Warm up exercises for the feet and ankles
To mobilise ankles and feet you can balance on one leg, supporting yourself by holding onto something. Point your other foot forward. Gently rotate it, making small circles with your toes. Change legs and repeat.
Sit on the floor, with your legs outstretched in front of you. Pull the toes of one foot back towards your body and then relax them (don’t point them away, that encourages cramp in cold muscles) and then repeat with the other foot. Repeat five times each side.
Advanced warm up
Walk quickly on your toes with your toes pointed straight ahead for about 20 metres, getting as high up on your toes as you possibly can. Your legs should be relatively straight and you should take fairly small steps. Now repeat this exercise exactly, but with your toes pointed outward about 45 degrees. Your legs should rotate outward from the hips when you perform this movement to get maximum benefit – not just turn out from the ankle. Now travel another 20 metres, still high on your toes, but with your toes pointed inward. Again, rotate your legs from the hips, not just the ankles. Finally, walk forward quickly on your heels with your toes pointed straight ahead for about 20 metres, getting as high up on your heels as you possibly can – this will feel very awkward to you and will challenge your balance quite a lot. Your legs should be relatively straight as you do this, and you need to fairly small steps, ensuring you don’t bang your heels down heavily.
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