Big Toe Energy

Big Toe Energy is the name of both an in-person class I teach and also a course you can purchase online. (https://turtle-power-s-site.thinkific.com/) It’s a comprehensive deep dive into foot health, strength, and longevity from both a Western and Eastern perspective that helps you:

improve the way your feet, ankles, knees, hips, and spine communicate and coordinate with one another during both simple and complex movements,
improve the way Qi flows through your body, beginning with your feet and their connection to the Earth, and
learn how to bounce! Discover how good it feels to train your feet and whole body to be springy, bouncy, and light with simple and complex bouncing patterns.

The structure and function of the big toe, along with the rest of the foot/ankle complex, has muscular and fascial connections all the way up the front, sides, and back of the body into the core muscles, hip flexors, and lumbodorsal fascia. The route from the big toe up the front and sides of the body is less direct than up the back of the body, and also less involved in bouncing - which is my favorite movement and also the movement pattern we’re training for in this class. So here, I’ll describe the connections between the big toe and the rest of what’s known as the ‘posterior chain.’ This connection, and the way a strong and bouncy big toe supports strong and bouncy whole-body movement (not to mention foot health!) is exactly what I mean when I say “big toe energy.”

When the big toe pushes into the ground and sends you into a bounce, this push-off involves the collapse and reforming of the medial longitudinal arch of the foot, supported actively by the flexor hallucis longus and tibialis posterior muscles and passively by the plantar calcaneonavicular ligament, among other structures. The flexor hallucis longus and tibialis posterior muscles originate within the calf and insert on the underside foot, on the big toe and navicular bone, respectively. When you load the foot and then push off the ground, finishing with your big toe, this force is transmitted through the fascial network via the flexor hallucis longus and tibialis posterior and engages other muscles deep within the calf, such as flexor digitorum longus That engagement keeps traveling upward and outward to the more superficial calf muscles, soleus and gastrocnemius, and from there up into the three hamstrings (biceps femoris, semitendinosus, semimembranosus) and then further up into the gluteus maximus and the erector spinae.

This force transmission travels mainly via fascial connections, as those are the communication pathways between all of the muscles in this posterior chain. Imagine the fascia as a continuous rope, beginning with the plantar fascia on the bottom of the foot, continuing up through the back of the calf, through the hamstrings, through the glutes, and finally ending as the other end of the rope in the lumbodorsal fascia in the back. The collapse and reformation of the medial longitudinal arch and subsequent big toe push-off is like pulling on the bottom end of this rope, shortening, tightening, activating and sending a wave through this entire chain, propelling you forward. It’s awesome! And very fun. It’s also very important for foot health, as previously mentioned, and foot health is incredibly important for overall health and athleticism in everything we do. (Except for walking on your hands I suppose.)

So long as your feet are fairly strong and healthy, then bouncing patterns are a great way to maintain young, healthy feet and also teach your body how to coordinate and integrate itself to be bouncy and springy all over. Not only is bouncing a lighthearted and joyful movement (it’s hard to be mad while you’re bouncing) it’s also one that has almost completely disappeared from “fitness.” So most folks are missing this important ‘nutrient’ in their regular movement diet.

Practicing bouncing the same way you practice pushups, breathwork, squats, or any other exercise can help to rehabilitate the posterior fascial chain and restore your ‘bounciness’ and light-footedness in everyday life. Imbalances or restrictions in this continuous chain can mess with your movement in all kinds of ways, and gentle, rhythmic bouncing (and occasional more difficult athletic bouncing) is a great way to repair and/or prevent such things.

Here’s some videos demonstrating some of the simple and complex bouncing patterns that that you’ll learn in Big Toe energy:

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…and here’s some more fun examples of that big toe energy. Hope to bounce with you soon!

African dance videos:

https://youtube.com/shorts/MpWn6wrmuZg?si=BrzVwXeNlkt5NIy3

https://youtu.be/Pk0GRiN6_c8?si=FU-r2fgMUaQmTSkM

https://youtu.be/SzTyn3qxi8s?si=TQuNER6ALVKnGg5a

Informational videos: (aka white people making big toe energy boring)

https://youtube.com/shorts/Ib8rTJJMrVs?si=R8NvrRxMiZnIMf8m

https://youtube.com/shorts/PNT4smbHD7M?si=GCjID7FIIsTvo0u0

Pop/House choreo and dance battles:

https://youtube.com/shorts/IK7T5dbGvKs?si=haNzbFmypNhPkBiK