FOOT CORE

You’re always told to train your abdominal core but never your foot core, which is just as important.

Wiv & Ethan running at Sandhamn in the Stockholm archipelago.

This crucial muscle-craft is key to health and performance, because we can eliminate so much athletic dysfunction simply by training the feet. How we stabilize on the ground affects how we activate other muscles.
Below you have a Foot Core strength tool kit, enjoy.

One-Leg Barefoot Balance

Balance on one foot, on your forefoot, on a hard surface with the heel a little elevated you feelnicef and strong at the arch.

Use a wall or a chair to help you stabilize when needed.

Note: This isn´t a calf raise exercise, with up and down movement with the foot. There´s no movement, just stabilizing.

30-90 seconds per foot, or until you fatigue.

Pay special attention to: WHERE you feel it. Some may struggle with strength in their feet, others may feel the most fatigue in calves and glutes.

Side Lift

Balance barefoot on your right forefoot using a wall or chair to help you stabilize.

Keep your right leg straight,, raise your left leg sideways (think of half a pair of scissors opening).

Raise your left leg only as high as you can while maintaining level hips, then go back to start position.

Note: This is a stabilizing exercise for the stance leg, not a range-of-motion exercise for the moving leg.

15-25 reps, then repeat with the opposite leg.

Knee Lift

Balance barefoot on your right forefoot using a wall or chair to help you stabilize.

Keeping your right leg straight, raise your right heel slightly.

Now, lift your left knee in front of of you as high as you can, then go back to the start position. Keep your movements slow and controlled.

Focus is the stance leg, not the moving leg.

15-25 reps, then repeat with the opposite leg.