choppy steps to keep your balance better.

How to Do Heel Walks

1. Stand up straight.
2. Pull your toes and the balls of your feet off the floor, so all your weight is on your heels.
3. Walk forward for a set distance, keeping your toes pulled up high the entire time.

Training Your Tibialis Anterior

Now, let’s talk about how you can put together a workout or training plan for your tibialis anterior.

If you track your training in StrengthLog, you can see which muscles you have worked, lighting up like a Christmas tree on a muscle map.

But even if you do a full-body workout, the tibialis anterior is usually unlit like a sad little light bulb on a branch:

Here’s how you rectify that.

But:

First of all, do you really need direct tibialis work? Because not everyone does. Your tibialis is not just lounging around during your big lifts. For example, when you start the descent into a squat, you initiate the movement by contracting your tibialis anterior.

So, it does get stimulation even if you don’t do any direct exercises for it, and it’s always working to stabilize your ankle as you move through the range of motion in lifts like squats, deadlifts, and lunges.

Here are my suggestions:

When You Do and Don’t Need Tibialis Anterior Training

• If your main focus is bodybuilding or powerlifting, the tibialis usually gets enough indirect work from walking, running, and just moving around during the day. It’s a relatively small muscle, it’s not a prime mover in the big lifts, and it’s unlikely to be a limiting factor for performance.
• If you’ve never had issues with shin splints, ankle weakness, or foot mechanics, you can likely skip isolation work for it without consequence.

However, if:

• You have a history of shin splints, ankle instability, or knee pain
• You do sports that involve a lot of running, jumping, or changing direction
• You’re recovering from lower leg injuries

Then you might very well need direct tibialis work (if you’re rehabbing injuries, you should follow your physio’s recommended exercise plan, not jump from zero into heavy tib raises).

And let’s add aesthetics to the above points: if you’re not satisfied with your lower-leg development and feel the front of them could use some work, some tibialis training can round out your shin-to-calf look.

Bottom line: most lifters don’t require dedicated tibialis anterior training unless they have specific needs (performance where the tibialis is a limiting factor, injury prevention for a demanding sport, or rehab). You can probably maintain a good level of tibialis strength with your regular compound lifts and everyday walking/running.

Tibialis Anterior Workout

So what does an effective tibialis anterior workout look like if you decide to train it?

For most people who want to give direct tibialis training a go, I suggest simply adding one exercise at the end of your leg day or calf workouts.

For example, here’s StrengthLog’s calf workout:

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Standing Calf Raise	3	8
Seated Calf Raise	3	15
Heel Raise	2	30
Eccentric Heel Drop	3	10 reps/side

To make it an even more comprehensive lower leg workout, you could add a tibialis exercise at the end. For example, the wall tibialis raise when you’re easing into training it or kettlebell tibialis raises when you want to load it up with more than your bodyweight.

Your new lower leg work session would then look something like this:

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Standing Calf Raise	3	8
Seated Calf Raise	3	15
Heel Raise	2	30
Eccentric Heel Drop	3	10 reps/side
Kettlebell Tibialis Raise	3	12

But what if you want to treat your tibialis anterior like any other muscle and give it your full attention with a dedicated workout?

Give StrengthLog’s tibialis anterior workout a try:

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Kettlebell Tibialis Raise (or Tib Bar Raise if your gym has one)	3	12
Tibialis Raise	3	20
Heel Walk	2	45 seconds

Do this workout 2–3 times per week. The end of your leg/calf workouts is a good spot for it.

You start with a heavy exercise, move to more pump-focused work, then finish off with muscle-endurance-building heel walks.

This workout is free in our workout log app, StrengthLog. Download it and start tracking your gains today.

Tibialis Anterior Stretch for Tight Shins

For most major muscle groups, taking them through their full range of motion under load is a great way to build both strength and flexibility. Multiple studies show that it improves flexibility as much as stretching.¹

However, if you think about it, how often do you work your tibialis anterior dynamically through its entire range during a typical gym session?

Not very often, right?

During a squat, your knee travels forward over your foot as you descend. But the range of motion at the ankle is relatively limited. The muscle is contracting isometrically and eccentrically to a degree, but it’s not going through its complete range.

So, giving your tibialis anterior some dedicated stretching can pay off with better mobility. Or, it can just feel good, and that is reason enough.

Here’s a simple and effective stretch for the tibialis that you can do at the end of a workout or whenever you have the time.

Hero’s Pose

1. Kneel on the floor with your knees together.
2. Move your feet slightly wider than your hips, with the tops of your feet flat.
3. Sit back between your heels.
4. You should feel a stretch along your shins and quads.
5. Hold for 20–30 seconds (or longer).

If you need a deeper stretch, sit directly back onto your heels instead to force your ankles into deep plantar flexion and a more intense stretch along the shins.

Frequently Asked Questions About How to Train Your Tibialis Anterior

Final Rep

And there we go! By now, you have a good grasp of your tibialis anatomy, some of the best exercises for these guys, and how you can combine them into one awesome workout.

Remember to download our workout log app to train this workout (and many more) and track your gains. Increase the weight you use in each exercise to make sure you enjoy continued muscle growth and strength gains.

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Do you want to read more of our muscle group training guides? You can find them all here.

Last reviewed: 2025-09-25

Reference

1. Sports Med. 2023 Jan 9;53(3):707–722. Resistance Training Induces Improvements in Range of Motion: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.