Pilates: Foot Exercises with Thera Band – part of the women’s fitness video series by GeoBeats.

Hi, I am Charlotte and this is Alice, and we are here at Streamline Pilates Studio in Brooklyn Heights, New York. We are going to show you a series that you can do with the Thera Band to help keep your foot flexible and mobile and as healthy as it can be.

So, taking the Thera Band, you are just going to put the Thera Band, spread it out over the ball of your foot and make sure that the top edge is higher above your toes. And then drawing them back in, flex your foot – your heel may lift up off of the mat and that is fine, but then you are going to press into a point reaching with the ball of your foot. And then, spreading the toes forward and really get those toes to point forward, and then draw back and then reach the ball of your foot back.

You want to sort of think of this as four steps: 1) the ball of your foot coming forward, 2) the toes coming forward 3) the toes arching back, and 4) the ball of your foot coming back. So, you get that full point and full flex through your foot, and you want to repeat this five or ten times – flexing and then pointing. Great. Then coming back into your flex, let’s do a full circle. Again, you are pointing and flexing, getting as much mobility through your ankle, as much point and flex through your toes. Good, and you can do this five or ten times in each direction – make sure you reverse. Good.

Then coming back to your neutral position, the soul of your foot is facing away. Keep your leg in alignment so your thigh and your knee are not going to move, and you are just going to twist from your ankle reaching your baby toe away from you and then go through the other direction, reaching your big toe away from you, so it is just happening in your ankle. Notice Alice’s thigh and her knee are not moving or rotating, but staying stable. Good, and five or ten in each direction here. And then let’s just do one last exercise.

We are going to take the Thera Band, you can bend your knee this time, and put your foot flat on the mat. I am going to hold this down here so it stays where it is, and gives a little bit of attention to the Thera Band. You are going to take your foot and put it flat, and then try and grip with your toes to pick it up and then flexing your foot up, lift your toes up off of it, and arch your foot back down. Spreading your foot, spreading your toes, gripping the Thera Band to lift and then rolling down through each part of your foot. So you get a full flex and a full grip, and you can do that five or ten times. Great. Last one. Then repeat this whole sequence, to the other side so that both feet stay healthy and mobile.