Heel lift drill

How to do it

1. Stand barefoot with your weight spread evenly across your foot.
2. Without curling your toes, gently draw the ball of your foot toward your heel to raise the arch — a “short foot”.
3. Hold the lifted arch as you progress through the stages: two feet, then one foot, then adding a small heel lift and reach.
4. Keep your toes long and relaxed throughout — the work comes from the arch, not the toes.

Form cues

• Build a tripod foot: heel, base of the big toe and base of the little toe.
• Shorten the foot by drawing the forefoot toward the heel without curling the toes.
• Progress to single-leg, then a slow heel raise keeping the arch and big-toe base planted.

Dosage

3 × 10 reps per side

Muscles worked

Strengthens: intrinsic foot muscles, tibialis posterior, ankle stabilizers

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