Practice What You Teach: Picking up Nerf bullets with my toes!

One of the many bonuses of being a Pilates teacher and working with bodies day in and day out is that you become very aware of your own body, it’s alignment and how it functions.  Over the years one of the areas of the body that really stands out to me as so important (but often neglected) is our feet.  The function of our toes, feet, and ankles are so important to how the rest of the body moves yet we often don’t even think about them unless they hurt or have lost some of their function.

Lately I’ve been noticing in my own feet how my pinky toes are often collapsed in and how I just don’t have the strength, flexibility and movement in them as I do my other toes.  So I’ve made a conscious effort to use movement to change that!  Joseph Pilates created a couple of pieces of equipment, specifically the Toe Gizmo and the Foot Corrector that are really great for working on adding strength, flexibility and functionality back to the feet and toes.  But I know myself and honestly it’s too easy for me to forget to get these little pieces of equipment out and use them as regular as I would like, so I’ve been doing a few simple things( that require no equipment) and have been trying to incorporate them into my life.

See how the pinky toe doesn’t move as much!

1. The first one I’m just calling: Spread your Toes. Just like it sounds I have been challenging myself to periodically throughout my day spread all of my toes( especially my pinky toes) and then relax them and repeat at least 5 times.   I’m trying to make it a point to do this whenever I sit down.  As a Pilates instructor I honestly don’t sit for very often, but I do drink a lot of water throughout my days and take plenty of bathroom breaks where I of course sit…so most of my Toe Spreading time happens during these breaks! (Just what you wanted to know right?)

Max is snoozing away as I work to pick up that Nerf bullet (not that easy!)

2. I try to pick things up with my toes(and specifically my pinky toes).  This most often happens when I’m running around at home picking up after my kids and pets.  Luckily we seem to have an abundance of things to pick up like Nerf bullets, dirty socks, hair ties and random dog toys laying in the middle of the hallway that are perfect for challenging me.

The Original Foot Alignment Socks (or Happy Feet Socks!)

3.  I’ve been trying to wear my Happy Feet Original Foot Alignment socks around the house more and even to bed to help stretch and realign my feet and toes.  I’ve tried a lot of different toe spreading socks and equipment over the years and these are my favorite because the are comfortable enough for me to wear around the house or to bed that I actually use them on a regular basis and hence can feel and see a difference in my toes and feet!

4.  I am also trying to just be aware of how my whole foot and all my toes are working and moving during all of my Pilates workouts.  It’s kind of fascinating to me(#pilatesnerd) how many times I was catching myself not using my pinky toe and outer foot and how much that awareness can change the work of an exercise or movement.

Do you have any favorite foot, ankle or toes exercises that you incorporate into your life?  I would love to hear about them in the comments!