Train your toes!

Why You Should Start Training Your Big Toe 

Most of us don’t give much thought to our big toe or focus on such small areas to train in our workouts. The thing is, your big toe is a silent powerhouse when it comes to balance, stability, and overall movement longevity. Unfortunately, modern-day fashion means that ignoring it could put you on a path toward poor posture, instability, and worse - falls.

What Your Big Toe Has to Do with Falling 

According to the World Health Organisation, falls are the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths worldwide. Among older adults, over 30% fall each year, and that number only increases with age. More than one in five falls causes serious injury, such as broken bones or head trauma.

Research highlights that a weakened toe grip, especially from the big toe, is directly linked to poor balance and an increased risk of falling. A study published in the Journal of Gerontology found that elderly individuals with poor toe flexor strength were significantly more likely to fall. Another paper in Clinical Biomechanics confirmed that the big toe plays a central role in controlling posture and generating forward momentum while walking.

Why We Lose Big Toe Strength

The culprit? It’s your shoes.

Most modern footwear has narrow toe boxes, compressing the big toe inward. Instead of being able to splay, grip, and anchor into the ground, the big toe is trapped, passive, and slowly weakening. Over time, this contributes to instability, loss of proprioception, and even long-term joint issues in the foot and ankle.

Put simply: your shoes are making your toes lazy.

Ditch the Shoes (When You Can)

The easiest and most effective first step? Start doing your workouts barefoot.

Working out barefoot re-engages your toes, especially the big toe, by allowing them to spread and grip naturally. This helps activate the deep muscles of the feet, improves ankle alignment, and increases neural feedback for better balance.

✅ When to train barefoot:

• Strength training (especially squats, lunges, deadlifts)

• Balance work
• Mobility drills
• Bodyweight training
• Breathwork and cold exposure

❌ When you’ll still need shoes:

• Running on pavement or hard trails

• Plyometrics or jump training on hard surfaces
• Group classes with hygiene rules
• Heavy Olympic lifting (when stability from shoes is needed)

Big Toe Strengthening: Simple Tools, Big Results

To fast-forward strengthening your toes, you can add targeted toe strengthening exercises. A resistance band is all you need.

Here are two exercises to start:

1. Toe Press-Downs with Band

   • Stand on a small looped band around your big toe and hold it with your hand

   • Press your toe downward slowly against resistance.
   • Focus on keeping control throughout the movement.

1. Toe-Under Band Stability Hold

   • Place a resistance band under your big toe while balancing on one foot.

   • Press the toe down to keep the band pinned to the floor.
   • Try this while doing single-leg deadlifts or step-ups.

These drills help restore lost function and make the big toe active again, so it works with your whole kinetic chain, rather than being a forgotten appendage.

The Bottom Line: Small Toe, Big Deal

Training your big toe might sound niche, but it’s a small shift with huge benefits. Better balance. More grounded movement. Less risk of injury (and less risk of painful bunions!) A foot that actually supports you for life, not just for aesthetics.

Don’t wait until you first stumble. Start now. Your next training session go without shoes, spread your toes, and give that big toe a job again.

Your future self - strong, stable, and grounded - will thank you.