Strengthening feet?

Question

i'm starting up ballet again in about 3 weeks.. i'm hoping to be progressed to a higher level pretty quickly and i want to know of excercises or stretches so i can strengthen my feet and ankles,improve my arch and any way to make my toes point better ya know? lol just anything like that.

:]

help please

Answer 1

Well I started doing eleves to strengthen my feet earlier this summer. Grab hold of a chair, table or counter and up, down 25 times on each foot. Then, repeat so you get a total of fifty at least for each leg. So like this

25 right

25 left

25 right

25 left

If you feel you can do more, that's great. In a matter of weeks I've gotten from 'feeling the burn' around 25 to being able to do 50 non-stop no problem. It's great for your ankles and builds awesome calve muscles. Also point each foot as hard as you can and hold it for one minute. Great for your arch.

Also the frog stretch is great for working your turnout

this is where you lay on your stomach, but the bottoms of your feet together and push them (your feet) toward the floor if you were a stick person and aerial view of you would look like this:

  

.<''> <-- legs and feet

..\l/ <-- Arms and back

...o <-- head

hope that made sense! ;D

Answer 2

Hi Ballet4Me,

To perform ballet steps properly, you need to have very strong muscles in your feet that are very difficult to strengthen. It's very helpful to get an exercise band (or Theraband™) for strengthening ankles and deep arch muscles. Try these websites for exercise bands:

http://www.discountdance.com/frame_set.p...

http://www.thera-band.com/store/index.ph...

Some exercises I recommend are the following. First, you want to strengthen your calves and ankles, which can be done by doing multiple relevés or "killers". For your first time I recommend 64, and progressively increase in number each time you do them (usually I increase by increments of 8). I recommend using music for that, so if you have a ballet CD, or even just some of your favorite songs, play that while you're doing your killers. This exercise should burn in your inner thighs and calves. It strengthens the inner thighs, calves, ankles, and tarsels.

Next, you want to take your towel or resistance band and put it flat onto the ground longways. Sit down in front of it and put your foot on top near the edge. Now, scrunch your toes in and out, in and out so that the towel or band moves toward you. Once you get to the end, turn it around and do it again. I would recommend this rotation twice on your first time, progressively increasing each time you do the exercise. You should feel it in your entire ankle, inner arches, and upper arches. This strengthens the deep supporting arches, tarsals, metatarsals, Achilles tendon, and deep core muscles in your feet, which allow you to safely and securely go en pointe, or just to securely balance and feel safe.

Good luck and hope this helped!  If you have further questions, don't hesitate to shoot me an email.  Keep dancing!♥

Answer 3

I'm starting ballet too and here's what I'm doing or gonna do:

~Use a theraband (you can find these at dance stores)

~Do atleast 50 eleves on each foot

~Write the alphabet with each foot twice

~Pointe your feet as hard as you can for 30 seconds to make your toes point better

Hope this helps! :D

Answer 4

do 32 lift your heels off the ground and then lower them back down  also known as a relive [ I don't think I spelled that right ] that will help =^..^=

Answer 5

do a lot of releves/eleves....do them on one foot to! good luck!

Answer 6

Do lots of relevays and pliays! Just try to pointe your feet a lot. If you are willing to invest your money into something that will help your arch, you can buy the Pro-Arch on discountdance.com Just type Pro-Arch into the search box, and it will come up.

Good luck and hope this helps!!!