Love doing calf raises. Oly bar on a squat rack. To get better stretch, a 2x4 or a couple of stacked 45s works good. Tried a step aerobics step, but none of them I’ve seen will withstand the combined weight.
Speaking of calf stretches, I had a book by someone named Anderson who espoused calf stretches thusly:
Put your palms at shoulder height flat against a wall or solid object. Extend one leg backward and push that heel until it’s flat against the ground while dropping your hips without allowing the opposite knee to extend forward beyond the toes of the leg that isn’t having the gastrocs stretched. I don’t know if that makes sense—I’ll try to find the book and copy. The idea is to keep the lower leg of the side not being stretched perpendicular to the floor. (A thousand apologies if this is not coherent; I’ve tried not to post after 1700 hrs but weight lifting and physical conditioning is too important to put off lol!)
I hope you and yours had a marvelous Fourth!
Sincerely,
Sg