Our body is a balanced system of stable and mobile joints. Stable joints, like the elbow and knee, provide a solid foundation for movement. Mobile joints, like the hips and shoulders, perform the action of the movement.
Our toes are mobile. And if we can further increase their mobility, we'll acquire a stronger, more explosive first step--a definitive advantage in sports like basketball, tennis, and soccer.
Exercise #1
Place a tennis or lacrosse ball on the ground. Then, press your foot into the ball, flexing and extending your toes. Next, slowly drag your foot along the ball towards your heel.
Exercise #2
Take a seated position and place both feet flat on on the floor, pointing forward. Then, alternate between lifting up only the big toes and lifting up the four smaller toes. Once you've grown comfortable doing this in a seated position, try it standing.
Exercise #3
After you've mobilized the muscles on the sole of your feet with exercises one and two, you can move on to our third and final exercise. To do it, place a towel on the floor, and use your toes to pull the towel towards you. Like the previous exercise, it's best to start seated, then move on to standing.
It'll take roughly two weeks before you notice a difference in your toes' mobility, so be patient and stick with it!