Your feet and ankles are the only part of you that touches the ground. Everything you want to keep doing at 75 and 85 — walking the course, covering the kitchen line, getting down to the floor with a grandchild, staying steady on uneven ground — runs through them.
They’re also the most consistently untrained region of the body. Almost nobody works on them until something hurts.
So here’s a ladder. Five levels of foot and ankle capacity, each with a test you can do today, a standard to compare against, and what to work on if you’re not there yet.
Find your level. Work on the one above it.
A safety note before you start: do these near a counter or sturdy chair you can grab. Skip any that feel unsafe, and stop if anything produces sharp pain. If you’ve had recent surgery, a fall, an ankle injury, or you experience dizziness, get assessed before self-testing.
Level 1: Can You Get Enough Range?
The test: Kneel with one foot forward, heel flat on the floor. Drive that knee forward toward the wall past your toes without the heel lifting. How far can the knee travel? Compare sides.
The standard: A commonly used benchmark is around four inches of clearance between your toes and the wall, with the knee still touching. More useful than the absolute number is whether the two sides match.
Why it matters: Ankle dorsiflexion is the range that lets your body travel forward over a planted foot. Without enough of it, that movement has to come from somewhere else — usually the midfoot, the knee, or the hip. Meta-analysis has associated lower ankle dorsiflexion with Achilles tendinopathy, and restricted range shows up in squatting, stair descent, and walking downhill.
If you’re short: calf stretching with a straight and bent knee, ankle mobilization work, and knee-to-wall drills daily. Restriction from an old sprain or Achilles problem often responds well.
Level 2: Can You Hold Yourself Up on One Leg?
The test: Stand on one leg, eyes open, near support. Time it. Then, only if you’re steady and have something to hold, try it with eyes closed.
The standard: Thirty seconds per side with eyes open, without hopping or grabbing. Eyes closed is considerably harder and drops sharply with age — ten seconds or more is a reasonable marker for most adults.
Why it matters: Every step you take is a single-leg stance. Balance is also one of the more trainable qualities in the body, improving noticeably within weeks of consistent practice, and it’s a direct input into fall risk.
Watch for asymmetry. A clear difference between sides is often more informative than either number, and it frequently traces to an old ankle injury that never got properly rehabilitated.
If you’re short: practice daily while brushing your teeth — one leg per side of the mouth. Progress to eyes closed, then to standing on a cushion, then to adding a head turn or a reach.
Level 3: Do You Have Calf Endurance?
The test: Stand on one leg, holding a wall or counter with fingertips for balance only. Rise onto your toes as high as you can and lower under control, at a steady rhythm of about one per second. Count until you can’t reach the same height or maintain the rhythm.
The standard: Age matters here, and so do the testing details. Reference data from a study of 566 participants gives age- and sex-adjusted values — roughly 32 to 33 repetitions for men around age 30, declining with age, with adults aged 60 to 69 averaging around 19.
Be cautious with any single number. A meta-analysis noted that inconsistent testing parameters between studies make a clear universal cutoff difficult, so treat these as reference points rather than pass marks — and treat your own side-to-side difference as the more useful signal.
Why it matters: Reduced calf capacity has been associated with altered gait mechanics, reduced push-off during walking, and increased demands on the joints above. The calf is the engine of walking, and it’s the single most commonly undertrained muscle group in the lower leg.
If you’re short: heel raises, progressively loaded. Both straight-knee and bent-knee versions, since they target different parts of the calf complex. Twice weekly, working near your limit, adding load as you improve.
Level 4: Can You Absorb and Produce Force?
The test: From standing, step down slowly from a step onto one leg, controlling the descent. Then, if that’s comfortable, small hops in place on one leg — ten of them, landing softly and under control.
The standard: Step-downs without the knee caving inward or the ankle wobbling. Hops that land quietly, with the ankle staying stable, and no pain during or the next day.
Why it matters: This is the level most adults over 60 skip entirely, and it’s the one that determines whether a stumble becomes a fall. Absorbing force quickly — landing, catching yourself, stopping suddenly — depends on a quality that declines faster with age than general strength does when nothing is done about it.
It’s also what lets you move confidently on a pickleball court, on a slope, or on uneven ground.
Important: build to this level rather than starting here. If you have current knee, ankle, or hip pain, a joint replacement, osteoporosis, or you’ve been inactive for a long stretch, get assessed before adding hopping.
If you’re short: start with double-leg heel raises and step-downs, progress to single leg, then to small hops and skipping, in that order, over weeks.
Level 5: Can Your Feet Do Their Job?
The test: Barefoot, try lifting only your big toe while keeping the other four down. Then reverse it. Then, standing, try to shorten your foot — drawing the ball of the foot toward the heel to raise the arch — without curling your toes.
The standard: Being able to do each with reasonable control. Most people find at least one of these surprisingly difficult.
Why it matters: The small muscles within the foot control the arch, contribute to balance, and help the foot behave as a stable lever at push-off. They’re almost never trained deliberately.
If you’re short: practice these daily — they’re skill before they’re strength. Add barefoot time on safe surfaces, and toe-spreading work.
One caution: if you have diabetes, reduced sensation, or circulation problems, barefoot work isn’t appropriate. Speak to a professional about what’s suitable for you.
What to Do With Your Result
Most people find they’re solid at one or two levels and clearly short at others. That’s normal and it’s useful — it tells you exactly where to spend your time.
The efficient approach: pick your lowest level and the one above it. Work on those two for six to eight weeks, five to ten minutes most days. Retest.
And keep it going. These qualities respond quickly and decline quickly. A few weeks off costs more at 70 than it did at 40, which is precisely the argument for making this part of your ordinary week rather than a project you complete.
When to Get Assessed Instead of Self-Testing
Book an assessment rather than working through this alone if you have current foot or ankle pain; a clear difference between sides; any history of falls; dizziness with position changes; a previous ankle injury that never quite resolved; swelling; a foot or ankle that gives way; or diabetes, reduced sensation, or circulation problems.
Seek prompt care for inability to bear weight, a foot or ankle that’s hot, red and swollen, or any wound that isn’t healing on a foot with reduced sensation.
Find Out Where You Actually Stand
Self-testing gets you a rough picture. A proper assessment gets you the specifics — and tells you which level is actually costing you the most.
Berman Health Club offers a free discovery visit at no cost and no obligation. You’ll get a thorough assessment of your foot and ankle range, strength, balance, and control, an honest read on where you sit against your age group, and a practical plan for the levels you’re short on.
Whether you’re trying to stay on the pickleball court, walk the course without your feet complaining, or simply stay steady on your feet for the next thirty years — that starts with knowing where you are.
