The Foot Bone's Connected to the...

I get two main comments about class that seem to fall on opposite ends of the spectrum: “It didn’t even feel like a workout” and “I think I just worked every part of my body!” While they may seem to contradict each other, these two things together are a big part of what we’re trying to accomplish: let’s work your ENTIRE body, without it ever feeling like work.

If you’re the type who would like to stay blissfully unaware of the work that you actually are doing in your 2MW classes, then please, skip the next few posts. But if you’re curious, read on!

Over the next 5 posts I will be detailing the different areas of the body, how we work them in class, and how you can make the most out of your workout…er, I mean, your dance class, as it relates to those areas.

We’ll work from the ground up, covering the feet and ankles in this post, then legs and hips, back and core, shoulders and arms, and finally the parts we really don’t see working, like our hearts and our brains!

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Today I want to talk about our feet and our ankles. Keeping our feet and ankles strong is crucial for things like balance, agility, and mobility. It helps to protect everything else up the chain of our body, like our knees, hips, and back. Working our feet can also improve our overall health, due in part to improved circulation.

This is the main area of the body that gets worked differently between the Standing and the Seated classes, but is an important focal point of both.

In the Standing classes, of course, we are ON our feet the entire time. We are actively practicing balance and agility as we shift our weight between our feet or balancing with our weight on one foot or on our toes. We sometimes practice stepping through our foot a certain way (heel, toe/toe, heel). Anytime we are moving one foot on its own, such as rolling an ankle or pointing our toes up and down, we are also activating the opposite side to work our balance and stability.

In the Seated classes, we are actually able to work our feet and our ankles in ways that are difficult to do in the Standing classes, because we no longer have to rely on our feet on the ground to hold us up. You’ll particularly see lot of ankle work in these classes: rolling the ankles, tapping our toes or heels, walking our feet in and out, or even attempting to do Funky Feet! While possible to do from standing, in the Seated classes we can focus on the working foot without having to also think about balancing on the other leg.

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Through this series, I also want to share with you how you can get the most out of each class as it relates to this part of the body. This might mean doing MORE, this might mean doing LESS, but it all comes down to doing what feels right for YOU.

While a bit of impact, like stomping our feet, can be beneficial to our bone health, this might not be the most comfortable movement for everyone. Experiment with how much impact feels right for you, and work right near the edge of your comfort zone.

If your feet don’t allow you to rise up onto your toes, see if you can shift some of your weight off of your heels and into your toes even if the heels never leave the ground. In other words, if your weight is normally 50/50 between your toes and heels, maybe see if you can get to 75/25 if you know that 100% is not a good option for you.

If you are able to get all the way on to your toes, start to see just how high you can lift your heels.

Find the edge of your own range of motion. Don’t just tap your toes—see how high you can lift your toes between taps. The speed of the song might impact this as well, so particularly on the slow songs when you have time, go for a fuller range of motion.

Think about your connection to the ground through your feet. We often think about where they need to go, as a vehicle to move our body through space, but don’t often focus on what our feet are actually DOING. Again, sometimes this can be easier to experiment with on the slower songs.

Think of the feet as your roots. Tree roots expand down into the ground to help the tree rise up; similarly, ground your feet down into the ground to help with your balance—think DOWN instead of UP and you might feel more stable.

Most importantly for our feet and ankles, make sure you have the right shoes! Cross trainers, tennis shoes, and dance sneakers are going to be much friendlier than walking shoes or running shoes, and we want to avoid anything with an open back, with a heel, or with no traction.

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Check back soon as we move our way up the body and talk about our legs and our hips!