5 Movements For Strengthening Your Feet with Jenavieve Adams
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I am SO excited to share this week’s blog post with you – featuring our resident Pilates expert and movement extraordinaire, Jenavieve Adams! I have been taking Pilates with Jenavieve for a long time and I can tell you there is no one better out there. She is a thoughtful and engaging teacher who has become a trusted and caring friend – and this week she’s giving us a tutorial on five of the best movements for strengthening your feet!
But first, why does foot strength matter?
Well, how our feet behave—that crucial link between the earth and our body—directly impacts the function of our joints and musculature. For example, your hip pain might be correlated to an imbalance in your gait when you walk or could be related to your spine having some lordosis (an inward curve or “sway” back). Many people don't think about their feet until an injury occurs. However, if more people took the time to strengthen and mobilize their feet, just as they do other muscles in the body, they could prevent injuries and lower the risk of falling. Think about it: if your feet can't help you stabilize and balance, and they're what's connected to the ground, your risk of falling is much higher.
So, by incorporating these five exercises from Jenavieve into your daily routine, you’ll notice improvements in your gait, better balance, and alleviation of foot, ankle, calf, and shin pain! Follow along as Jenavieve demonstrates and walks us through each exercise.
1. The Towel Grab & Pull
This exercise focuses on improving the dexterity and grip strength of your toes.
Props needed → A dish towel or washcloth that has some length to it.
How To Do the Grab:
Place a towel on the floor, and with one foot, get a firm grip on the towel using your toes.
Lift the towel off the floor as much as possible, then release it. Don’t worry about moving the towel in any particular way; the key is to work on the grab and lift motion.
Complete 10 consecutive lifts
How To Do the Pull:
Place your foot on the towel, keeping your heel on the ground while the rest of your foot is on the towel.
Use the strength and dexterity of your toes to pull the towel towards you. Note: The towel might not move much initially, but with consistent practice, you will see progress.
Continue pulling until the whole towel is bunched up under your foot. Perform this exercise one foot at a time and then switch.
2. Piano Toes
Props needed → Nothing!
How To Do Piano Toes:
Start by keeping your heel and the ball of your foot firmly planted on the floor.
Beginning with your pinky toe, lift each toe off the ground one at a time, isolating them from the other toes. If this is too difficult initially, focus on lifting just the big toe.
Complete 5 repetitions (you can perform this exercise with both feet simultaneously or one foot at a time)
3. Range of Motion Ankle Exercise
This exercise focuses on enhancing mobility in your ankle joints and metatarsals. Ensure you move through the full range of motion to find maximum articulation throughout your entire foot.
Props needed → Nada!
How To Do It:
Flex (Dorsiflexion): Push your heel forward and pull your toes back towards you.
Externally rotate the feet into a Pilates Stance position, trying to initiate the external rotation from the hips
Point (Plantar Flexion): Point your ankle bone, arch of the foot, and toes down towards the floor.
Internally rotate the feet until they are parallel and the big toes and heels are ideally touching
Cycle through this pattern 4-5x and then repeat the pattern in the reverse
4. Toe Corrector Exercise
The primary goal of this exercise is to open the spring evenly with both the right and left sides. Use the visual of the spring moving to help guide your movements. While the toe corrector is the primary prop, you’ll find that this exercise also activates your hips, glutes, and abs. Remember, the feet directly correlate to the rest of the body and vice versa—they work best when functioning together.
Props needed → Balanced Body Joe's Toe Gizmo or PediDoc Bunion Corrector Bunion Toe Straightener, or a similar alternative!
How To Do It:
Do 5 repetitions opening the spring
Then repeat 5 times on each side keeping spring open, and then moving only the big toe
5. Footwork Exercise
While this exercise focuses on your feet, you’ll also need to engage your glutes and abs to help maintain balance. Core strength is essential for good balance and overall stability.
Props needed → 2x4 board about 2 inches thick with an even surface. A hardcover book works well too.
How To Do It:
1. Use a wall, chair, or countertop for stabilization and balance. Place the balls of your feet on a 2-inch lift.
2. Keeping the heels down, bend your knees tracking the knees over the ankles
3. Keeping the knees bent, lift your heels.
4. Keeping your heels lifted, straighten your knees.
5. Lower your heels with control, by engaging your abdominals.
6.Cycle through this pattern 4-5x and then repeat the pattern in the reverse
7. Be sure to pay close attention to your feet, ensuring they don't roll inward or outward. When our balance is challenged, it's easy for alignment to get compromised, so remain aware and keep the weight evenly distributed across your entire foot.
I want to send a huge thank you to Jenavieve for programming these exercises and Real Pilates NYC for providing the space for filming these demos! To take more classes with Jenavieve, join our Patreon Page – she teaches full-length Pilates classes every single month on Patreon, and as a member you can access her whole library!
Xo,
Renata