Whether you’re a professional athlete, a weekend warrior or someone who just likes to play in a recreational sports league once a week, you probably have some sort of routine for building muscle and staying in game shape. Oftentimes athletes focus on the larger muscle groups – the biceps, the hamstrings or the calf muscles, for example – as these large muscles help the athlete make strong movements. However, new research suggests that the best athletes also target smaller muscle groups, like their toes. In today’s blog, we explore why developing your toe muscles can make you a better athlete.
Toe Strength And Athletic Performance
Inside each foot are 20 muscles that help you stand, balance and move, and they are categorized into two groups. You have your extrinsic muscles that start higher up in your leg and extend down, and your intrinsic muscles that originate within your foot. Each of these muscles support particular movements and functions within your foot, but it’s the small muscles in your toes that may give you a leg up on the competition.
Toe get a better understanding of the importance of strong toes in athletes, researchers conducted a small study involving 17 collegiate football players. Researchers assessed their toe muscle strength through two types of movement evaluations, a pro-agility test and a 3-cone test. After looking at the athletes’ toe strength and comparing their performance during the movement tests, researchers found:
- Toe pushing force (when the toes were bent upwards) was linked to better performance on agility tests where the athlete had to change direction more quickly.
- There was no significant difference in toe flexor strength (when the toes were pointed downward) and performance in the agility or 3-cone test.
- Neither type of toe strength impacted sprinting speed in a straight direction.
Researchers concluded that while toe strength won’t help you track down Usain Bolt in a sprinting race, there is a noticeable difference in directional change in athletes with stronger toes. If your sport requires quick changes of direction, you may have an edge over the competition if you work to develop your toe muscles. For point guards, cornerbacks and soccer players, toe muscle training could make all the difference when a play comes down to a split second movement.