Thread: Ankle strengthening exercises?

A student of mine, who's only been coming to classes for a month or two, asked me yesterday what she could do to make her ankles stronger. Being up on the balls of her feet is very hard for her, as it is for many, but I know that she and the rest of them can get there if they can get stronger. How can I help her (and the rest)? I could only think of relevés, but I promised her I'd research it. Any advice?

Thanks!
- Leela

Oh, there was a BRILLIANT article on GS about just this!

Najia writes about your dancing feet for the Gilded Serpent

I learned so MUCH from this article, like holding the weight behind the first two toes rather than spread across the ball, so the ankle is stable rather than rolling out.

a lot of standing up on the balls of your feet is in calf muscle! I would rec. doing calf raises on the side of a step without weight and then adding weight later. I have pretty weak ankles and the physical therapist always told me to do balancing exercises. yoga poses are good, but also just standing on one foot (flat) and holding weights to bend forward, to the side, etc. That trains your muscles to catch yourself and compensate for mixed weight changes.

wow. just read that article and it's awesome! there is a big problem in the bellydance world, IMO, as most of us - both students and teachers - do not come from a trained dance background. I never was taught anything about core muscles the first 10 years I was dancing, and never at all anything about my feet! it seems that bellydance instruction starts at the shoulders and ends at the knees at best, leaving out perhaps the two most important aspects of beautiful, safe and compelling dancing - a strong and secure foundation in foot placement and footwork, and the nuance, gesture, emotion and fluidity given by head carriage, facial expression and BREATHING.

I learned this exercise to help improve my balance and strengthen my feet and ankles: stand in front of a mirror with your feet parallel. picture two pairs of dots - two on your knees and two on the fronts of your ankles, all the same width apart and the ankle ones directly under the knee ones. raise yourself up to releve' (on the balls of your feet - or, more properly, on the spot of the ball of your foot below your big and 2nd toes) and VERY CONSCIOUSLY keep your dots the exact same space apart as they were when you started. if your ankles are weak or just untrained, your ankle dots may tend to spread out.

go up and down a few times. it's ok to hold onto something for balance at first. next do these two progressions, always keeping your dots in line:
1. legs straight, go up to releve. while in releve, bend your knees. keeping knees bent, bring feet flat to floor. straighten legs. repeat several times.
2. feet on floor, bend knees. with knees bent, go up to releve. in releve, straighten your legs. with straight legs bring feet flat to floor. repeat.

I was also never taught how to properly align and strengthen for releve work. Had I been, I may have avoided a metatarsal stress fracture that took forever to heal (this was before I started teaching). I think teachers need to cover this explicitly. I do in my class. I don't think beginners should do moves on releve. I think they need the core control, posture, and balance first, then they need a lecture on how to align the feet and ankles properly, then they need to be given exercises to strengthen the calves, and then gradually be introduced to executing movements on releve.

Sedonia

Originally Posted by ssipes

I was also never taught how to properly align and strengthen for releve work. Had I been, I may have avoided a metatarsal stress fracture that took forever to heal (this was before I started teaching). I think teachers need to cover this explicitly. I do in my class. I don't think beginners should do moves on releve. I think they need the core control, posture, and balance first, then they need a lecture on how to align the feet and ankles properly, then they need to be given exercises to strengthen the calves, and then gradually be introduced to executing movements on releve.

Sedonia

I totally agree with you. Once they have that basic dance posture ingrained, then up to demipointe is easier.

Despite all the ballet in my youth, when I began to walk in demi in class my calves complained mightily and I felt unsteady. I started to do two things at home:

a) walk around the house on demi in full "bellydance diva" posture, and

b) stretch my calf muscles and hamstrings religiously to ward off cramping.

I remember being one of those beginners who got very frustrated when my teacher would say, "it takes time," but of course she was right... about the 3/4 shimmy, about working on releve, about barrel turns, about veil work... and there's still so much to work on. Hope I live long enough to achieve what I want! ..g.:

Originally Posted by elisagamal

go up and down a few times. it's ok to hold onto something for balance at first. next do these two progressions, always keeping your dots in line:
1. legs straight, go up to releve. while in releve, bend your knees. keeping knees bent, bring feet flat to floor. straighten legs. repeat several times.
2. feet on floor, bend knees. with knees bent, go up to releve. in releve, straighten your legs. with straight legs bring feet flat to floor. repeat.

Actually unless you have good balance you should hold onto something - wobbly about does more harm than good.

Also try turning out from the hip - remembering that knee alignment when plieing.

Finally turn in - but do not bend the knees on this one.

Hi Leela,

I am a classically trained ballet dancer/modern dancer. I have lots of info for you! :) Are you familiar with thera-bands? Also called Flex bands? They come in many different colors and are typically used for physical therapy. Yellow is typically the weakest and they go up from there blue, green, red, gray and black being the strongest. If you sit on the floor and place the band around the metatarsal (ball of the foot and pull it toward you to provide reisistance, you can then perform articulation exercises to strength the ankles.

1) Begin with foot flexed, and band around the ball of foot and toes. Hold both ends in your hands firmly.
2) begin to plantar flex (pointe the arch of the foot) keep the toes flexed
3) once you have fully stretched ankle, then articulate and pointe through the toes.
**Reverse this movement flex toes back first, followed by ankle.
While performing this movement be sure that the big toe is in line with the ankle bone, if it is inside of the ankle and appears crooked, this is called sickling, if it is outside, this is called winging. You want the ankle in a straight line. Perform 10 sets.

After you become comfortable, you can do ankle circles still with the band around the ball of the foot and the toes. Same principles apply, pointe the ankle first, then the toes, then flex toes first, followed by the ankle. Make sure to circle in both directions

You can also do half circles, start with a "winged foot" position and keep the foot fully pointed and just bring it inward to a sickled position and then outward to the "winged position" repeat ten times. This will strengthen the muscles and ligaments on both sides of the ankle.

Lastly, you can do toe curls to strengthen your arch. Begin with the foot flexed, and the band around the ball of the foot and toes, just curl toes downward, hold for a few seconds and release. repeat 10-20 times each foot.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have questions :)