Treat Your Feet--I WISH YOU HAPPY AND HEALTHY FEET so that you can excel in your fitness!

Having an active lifestyle means that you are going to be on your feet a lot more than those who are not active.  So, if you don't take care of those feet... perhaps now is the time to start!  If you don't take care of your feet properly then simply having sore feet may keep you from staying in shape well into your old age.  However, not properly supporting your feet can lead to problems elsewhere in your body and with your joints.

I know that a lot of people out there say, "I hate my feet!"  Guess what!?  It's time to learn to love them!

I thought about this blog yesterday while treating myself to a pedicure, so I thought I'd go ahead and share some tips with you on how to care for those tootsies!


1.) Get good shoes.  If you are exercising you need to make sure you have proper shoes.  This means, go to a store that specializes in shoes for fitness and ask an associate to help you pick out shoes that will go with the activities that you are doing.  Make sure to try the shoes on before leaving the store, and try some of the movements that you do in your fitness routine to make sure that the shoes fit you properly and will provide the support and impact resistance


I like to wear Nike Shox, personally.  They work well for my walks and my Turbo Kick classes.  However, if doing other forms of fitness you may want to get a pair of cross trainers as opposed to runners.


I also hear great things aboutVibram Five Fingers.  I have yet to try them, myself, but one of my students wore them to class and raved about them.  Sure, they look kind of weird, but if they give your feet the strength and flexibility they need... then great!  I plan on trying out a pair soon.




2.) Stretch Your Feet.  Let's face it, most shoes kind of scrunch our feet up!  I find that my feet feel so much better after stretching out my toes really nicely.  My favorite thing for doing this is Yoga Toes.  You can wear these while watching tv, reading in bed, or just lounging around.  My toes are not very flexible, but after I wear these I can actually feel the wind blow between my toes and it's glorious!  Stretching out my toes makes me entire foot feel better, too.  This is especially great for ladies who wear dress shoes that really squish those toes together.



3.) Strengthen Your Feet.  Since we live in shoes most of the hours of our lives, it's important to make sure that we strengthen our feet as well.  My favorite way to strengthen my feet is with Yoga.  Yoga is great for this because Yoga is done barefoot, and when you do various Yoga poses your feet need to engage in ways they are not used to in order to help you keep your balance and your form.  If you have weak feet you may get cramps the first time you do Yoga, this seems to be normal.  Keep on working those feet and it'll get better!



4.) Pamper Your Feet.  Yep, that's right, and this includes the guys too (don't worry, I'm not asking you to paint your nails).  It's great to treat yourself to a spa pedicure every now and then.  I say SPA pedicure because the spa pedicures give your feet a little pampering (exfoliation, massage, lotion, etc.), as opposed to the quickie pedicure places that just paint you up and let you lose in twenty minutes or less.  You not only come out with nice looking nails, but your feet are like new again!  Old skin gets exfoliated off, calluses will be minimized and softened, and you'll feel amazing!


If you can't afford a spa pedicure, you can do one at home!  Just get a small tub and fill it with hot water (you can also get a food soap or foot salt to put into it).  Let your feet soak in this tub.   After soaking your feet, dry them off, and then use a foot file to exfoliate off the dead surface skin and work on any calluses.  I prefer wooden foot files, as I find I get the best results using those.  After exfoliating be sure to put on a nice, thick foot cream.  My favorite cream is actually a cuticle cream, but it works great on feet!  It's Lemony Flutter, and it's from LUSH Cosmetics.  It's amazing and it smells great!  Finish off my trimming and filing your toe nails and you are good to go!  Want to give yourself a foot massage too?  Check out this video for doing a self foot massage