Fighter's Foot Training Philosophy

Building your foundation - from the feet up

The main reason why we train feet is because we are feet up creatures. Our feet are in constant use & we are almost always on them. So it should be obvious that they are important to take care of.

But for me, the reason why I started training my feet was because of grappling. When I made the switch over to BJJ from college wrestling the first thing I noticed was the EXTREME pain & discomfort that came with grappling barefoot instead of wrestling shoes.

The skin on my feet constantly was getting ripped up, my toes ached, they got jammed all the time on live goes. It was brutal for me & kind of made me dread going to practice a bit. That part was the most painful as someone who loves grappling with everything in his heart.

So I started working on my feet. Not only for the above reason though. As an athlete & an individual I like to give a lot of attention to the things that others are not.

I ask myself often “How can I get an advantage over my competition? What are they overlooking? What can I add to my own toolkit to push me past them?”

So relating to combat sports, I figured that my competition likely aren’t REALLY training their feet outside of just grappling barefoot. I assume that most don’t even think about strengthening their feet because they view practice as enough.

But if I could get stronger feet than them? I can drive harder through takedowns, I can grip the mat better in positions, I can move better than them, etc.

This is one of the same reasons that led me to breathwork, cold exposure, sleep health, light environment, etc. Little things that compound to make a big difference on your overall health & your game if you are an athlete.

Do you notice a commonality amongst the above listed things? They are simple. The goal for me is to add in work & progress simply. That’s part of why I love foot health so much. IT IS SIMPLE but PAYS DIVIDENS athletically.

I do not have to dedicate hours each day like I would at the gym (obviously do both silly goose). Heck, I don’t even need twenty minutes a day to work the feet & gain progress on them.

Most foot training exercises can be done sporadically through the day, making it even easier to get them in each day. This is exactly how I train my feet. I’ll get a set in the morning, I’ll hit some more in the afternoon, another at night.

Obviously, you do not need to do it like this. There are many days where I wake up in the morning & just decide to get all my sets in or all the work in all at once.

BUT I mention the above way of doing things because it NULLIFIES THE EXCUSE of “not having enough time” (bullshit)

TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT:

We are built from out feet up. Our feet are constantly carrying the weight of an entire human being. Your feet are carrying even more weight if you are unhealthy & have a lot of excess weight on your frame.

So it would make sense for our point of contact to be as strong & mobile as possible, thus enabling it to be sturdier. Our feet are used for everything. We walk on them, run on them, climb on them. Literally they are involved in nearly everything we do.

Training your feet also helps to remedy a lot of the foot/hip/knee/back pain that is potentially caused by the really bad shoes you are wearing constantly.

P.S. If you want to read more about foot health I have a basic intro here: Your first STEPS to Strong Feet!