Good balance is very important, especially as you get older the better your balance the more active you can remain. A lot of people when they are older have falls which can lead to broken bones and time spent in the hospital. I hear all the young people saying they’ve got plenty of time before they get old. It’s important to work on your balance while you’re younger though. Firstly, it’s a lot easier to improve your balance whilst still young and secondly, you don’t want to get to the point where your balance is bad before you start to work on it. Here are my three tips for having good balance;
1. Strengthen your feet
2. Stand on one leg
3. Progress as needed
1. Strengthen your feet
As you balance on your feet, it is important that your feet are strong so they can support your weight. Doing strengthening exercises for the muscles of your feet will help to increase your strength and therefore give you better balance. A really simple exercise to strengthen your foot muscles is called toe crunches. To do this exercise you stand with your feet a comfortable distance apart. Roll out onto the sides of your feet and then scrunch up your toes, like you’re clenching your fist. Hold for 3 seconds and repeat 10 times. Try to do this 2-3 times a day.
2. Stand on one leg
The easiest way to improve your balance is to simply stand on one leg. Do this with the slightest bend in the knee of the leg on the ground and you’re doing a balancing exercise. Depending on how good your balance is to start with, stand in a doorway or a narrow hallway so you can grab on to something if you’re going to fall. Don’t touch anything as you’re doing the exercise though as you won’t get the same results. Try to do this on each foot and hold for 60 seconds, if you can’t do a full 60 seconds in one go then do an accumulated total of 60 seconds over however many goes it takes. Do this 2-3 times a day.
3. Progress as needed
The above exercise is a great way to start out on the road to better balance. Over time you will find it becomes really easy and if you want to keep getting better you need to progress to harder balancing exercises. There are many ways you can do this, you could move other parts of your body like your legs or arms, you can change the surface you’re standing on like standing on a cushion or you could try closing your eyes. All of the above are examples of ways to progress balancing exercises and continue to improve your balance.