Balance/bending ideas?

Mcwi3681

I've been working my way through Mark Lauren's "Body By You" and I've maxed out the bending portion. I'm doing one-legged warriors while holding weights, adding a few pounds every week. I'm getting bored of doing those though and am looking for a similar workout move that will switch it up just a bit.

The book suggests going to his website for more advanced progressions but I can't find anything there other than ads for his app.

Any ideas for an exercise that incorporates balance, core strength, and flexibility like a warrior does?

ItsMyLife1956

I know this is an old original post, but I am looking for the same thing: What can I do to improve balance? I do "light lifting" and a lot of jogging/walking, but cannot stand on one foot for moe than 10 seconds. M, 63, 183 (down from 215 at my heaviest). Any thoughts?

AnnPT77

ItsMyLife1956 wrote: »

I know this is an old original post, but I am looking for the same thing: What can I do to improve balance? I do "light lifting" and a lot of jogging/walking, but cannot stand on one foot for moe than 10 seconds. M, 63, 183 (down from 215 at my heaviest). Any thoughts?

This may sound crazy, but I got some benefits by using the time when I'm standing in line (grocery, etc.) or otherwise waiting while standing.

I started by raising one foot just an imperceptible bit, like half an inch, and just standing as long as I could. When I lost balance, I'd switch to the other side. It's such a small movement, other people don't seem to notice.

When that got easy to sustain for long times, I added some upper body movement for balance challenge. It can be normal movements you'd routinely make in public, like hands in/out of pockets, reach for magazine on a rack, pick something out of grocery cart, take out wallet or phone, etc. Just forget a little!

At home, I started raising one foot but higher than I'd do in public, while doing standing chores (tooth-brushing, rinsing dishes, etc.). When that got easy to sustain, I started moving the "up" foot around, back/forward, in circles, whatever.

I feel like, done in spare moments routinely over time, this helped a surprising lot. I feel less likely to lose balance, and find it easier to recover in the cases when I do.

Obviously, there are exercises one can do (on Bosu or wobble board, for example), and core exercise (especially things like suitcase carry and variants) can help, but why not use the spare moments, too?

lorrpb

Yoga and core. Balance comes more from your core than your feet or ankles. A lot of people like You Tube Yoga with Adrienne.

SnifterPug

As far as the OP question goes, you can't beat a Turkish Get Up for ticking all of the boxes. Done without a weight but balancing a yoga block on a clenched fist is a good way to start and is very challenging.

ItsMyLife1956

AnnPT77: Thanks! These are all certainly things I can do. I work standing up at my desk a lot, so I can do these while working as well.

SnifterPug: and lorrpb Continued working on the core is in my current routine, so thanks for that advice. (I had to look up a Turkish Get Up, and ignore the sites that were telling me how to dress in traditional Turkish clothing. Never mind the fact that I don't look good in dresses.)

springlering62

My standing balance is terrible, as in, I constantly fall on other people in yoga.

I added balance to my morning stretch routine, and slowly, it is helping. I simply stand on one leg with other leg bent and off the ground, and have progressed to holding my door straight out in front at a 90 degree angle (great for core, btw), and now grab my toe and hold my foot straight out in front.

In yoga, they tell us to use a “drishti”. Pick a non moving point on the floor, and focus as intently as you can on it to help steady yourself. As you get more confident, choose a spot on the wall, and eventually where ceiling meets wall.

Strengthening core via weight training has helped immensely, too.

Crazily, arm balance is no problem. It’s only standing balance. I have a reason for stepping to the back of my mat during balance. I’m out of the line of sight of those next to me (sorry, peeps behind me), and when I topple over -and I will, though it’s getting better- I have less of a chance of a domino effect and taking the whole row with me if I’m staggered behind others.

Sucking at balance doesn’t prevent me from trying new balances, though. A wise instructor has told me that if you can visualize it, it will come, and you can get as much benefit as actually completing it.

The other thing is, laugh it off. I used to allow the frustration and self consciousness of not being able to balance ruin the rest of a practice for me. Laughing at myself has helped relax me, and for those of us who don’t balance well, that’s half the battle, just overcoming the impending stress of hearing “let’s get ready for a balance sequence”. As soon as one leg goes up, I get (force) a grin on my face. Relaxing the face relaxes the body.

I read somewhere that one of the things that determines future quality of health is if you can stand on one leg for 15 seconds, and if you can sit and get up from the floor without using hands.

AnnPT77

springlering62 wrote: »

My standing balance is terrible, as in, I constantly fall on other people in yoga.

