Your feet are your connection to the ground and if you have been doing the Hand Foot Glove activation series, they are primed for some exercises to double down on your progress. The exercises below will allow you to use those newly awoken feet to a greater extent.
Hip Airplanes
This exercise is a fantastic way to hinge the hips then engage the rotational capacity of the hips. First, hinge over on one leg with the same side arm on a sturdy balance point. Keep the raised leg straight the whole time. Now rotate the hips open, making sure the shoulders are going along for the ride as well. Once you have rotated as far as you can, hold for at least a three count. Now rotate the other way, closing down the hips. You will rotate past your starting point and feel a good stretch on the outside of your glute. Hold here at end rage for a three count as well. Repeat for reps. Make sure you can really feel the arch of your foot activate and the toes spread out.
Barefoot movements
Now that your feet have been opened up with the Hand Foot Glove reactivation and integrated with your hips with the hip airplane, it is time to challenge them in some other ways. Barefoot training will be very beneficial at this juncture. Try performing some squats, walking and lunging in a safe area. On the squats, be sure to flex the arch of your foot and really root into the ground. While walking, focus on nice long steps, using the whole capacity of your foot as it has to go through a large, functional range of motion. And on the lunges, appreciate the lovely big toe stretch that back foot gets while the front foot has to provide lots of strength and stability.
The Protocol
Let’s tie it all together and give you some sets and reps. Keep in mind this whole sequence can serve as a warm-up before a lower-body biased workout or even as a simple reactivation series at home to help you operate better in everyday life.
Hand Foot Glove - 10 reps each movement. Refer to our previous article if you need to review.
Hip airplanes - 3 sets of 5 reps per leg, resting only as needed
10 barefoot bodyweight squats
Barefoot walking for 2 minutes
Barefoot lunges - 10 lunges each leg
This combination of activation and stabilization drills will do wonders to wake up your feet and help you adapt to the world around you. Let us know your results on Facebook or Instagram!
Best of luck,
Evan