*Originally posted on 24/10/2020
Before we dive straight into this blog post: Thanks for all the support guys! Welcome to the 20th blog post! Wow, it’s been a year since The Foot Geek’s first blog post was launched in June 2020 and it has been growing ever since. The Foot Geek has reached over 13 countries worldwide and has almost reached every continent. Thanks for all of your support and I hope you will join me to see what the future brings. Now, onwards to this week’s blog post!
Q What types of workouts do you do?
Do you do Cardio? What about High Intensity Interval Training? Sometimes, I like the simple things in life: I like to do workouts focusing on my arms, upper body, core and Glutes. We might remember to work on our arms, abs and legs, but there’s one other body area that’s not really focused on in a lot of peoples’ workout regime and that is, their feet.
The solution?
Specific workouts for your feet👣 of course!
There’s a previous blog post on why your feet need to be part of your fitness and health journey but in this blog post, we’ll look at the top three workouts to do on your feet in your home gym (as I like to call it), during lockdown and beyond.
Top Three Easy Feet Workouts
1 The simple Lunge
Lunges are great for strengthening your legs and certain muscles of your feet. Now I’m not going to bore you with an Anatomy lesson lol, but in order to understand just how good Lunges are, here’s some background information for you to digest:
Your Gastrocnemius is one of the most powerful and important leg muscles you have. It helps plantarflex your foot (aka bring it towards the ground), with your Achilles tendon as its mini-assistant- the tendon helps transfer forces to and from the foot. It doesn’t help pull the foot.
Now, did you know that if your exercise activity is minimal (i.e. you don’t really work out much), your Gastroc. can be tight? This can happen to any muscle that you don’t really use much e.g. when you do Core workouts for the first time and your abs feel borderline really sore. Here’s the Lunge to do that stretches both your Gastroc. and the rest of your calf/back leg muscles:
- With your hands on a wall, have your left knee slightly bent while your right leg is straight, parallel to your left leg and the toes are slightly pointed in
- Now, with both heels staying flat, bring your hips forward. Hold for 20-30 seconds, then relax for 20-30 secs. Repeat this for 2 sets of 10 then switch legs
(Don’t bend your back while doing this exercise!)
2 The mighty Theraband
All the running, jumping and position-switching you do in workouts and in daily life can put huge strain of the feet over time. Give your feet some TLC by using the mightyTheraband! Therabands are great if you want a quick workout for your feet. For patients who have a tight Gastroc/back leg muscles, I would sometimes suggest for them to use Theraband exercises like these below:
Plantarflexion: sitting down, wrap the Theraband around your forefoot. Slowly pull your foot down while you hang on to the band, and then reset. Start from 2 sets of 8 reps but over time, you can increase it to max 3 sets
Dorsiflexion: sitting down, wrap the Theraband around your forefoot and have the other end of the band attached to a chair. Slowly pull your foot down while you hang on to the band, and then reset. Start from 2 sets of 8 reps, but over time, you can increase it to max 3 sets
3 Marble power
Did you know that your feet have “deep” muscles called intrinsic muscles? These muscles are smaller than your feet’s main muscles but are just as important as the main ones for functionality etc. For patients that have certain musculoskeletal (muscle/bone) issues like Plantar Fasciitis, one of the exercises I advise them to do is picking up marbles with their toes, drop, then repeat (so pick’n’drop, pick’n’drop…). Doing this in 2 sets of 8 reps, twice a day, helps workout your intrinsic muscles. Who knew marbles were this powerful?
Where to Fit These in Your Workout Schedule
And now, for the most important bit other than actually doing the workouts: where to fit them in your calendar etc. You can decide to split these workouts up and spread them across any given week or do them all in a day and class this as your foot workout of the day. Try doing any of these awesome workouts no more than two times a week. And if you feel any pain/extreme discomfort, just like with any other exercise, STOP and get yourself checked out by your Doctor.
Click here to print out a simple workout planner for all of your workout needs.
Conclusion
These are three of the many foot workouts you can try at home. Mix these in with your regular workouts and you are good to go. And after you have done them, check out some tips on how to take good care of your feet here. So, what are your thoughts on foot workouts? Leave a comment below.
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Thanks so much for this. An anti-sporter like me would have to pick up her sports shoes now. This once sound really easy. Good one girl…
Thanks a bunch. Glad you like it😄