Pointe

Strengthening Exercises for Pointe: Feet, Ankles & Core

Updated October 2026

A pointe shoe does not hold you up. The box and shank give support, but the work of standing on the tips of your toes is done by muscles: the small ones in your feet, the larger ones in your calves and ankles, and the deep stabilisers in your hips and trunk that keep everything stacked in a line. If any of those are weak, something else compensates, and that is where aches and injuries start.

This guide covers the strengthening work dancers and teachers commonly use to prepare for pointe and to stay strong once they are on it: what to train, how to do each exercise safely, and how to fit it into a weekly routine without overdoing it.

What You Are Actually Training

It helps to think of the body as a chain, with pointe work asking each link to do its job:

• Intrinsic foot muscles. The small muscles inside the foot that create and hold the arch and control the toes. These are the ones that let you articulate through a demi-pointe rather than just collapsing onto it.
• Calves and ankle stabilisers. The calf muscles lift you; the muscles on the sides of the ankle keep it from rolling. Both matter, and dancers often have strong calves and under-trained stabilisers.
• Hips and turnout muscles. The deep rotators and the gluteals control your alignment from above. Poor hip control shows up at the foot as rolling in.
• Core. The deep abdominals and back muscles keep the pelvis steady so the legs can work from a stable base.

The aim is not maximum strength in any single muscle. It is control: being able to hold a correct line, slowly, without gripping or wobbling.

Before You Start: A Few Ground Rules

• Quality over quantity. Ten slow, precise repetitions beat thirty sloppy ones. If your form falls apart, the set is over.
• Work slowly. Count two or three seconds up and two or three seconds down. Speed hides weakness.
• Warm up first. Do these after class, or after a few minutes of gentle movement, not on cold muscles.
• Mild muscle fatigue is expected; sharp, pinching or joint pain is not. Back off if you feel the second kind.
• Stay on both sides. Train each foot separately. Most people are noticeably stronger on one side.

Foot Exercises

Doming (short foot)

Stand or sit with your foot flat on the floor. Without curling your toes or lifting the heel, draw the ball of the foot toward the heel so the arch lifts slightly, as if you were shortening the foot. Hold for five seconds, then release. This isolates the intrinsic muscles and is the foundation for most other foot work. Start seated, then progress to standing on two feet, then one.

Toe spreading and lifting

With the foot flat, lift just the big toe while keeping the others down, then press the big toe down and lift the other four. It is harder than it sounds, and many beginners cannot do it at first. Practise until each group moves independently. This builds the toe control that keeps your toes long and uncurled in the box.

Towel scrunches

Place a small towel flat on a smooth floor and, keeping your heel down, use only your toes to pull it toward you. Reset and repeat. Add a light weight on the towel once it becomes easy. This works the flexors under the foot, but keep it controlled and do not let the toes claw hard — clenching is not the goal.

Pointing and flexing against resistance

Sit with your leg straight and a light resistance band looped around the ball of your foot. Slowly point against the band, pausing at the end of the range, then return slowly. The key is to point through the whole foot — ankle, midfoot, and toes — rather than just cranking the ankle. Then switch to flexing against the band for balance.

Calf and Ankle Exercises

Relevés, and more relevés

Relevés in parallel and in first position at the barre are the core exercise. Rise slowly onto demi-pointe, hold at the top for two seconds with the ankles straight over the toes, and lower with control. The most common faults are rolling the ankles outward or inward, and dropping quickly on the way down. Aim for a smooth, even rise and lowering.

Once these are steady, progress to single-leg relevés while holding the barre lightly, then without the barre. Do not progress faster than your control allows.

Bent-knee calf raises

Most calf work is done with straight knees, which targets the large outer calf muscle. Bending the knees (as in a plié) shifts the work to the deeper soleus muscle, which matters a great deal for landing jumps and for holding position on pointe. Do relevés from a small plié and hold at the top.

Ankle stability with a band

Loop a resistance band around your foot and anchor the other end. Slowly turn the sole inward, then outward, against the band, keeping the leg still. This trains the muscles at the sides of the ankle, which prevent rolling. It is unglamorous, and arguably the most protective exercise on this list.

Single-leg balance

Stand on one leg with a soft knee and hold for thirty seconds without gripping the floor with your toes. When that is easy, close your eyes, or stand on a folded towel or a balance disc. Balance training retrains the small, rapid corrections that keep the ankle safe.

Hip and Core Exercises

Clamshells and side-lying leg lifts

Lying on your side with knees bent, lift the top knee while keeping the feet together and the pelvis still. This works the deep hip rotators and the gluteus medius. If the pelvis rocks back, the range is too big — make the movement smaller and cleaner.

Bridges

Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat. Press through the heels to lift the hips until the body forms a line from shoulders to knees, then lower slowly. Keep the ribs down rather than arching the back. Progress to single-leg bridges once the two-leg version is controlled.

Dead bug

Lie on your back with arms toward the ceiling and knees bent over the hips. Slowly lower the opposite arm and leg toward the floor, keeping the lower back flat, then return and switch. This trains the deep abdominals to stabilise the trunk while the limbs move — exactly the job they do in a développé or an arabesque.

Plank and side plank

Hold a straight line from head to heels, on forearms, without letting the hips sag or pike. Start with twenty to thirty seconds and build gradually. Side planks add the oblique and hip-stabiliser work that supports balance on one leg.

A Simple Weekly Routine

You do not need long sessions. Fifteen minutes, three or four times a week, is a reasonable starting point for most students. A sample structure:

1. Day 1: feet and ankles. Doming, toe lifts, band pointing and flexing, band ankle stability. Two sets of ten for each.
2. Day 2: hips and core. Clamshells, bridges, dead bugs, planks. Two sets of ten, planks for thirty seconds.
3. Day 3: calves and balance. Relevés (straight and bent knee), single-leg balance. Two sets of ten and thirty-second holds.
4. Day 4 (optional): a mix of whatever felt weakest that week.

Keep at least a couple of rest days, and do not add new exercises in the same week as a performance or exam. Increase difficulty gradually — one change at a time, such as more repetitions, a slower tempo, or moving from a two-leg to a one-leg version.

Equipment That Helps

You can do much of this with nothing but a floor and a wall, but a few inexpensive items make the work easier to progress.

Common Mistakes

• Gripping with the toes. Clawed or clenched toes mean the big muscles are doing the work the small ones should be doing. Keep the toes long and relaxed.
• Rolling in or out on relevé. Practise in front of a mirror, or ask your teacher to check. Rolling puts stress on the ankle and the big toe joint.
• Doing too much too soon. Tendons adapt more slowly than muscles. Soreness that lingers for days is a sign to scale back.
• Skipping the boring exercises. Doming and band work do not look impressive, but they are the ones that build the control everything else relies on.
• Training through pain. Dancers are trained to push on. Sharp pain, pain in a joint, or pain that lasts after training should be assessed, not ignored.

The Bottom Line

Pointe work is built on strength you cannot see: small muscles in the feet, stabilisers around the ankle, and a hips-and-core base that keeps the whole line steady. A short, consistent routine of slow, precise exercises does more for you than occasional marathon sessions. Build gradually, listen to your teacher, and treat anything painful as a reason to stop and ask.

When you and your teacher agree you are ready, our pointe shoe fitting guide is the next step, and breaking in pointe shoes covers what to do with your new pair.