This Toe Workout Is The Micro-Workout You Never Knew You Needed
Okay, we all know you can work out your arms, legs, abs and even your butt — but did you know you could work out your toes and even the inside of your mouth?!
Well, it's 2019, and you CAN. And they're called micro-workouts.
Now, micro-workouts can refer to high-intensity workouts done in short periods of time, but in this case, we're talking about specialized "workouts" that focus on smaller — often ignored — body parts. Like, as we said, the toes and the mouth.
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Of course we had to see what the trend is all about, so we enlisted fashion and beauty expert AND supermodel, Emme, and our audience warm-up guy Joey Kola to give two different micro-workouts a try.
FOOT WORKOUT
Since Joey is always on his feet as our audience warm-up guy, he couldn't wait to get his feet stretched — so he fittingly visited Stretch*d in New York City.
"We're a version of a micro-workout, where you can really focus on a smaller body part that people ignore often but really could use a lot of love," Amanda Freeman, co-founder of Stretch*d," explains. "We're focusing on the foot and the muscles and joints around there."
Jeff from Stretch*d worked on Joey's calves (to help ease foot pain and tightness), his ankles (to lubricate the joint and take pressure off the foot), and his feet and toes (to get circulation into the bottom of the foot and release tension from the arch).
"We all have so much wear and tear on our bodies — whether you're standing all day, sitting at a desk all day, [working] out a lot — everybody needs to be stretched out," Amanda tells Rach. "It helps with mobility, pain relief and it just keeps you more flexible for everything in life."
So, what did Joey think?
"I feel amazing," he says. "I've been to a million massages, [and] I've never felt anybody actually work on the tendons and move them in a way that nobody else did."
"I actually felt immediately [that] the stress was gone out of my feet," he continues.
Watch the video above to see Amanda show our studio audience how to stretch your feet at home.
FACIAL WORKOUT: BUCCAL MASSAGE
Emme visited Take Care salon in New York City to try a buccal massage — which is supposed to help temporarily improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
"A buccal massage is an intraoral massage," craniosacral therapist from Take Care, Sarah Clark, explains. She claims that "it definitely helps soften the lines around the mouth, plump up the lips, plump up the skin [and] create a very healthy, glowing atmosphere."
And while the facial treatment is new to us, Sarah has been doing it for 12 (!!) years.
"It helps release any tension around the mouth area, even back towards the cheeks, jaw and down to the neck," she continues.
As you can see in the video below, Sarah massaged the exterior of Emme's face before massaging the inside, like the upper and bottom lips and cheeks — and Emme was beside herself (in a good way!).
"I'm pretty amazed. I'm surprised at how good it feels," the supermodel says. "I've never had anything like this before, and I've had hundreds of massages."
"It's so strange," she continues. "You live with your body all the time, but you never feel these things."
Watch Emme get her buccal massage in the video below and watch Sarah teach our studio audience how to perform a facial massage on themselves.
