Do you exercise your feet like you do the rest of your muscles?
We all know the importance of working out our muscles, but let's not overlook a crucial part of our body that often gets sidelined – our feet! 🦶 Just like we target our arms, legs, and core, our feet deserve some love too. 🏋️♀️
Think about it: our feet carry us through every step of our journey, yet we rarely give them the attention they deserve. Do you exercise your feet like you do the rest of your muscles? 🤔
Consider the benefits:
1️⃣ Improved Balance and Stability: Working on those foot muscles can enhance your overall balance and stability.
2️⃣ Injury Prevention: Strengthening your feet can help prevent common injuries like plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendonitis.
3️⃣ Flexibility and Mobility: Improved range of motion.
Here are a few exercise ideas:
🦶 Toe Yoga - lift your big toe leaving your smaller toes on the floor, and then alternate - lift up your smaller toes, leaving your big toe on the floor. Repeat.
🦶 Toe Spreading - The toe spread out exercise can be recommended as part of treatment for hallux valgus deformity (where the big toe angles towards the smaller toes, often coupled with a bunion). It's great for stretching out the structures in our feet and as well as for strengthening some of the muscles in our feet.
While standing, lift your toes as high as possible, while keeping your heel and the ball of your foot on the floor.
Spread out all your toes out as far as possible
Reach forward with your toes as you are placing them back down on the ground flat
Repeat
🦶"Short Foot" - or "Foot Tenting" is an exercise designed to help build arch strength and awareness.
Practice one foot at a time. Standing in split stance (one foot slight in front of the other), focus on your foot out in front. Be sure to stand with a slight bend in your knees.
Find your foot tripod, with your weight evenly distributed between the base of your big toe, the base of your baby toe and your heel - making a tripod.
Now try to bring the ball of your foot closer to the heel, think about shortening the arch of your foot (a very small motion). Do this by thinking about pushing the tips of your toes into the ground (but not lifting the ball of your foot off the floor, or curling/gripping with your toes).
Hold for 5seconds, relax and repeat
A helpful cue can be to think about a string pulling the arch of your foot upwards.
🦶 Heel raises - the tibialis posterior muscle is an important foot and ankle stabilizer and plays a key role in supporting the arch of our foot. This heel raise exercise helps target your tibialis posterior muscle...
Face a wall with your feet pointed forward, place a ball (or rolled up towel) between your heels
Slowly raise onto your toes in a controlled manner while squeezing the ball between your heels and driving down through your big toe joints. Use the wall for balance.
Pause at the top of your heel raise (squeezing the ball) and then slowly lower your heels back down to the floor.
Repeat, slow & controlled for 3 sets of 15-25 (or until fatigue)
🦶 Tibial Raises - tibial raises help strengthen the front part of your shin (anterior compartment)
Lean with your back against the wall and your feet flat on the floor hip width apart (the further your feet are from the wall the harder the exercise)
Raise your feet off the floor as high as you can - with keeping your toes relaxed (you can curl your toes under slightly to stop yourself from using them). It's about raising your feet as opposed to extending your toes. Slowly raise up, hold, slowly lower down
Repeat until fatigue occurs in the front of your shin or 2-3 sets of 15-25
Progress by moving your feet further from the wall
Happy exercising!
