Wake up your feet

Do you like exercises for the feet?

I do for sure. Maybe it is because I had such problems with my feet. I usually bring quite a lot of exercises for the feet into my classes. Today’s exercise for example.

Any exercise for the foot is good time spent, in my book. And any exercise for the feet will wake them up which is important because

• they are the ones with the immediate contact to the surface we are standing on,
• they carry our weight
• and they move us around all day long.

I find that the foam roller is an excellent tool for waking the feet up. And we do so today by plantar- and dorsiflexing our foot wrapping it around the foam roller and also trying to flex and extend our toes. It will make sense once you watch the video.

What is the exercise about?

• Mainly it is about improving how you are standing on your feet – your balance and proprioception.
• You also strengthen the small intrinsic muscles between the metatarsals and toes because you wrap your foot around the foam roller.

What do I like about it?

• What I find interesting about this exercise is how balance is not improved by standing on 1 leg for an extensive amount of time but because proprioception is stimulated via the sole of the foot of the other leg.
• It is a simple exercise which has a big effect on your feet, mainly in balance I find.
• It is a great way to enhance any standing exercises you might be doing because you will stand better.
• It is an easy way to strengthen the small intrinsic muscles in your foot.
• At the same time you are activating the muscles in the lower leg which support your arches.
• You are also mobilising your ankle joint and by wrapping your foot around the foam roller your plantar- and dorsiflexion gets direction
• If we take the standing leg: I like this exercise because there is the element of stability of the standing leg and the strengthening aspect of gluteus medium and minimus in standing while the other leg is all about moving and focusing on the foot.
• Because we are activate the sole of the feet, you might feel the effect in the whole backline of your body. Try a Roll Down after this exercise and you might feel how much easier and smoother the movement is.

What prop do you need?

A foam roller.

Where to place the prop

Under 1 foot.

Which course/workshop is the exercise from?

• English title: “Achieving efficient movement – how to combine pilates with myofascial release”
• Danish title “Pilates and Fascia – sådan kombinerer du pilatesøvelser med fascia release” – new course date 6 June 2021

And here is the video …

Video length: 4:05 minutes