Similar to our ankles, we don’t think much about strengthening our feet. It’s crazy that we spend so much of our life on our feet and they rarely get an aware thought, unless they are hurting and then we complain about them to no end. When was the last time you thought, “Good job feet! you worked hard today. You’re going to get some extra attention tonight.” Ummm never.
Runners have all kinds of problems with their feet: pronation, supination, flat feet, high arches, plantar faciitis, blisters, black toe nails. We spend $12.00 or more for one pair of socks because we love our feet so much and don’t even talk about how much our shoes cost. And yet, we don’t train our feet. Many don’t even actually wash their feet…
You can have incredibly strong legs, core and upper body, but it wont make up for weak feet. Over pronation or supination will misalign your entire leg and hip. If your arch collapses your knee comes in and your quad tries to compensate by pulling it out. This will lead to many different injuries and a very inefficient running form, aka wasted energy. Complete three sets with 10-15 repetitions of each of these, unless it gives a time and then do three sets of that time. If you aren’t able to do the full set that’s fine just back off to where you are and move forward again.
- Monopoly game.
- Chair on toes 20-60 seconds.
- Toe tug.
How to do it:
- Monopoly Game: put ten small objects on the floor like marbles, legos, or monopoly pieces. Put a small cup near by. Use your toes to pick up each piece one at a time and place them in the cup.
- Chair on your toes: Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart. Hold your arms out straight in front of you. Rise up on your toes as high as you can and bend at the knees lowering yourself like you’re in a chair. Try to stay up as high as you can on your toes.
- Toe tug: Toe Tug: wrap a exercise band around a heavy object and then around your toes while you’re sitting on the floor facing the object. The band should be anchored straight in front of you.
As your feet become stronger, you may want to get re-fitted for running shoes. When I first began running, I wore a motion control shoe, but now I wear a neutral shoe. Why? because my feet are much stronger. Having strong feet can also change the size of shoe you wear. We talk about having a strong base or foundation when we are increasing our miles during training and a strong foundation begins with our feet.
ultrarunningmom 
Great post, who would of thought working out the feet, makes sense. Thank you for adding the exercises.