“Foot Exercises For More Energy” Transcript

Hi, I’m Cassy, and this is Quick Fit, a class designed to gently stretch and strengthen your whole body.

I’m so glad you’re joining me today because I want you to know how important the feet are to bringing energy to your entire body. So, let’s get moving!

In today’s class, all you’ll need is a chair, but I would like you to consider taking off your shoes. If you keep your shoes on, you won’t get full range of motion in your joints. And that just means your muscles will be tighter and you’ll continue having pain and this is about pain relief.

So, let’s start with your knees stretched out about a foot apart, and we’ll just lean on the legs to put a little bit of pressure down through, down through your feet, to make your feet work. Now, as you do this, let’s pull your toes back so that you have this nice alignment from the ball of your foot, that big pad under your toe, all the way through your ankle and up to the knee, a nice straight shin.

And if you have very tender feet, then just do a few of the repetitions that we do today, and repeat the class fairly often, but with no tension through your muscles. Just go through everything very relaxed, and I think you’ll find that sooner, than later, your feet will start feeling better and you’ll be able to do more and more of the repetitions until you can do a whole class without your shoes. And that really is the goal. If the bottoms of your feet are very tender, make sure you have a nice mat or a cushion beneath them.

All right. So, let’s cross the legs. And I just want you to do some nice ankle circles. Great. And reverse. Good.

Let’s do some fast points. I call these the anti-trip exercises. And if you can’t go as fast as I’m going right now, don’t worry about it. Work on a full powerful extension. Okay. And now flex. Those little cracks in the sidewalk or not lifting your feet up, your legs up completely up over the stairs. I want you to make sure you’ve got good reflexes, and this is one of those exercises that’ll warm up these shins and the foot muscles and help prevent a fall, in case you do trip. All right, now, points and just let this stretch out here. Don’t forget to breathe. Inhale, exhale. Make sure you’re pointing those toes. And now, try to keep your foot pointed, but flex the toes. Just pull the toes up all by themselves. That one’s a little harder. It takes a little bit more concentration and cooperation with your muscles to your brain. All right, now flex the whole foot. Keep them pulled.

And now go ahead and extend the entire leg, pulling your toes towards you, and now, out in front. You can actually pull on the bottom of the chair if you need to, just to recruit some more muscles. You can feel this in your quadriceps and relax.

And then, let’s cross the other knee. And if you can’t get your knees crossed above the knees, you can always just do it below the knee or just have your foot hanging out. Whatever’s comfortable for you. So, start with these large ankle circles, as big of a circle as you can do. Don’t rush it. And then reverse.

And it’s super common for one leg to cooperate more than the other. And if you’re struggling getting your foot to cooperate, you can always just, you know, start with having your hand assist.

Now, let’s do those fast points. I always imagine I’m ringing one of those bells on a counter. So, you want a little bit of force going through there for some quickness. And now, let’s pull. Pull and hold. And faster. And remember, speed’s not the point yet. The point at first is just doing the movement, feeling it stretch, reconnecting the muscles and the brain, that communication. Reconnecting that communication again.

Now do a nice long point and hold. Now, just try to pull the toes up without flexing the foot. Stretch your toes around a little bit, and then, let’s flex the whole foot, and do a nice extension. I love these isometrics for the knees, by the way. And then, let it hold. Up, inhale, exhale. Pull on the chair to recruit some more muscles. Good.

Now, let’s scoot your feet forward and just lift the front of the feet and the heels. Now keep your feet flat. This is going to be for those of you who have fallen arches or plantar fasciitis. Keep the ball of the foot down, and only lift the toes. Good. Relax, and just lift the toes. Relax and just hold the toes up. Very good.

Now, lift, keep the heels down, and just make a gentle fist with the toes. Release. This is like a charley horse waiting to happen. So, just breathe [inhales] and make a light gentle fist with your toes. All right, next, we’ll turn in our seat. Turn towards your right, if you’re mirroring me. And we’re going to work the top of the foot and some of the shin. Just hook your arm around the back of the chair, and let your leg hang, and control how much weight you’re putting down through the top of your feet.

This is another place that people in my classes usually will get a charley horse because they’re not used to having their shoes off, and their feet are very tight. So now, I’d like you to shift that heel right and left, trying to stretch a little bit down through the top of all your toes, all the way across. Good. And the more you drop your knee, the more of the top of the foot that you can get on the floor. All right. So now, let’s draw this knee forward, and we’ll just fold and tuck the toes real gentle, controlling how much weight you put down through your toes.

I know there’s, you know, years of wearing shoes are just gonna make your toes like stuck stiff at the end of your feet, I’ve seen it a lot, but there is hope. Okay. Just be patient. It might take about six months or more of consistency to break free those mineral deposits that have turned your toes very, very stiff, but once we get them loosened up and the blood flowing, you will find a lot more energy.

All right. Turning the other way. Big inhale, exhale. Being careful how much weight you put down through the top of your foot, shifting that heel left and right, and if you get a charley horse, just, you know, stop, take a deep breath, and maybe bring your knee a little bit more forward. And now, gently rocking with the tuck and fold of your toes. I can’t think of really any other fitness classes that even pay attention to the feet and the hands, and it’s a shame because we have so many joints and muscles in them. So let’s take care of them too so that we can live pain-free and keep doing all those things we love.

I hope you’ve learned a lot in today’s class. Please come back often to learn how and why you should stretch and strengthen to live better longer. And please visit pbswisconsin.org/quickfit to explore more classes and exercises. I’ll see you next time!