I added balance to my morning stretch routine, and slowly, it is helping. I simply stand on one leg with other leg bent and off the ground, and have progressed to holding my door straight out in front at a 90 degree angle (great for core, btw), and now grab my toe and hold my foot straight out in front.

In yoga, they tell us to use a “drishti”. Pick a non moving point on the floor, and focus as intently as you can on it to help steady yourself. As you get more confident, choose a spot on the wall, and eventually where ceiling meets wall.

Strengthening core via weight training has helped immensely, too.

Crazily, arm balance is no problem. It’s only standing balance. I have a reason for stepping to the back of my mat during balance. I’m out of the line of sight of those next to me (sorry, peeps behind me), and when I topple over -and I will, though it’s getting better- I have less of a chance of a domino effect and taking the whole row with me if I’m staggered behind others.

Sucking at balance doesn’t prevent me from trying new balances, though. A wise instructor has told me that if you can visualize it, it will come, and you can get as much benefit as actually completing it.

The other thing is, laugh it off. I used to allow the frustration and self consciousness of not being able to balance ruin the rest of a practice for me. Laughing at myself has helped relax me, and for those of us who don’t balance well, that’s half the battle, just overcoming the impending stress of hearing “let’s get ready for a balance sequence”. As soon as one leg goes up, I get (force) a grin on my face. Relaxing the face relaxes the body.

I read somewhere that one of the things that determines future quality of health is if you can stand on one leg for 15 seconds, and if you can sit and get up from the floor without using hands.

This is great encouragement, @springlering62: It aways surprises me when I hear other people say that they don't want to do yoga because they're not flexible enough or can't balance well enough. Aren't those the reasons we might want to start doing it?

I find that I'm more able to balance on one foot when I'm not paying as much attention to doing it, oddly. More relaxed, perhaps? Usually focus is a good thing, but I feel like focusing on balancing makes me stiffen up a little in unhelpful ways, vs. be a bit more of a dynamic system.

lorrpb

springlering62 wrote: »

I read somewhere that one of the things that determines future quality of health is if you can stand on one leg for 15 seconds, and if you can sit and get up from the floor without using hands.

These things are "indicators" or "signs" but in no way "determine (cause)" your future health. Bascially because if someone has poor balance they are more likely to fall and hurt themselves, and the older someone is, the more life threatening it can be. Yes, I've known several people who died not long after falling because of complications. Same thing if someone can get up from the floor without assistance, they generally are more mobile and this is good on many levels. Someone who is in poor health might be weaker and thus unable to get up without touching the floor.

rheddmobile

One thing I learned recently about having bad balance is that the structures in your knees and ankles provide feedback to your nervous system and are part of your system of proprioception. That made a lot of sense to me - I have always had bad balance on just one leg, and I’m missing the ACL from that knee due to an accident 30 years ago. Turns out the ACL is part of the system that helps your body figure out where it is. But you can train your nervous system to work around the problem.

What I do (I got these exercises from a PT on YouTube but can’t remember which one) is, every night before bed, I do twenty reps of standing on one foot and swinging the other leg back and forth through the full range of motion. If that gets too easy progress to standing on one foot with the opposite knee lifted and arms in a running position. Swing your arms and leg as if you were running, and make a little hop on the other foot. I’m not describing this well. Anyway when I first tried it on my “bad” side I would just lose balance and fall over instantly. Now I can do twenty in a row easily. About halfway through this process I realized I could suddenly put my leggings on in the morning while standing on one foot and not holding onto anything! And just the other day I walked across a log bridge at the park without dying! The main point is, you can improve your balance with practice if you do it daily, and it doesn’t take hours of yoga. Just a couple of minutes has made a huge difference for me.

rainbow198

I work on my balance a couple times a week.

I use Youtube workout (check out Senior Fitness with Meredith channel and search for her balance workouts), yoga moves such as the Warrior III and the Dancer Pose, plyometrics exercises such as Lateral Plyometric Jumps and I do balance exercises on my Bosu ball.

Also at times I would stand on one leg for as long as I can, walk in a "tightrope" or I will rock my feet back and forth which not only helps to strengthen my ankle, but it gives my hamstrings a good stretch as well.

For bending as part as my cool down I like to bend backwards as far as I could to get a nice stretch which feels amazing. Years of doing this has trained my body to do a complete backbend without actually training for it.

ItsMyLife1956

Thank you all for the suggestions an experiences. A coworker suggested adding step ups to my leg workouts, starting with no weight then adding weight (dumbbells or just holding onto plates) over time. I haven't done these before but the videos I reviewed looked like they would be a value-added exercise. Your thoughts? For someone with short legs (like a 29 inch inseam) what would be the proper height?