Here’s a workout tip that sounds like it belongs in a nursery rhyme: Bring your toes toward your nose. That’s how physical therapist Joseph Hribick reminds patients to do toe raises. Fortunately, it’s not a flexibility test: Your toes don’t have to get anywhere near your face. Keep your heels on the floor, lift the fronts of your feet, and you’ll work the muscles along your shins.
“Each time we step, we need to be able to clear our toes from the ground,” says Hribick, a clinical assistant professor of physical therapy at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania. Otherwise, your toes could snag on the carpet or catch as you walk through a doorway, making you more likely to trip.
If you’ve ever done calf raises, you know the opposite move: lifting your heels and rising onto the balls of your feet. Toe raises give the other side of your lower legs some attention. They require no equipment, you can do them while you’re sitting at your desk, and they can make your shins burn (in a good way) after surprisingly few reps.
What are the benefits of toe raises?
The star of the toe raise is the tibialis anterior, a muscle that runs along the front of your shin. It helps lift your foot as your leg swings forward—and then controls how your foot lowers after your heel touches the ground, Hribick says.
Your calves do the opposite job: They help push you forward. Daniel Safford, an assistant professor of physical therapy at Arcadia University in Pennsylvania, suggests giving both sides of your lower legs some attention. “You’re covering a lot of your bases if you do just those two things,” he says of calf raises and toe raises.
That can be especially useful if the muscles that lift your feet are weak. But will adding toe raises to your day make you a faster runner or keep you from falling? “That’s a little bit more of a question mark,” Safford says. Those muscles matter for walking and balance, but studies haven’t established that toe raises alone deliver those bigger benefits. Still, they’re a useful addition to a routine that also works your calves and challenges your balance.
How to do toe raises correctly
You can do toe raises sitting or standing; if your balance isn’t what it used to be, choose the chair. Plant both feet on the floor and lift the fronts of your feet while keeping your heels down. The balls of your feet should come up along with your toes—wiggling your toes alone doesn’t count. Take one to two seconds to lift, pause briefly, then two to three seconds to lower. “If you just bring your toes up and let them slam down, you’re not getting as much of a benefit,” Hribick says.
For a bigger challenge, try them standing. That means your legs are supporting your weight, and staying steady adds a challenge, so hold on to a sturdy counter. Lift the fronts of both feet at once. It’s fine to shift a little weight onto your heels, Safford says, but don’t lean your whole body backward to get your feet off the floor. Lift as high as you comfortably can; even if your feet barely budge, the muscles are still working.
Shoes or bare feet? Whichever you prefer. Barefoot, you may even get a glimpse of the exercise in action: Safford says the tendons can “kind of pop out on the top of the foot” as you lift, a bit like the tendons on the back of your hand.
How many toe raises should you do—and how often?
Start with five to 10 repetitions a few days a week, Safford suggests. That might sound almost too easy, but try a set before you decide. “You might feel more fatigued than you’d expect,” Hribick says.
As your shins get used to the exercise, add a few reps. Safford says you could eventually work up to 20 repetitions on most days of the week, but give yourself a couple of months to get there. “You don’t wanna go for broke,” he says. Mild soreness is possible when you start; if you have pain that’s severe or won’t go away, stop and get it checked out. The same goes for a new problem lifting your foot or toes that keep catching on the floor.
The best part about toe raises is that you can do them almost anywhere. Try a set at your desk, or do them standing at the bathroom sink. “You could do it when you’re brushing your teeth,” Safford says. “Just hold on to the counter.”