Tips to Strengthen Your Feet
Have you heard the saying “sitting is the new smoking?” The same idea is true with shoes. The shoes we’re wearing are making our feet weak. Shoe companies make shoes cushier to let our feet remain weak so we don’t notice. This can be problematic for things like running, when the added weight starts coming down on our feet. So I’ve compiled some tips to strength your feet.
Tip 1 – Barefoot Running on grass
Don’t go running for long extended periods of time. This is to build up the muscles in your feet while also sending your brain signals about what is truly going on with your running stride. Try a 5 minute jog to see how you do. Do what your body can handle without going crazy.
Tip 2 – Roll out your feet
Get yourself a spiky massage ball to roll out the bottoms of your feet. This is essentially foam rolling for your feet. The additional benefit is that your brain will feel the ball on the bottom of your feet which may help with any “blocked connections” between your feet and your brain.
Tip 3 – Try wiggling a single particular toe
I ripped off this idea from Meagan at Tru Footing. I’ve seen a couple variations from her. One involves sitting on a wall while trying to wiggle a particular toe. If you try to wiggle your baby toe and it refuses to listen try making that toe listen to you by grabbing it with your pinky finger. Vary which toes you wiggle.
Tip 4 – Toe spreading
Similar to the wiggling idea, try separating out your toes. Try to think about how many individual toes you can actually feel. The spiky ball and these exercises should lead you to be able to feel more individual toes as time elapses.
Tip 5 – Toe grabs with a (small) towel
This is pretty much how it sounds. Grab yourself a (small) towel, set it on the ground and grab the towel with your toes.
Tip 6 – Toe and heel Raises
You can do these in a seated position as well, or while seated at a desk.
