Heel use and pointing toes

Lately I've been trying to improve my stretching form and dismal toe pointing. My problem comes from my high heel addiction--except for the past few months I've worn high heels daily for a few years now (although I don't pole in heels). That's not to say I regret anything. I actually love the shape of my feet complete with the little side bump I've always had before "heeling" that some people call that funny word--bunion.

My toes pop up in a neutral position

It is, however, a problem for me when I stretch. Namely, foot cramps. Ow. I asked around in High Heel Place, a forum I love, and a friend confirmed what I suspected. The neutral position of my feet has gone from toes-to-the-floor to slightly raised. Very pretty, if you ask me, although I know a lot of you probably obsess over super pointes. I'm a little blasphemous--super pointed toes look like chicken feet to me, lol. I love the shape of feet in heels.

If you have this problem: Make extra sure you've warmed up very well, then ease into stretching. If you cramp up, go slower with your stretches and hold them for shorter periods of time and work back up. A great tip I received is to stand on the front of your foot to put pressure on the cramped spot. This also works great for late night foot cramps during pregnancy too.

From where I feel the stretch when I point my toes I think this is less of a problem related to the seemingly horrific shortened calves people always seem to be warning heel wearers about. It's actually localized to the middle top of my feet. Without pointing the rest of my foot I can feel a stretch when I point only my toes. Yeah, I really do wear heels that much. I actually only own one pair of non-heel shoes: my running shoes. High heel wearing has improved my balance to a degree that I can easily navigate lawns, escalators, and even the glare ice we get in the winter here. Curiously, I've always been a klutz barefoot or in flat shoes.

I'm not going to stop wearing heels, much to the chagrin of some, although I will wait until my balance is back to normal to go back to heels. Heels really are not the evil of the world and even have a bit of a power element to them--it's all in the height, the glamour, and the authoritative clicking. I will definitely keep on stretching!

Weekend Crush: Steve Kamb of Nerd Fitness

Nope, not free falling--that's a handstand
(c) Nerd Fitness, Used with permission

Just because you're nerdy doesn't mean you can't be in fantastic shape. Check out this handstand--Steve doesn't look like the stereotypical nerd. But a look around his site, Nerd Fitness, with its comic book fonts and video game references its unmistakably, well, nerdy.

What I really love about Nerd Fitness is that it is geared towards people of all fitness levels, including those of us that find ourselves on a journey from bookworm (that's me!) or video game junkie to fit. When I started pole fitness around September 2012 I had to make some serious changes even though I jogged for 15-20 minutes... well, every few weeks or so anyways. I found Nerd Fitness because I wanted to do some body weight exercises but really pathetically lacked the strength to do it. There I was on Google, searching for exercises for pull ups--and very discouraged to find that most people posting about pull ups assumed the reader could do them.

Enter Nerd Fitness.