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Stay Grounded with Better Balance

Stay Grounded with Better Balance

Remember walking across a balance beam, skating, or climbing a ladder or step stool with ease? It’s not surfers who benefit from good balance. Whether you enjoy walking along the water’s edge at the beach, a game of badminton in the backyard, or a doubles match on the tennis court, balance plays a key role in performance, injury prevention, and the pleasure you get from your favorite activities.

This mind-body skill is integral to all physical activity from the day-to-day to weekly workouts to weekend sports and leisure activities, and it switches on as soon as you get up out of your chair. While balance is something we tend to take for granted when we’re young, it’s also one of the first things to go as we get older. Changes in stability and coordination are inevitable as you age and failing to do what you can to maintain balance can lead to falls and injury.

Thankfully, there are a variety of simple balance exercises you can work into your daily routine to help strengthen your stability and boost your confidence. In fact, Curves has a whole Health and Wellness program dedicated to improving balance and coordination, so you can stay grounded and injury-free.

What is balance and why it weakens as you age

Good balance is a remarkable coordination of muscles, nerves, brain, and your senses. Every move you make sparks rapid-fire communication throughout your body aimed at coordinating nerve impulses and muscle contractions to produce even tiny adjustments that keep you upright whether you are standing, walking over shifting sand, or running after a tennis ball.

There are several reasons we lose balance as we gain in years. For one, your muscle mass deteriorates as you age, which leads to core muscles that are weaker and less able to hold you steady. Your bones lose calcium and other minerals, which makes them less sturdy. Foot arches tend to fall, which can make you wobblier on your feet. And chronic age-related conditions, such as vision changes, arthritis, and cardiovascular disease can also affect your stamina and therefore, your stability. To make matters worse, you may not be aware of declining balance and coordination because their deterioration is slow and gradual.1

In some cases, balance problems can result from more serious health conditions, such as head injury, inner ear problems, migraines, and neurological problems. If unsteadiness persists or becomes debilitating, see your health care provider.2

Fears of Falls

As we get older, and our strength, flexibility, and proprioception (awareness of our body’s position in space) decline, so does balance. When your balance becomes compromised, it makes you more likely to fall and get injured. Falling is one of the most common and serious medical issues affecting older people. Falls are the second leading cause of unintentional deaths, and adults over age 60 are at the greatest risk for injuries from a fall. According to the National Institutes of Health, each year more than 2 million older Americans go to the emergency room because of fall-related injuries.3

The good news is, there are exercises to improve balance. By performing core stability exercises and other balance exercises, you will improve your balance and prevent falls. As a bonus, exercises to improve balance can also lead to better mobility and cardiovascular endurance, two other things that tend to go down hill as you age.3

Good Balance Exercises

Now that you understand the importance of good balance, here’s what you can do to strengthen and preserve it. Balance maintenance is easy with simple balance exercises you can do every day at home. You can also do stability exercises as part of the Curves Circuit or MyCurves On Demand. Here are a few of the most effective balance exercises for seniors:

Try Curves’ Monthly Challenge move, Single Leg Balance: Stand on one foot. Starting with your non-dominant foot first (if you are right-handed, this is your left foot). See how long you can hold this move and record your progress over 30 days.
Back leg raises: Stand behind a chair for stability and raise one leg back behind you at a time. Keep your leg straight as you raise it. This exercise helps strengthen your legs.
Walk heel-to-toe: Yup, this sobriety test will help keep your balance sharp. Take 20 steps forward, heel-to-toe, then turn around and walk heel-to-toe in the opposite direction for 20 steps.4
Squat for stability: Strong legs are a key part of good balance. To build your quads, do squats. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and bend your knees and slowly lower yourself as if you were going to sit in a chair behind you. Hold your arms straight out, keep your abs tight and your back straight, and make sure your knees don’t go farther forward than your shoelaces. Stop when your thighs are parallel to the floor (or you’ve gone as low as you can), then squeeze your glute muscles and stand back up. Do three sets of 10 reps.

Improve Balance with Curves

If there were seven wonders of the human body, balance would be one of them. Good balance not only prevents falls, it helps keep you mobile and independent as you age. The Curves full body workout strengthens your whole body—balance included—in just 30 minutes through the Balance class on the Curves Circuit. This class takes the traditional circuit and inserts balance exercises between the resistance moves you perform on the machines. The class lasts only 30 minutes and still provides both a strength and cardio workout, but you can work on improving your balance, too, through a series of single-leg poses.

Each move challenges mind and body and the connection between the two that is the essence of balance. Don’t worry if you aren’t yet very steady on one leg–simply touching the toe of your opposite foot to the floor as you perform each pose will keep you from wobbling. And there’s a bonus! You’ll get in some core work, too, as these poses recruit your abs, hips, and lower back muscles to help provide stability. The Balance class strengthens all of the lower-body muscles essential to good balance as well as your core, which plays an important role in holding you steady and upright. Of course as with any Curves class, you finish with stretching to maintain good flexibility and prevent any tightness that might pull you off kilter.

With the importance of balance exercises in mind, Curves has also created a Health & Wellness class, called Better Balance & Posture. A class you can do in-club or in the comfort of your own home, Better Balance & Posture includes a different focus each week with prescribed exercises that can be incorporated into your health and wellness routine.

Accomplishing day-to-day activities means you need to be steady on your feet. Walking, standing, sitting, and lifting all require balance and the better yours is, the easier those daily movements become, says Macie Lea, Manager of Science and Kinesiology. “Since adding Balance to the Curves menu of fitness options, I’ve spoken with many members who said they never realized how unstable they were until they took the class. As they’ve become regulars, they’ve seen significant improvement in their balance and mobility.”

Stay balanced and nimble

One of the most effective ways to stay young and healthy is by staying balanced and nimble. Balance is like a muscle; you need to engage in balance workouts to keep it strong. With effective exercises to improve balance, let the workouts and classes at Curves be your guide. Have your best summer ever by getting your body and mind in shape to perform at their peak. When warm, sunny days beckon, you’ll be prepared to have fun.

The Curves women’s gym workout is convenient, combining strength training and cardio plus stretching – all in just 30 minutes – to strengthen your whole body. What’s more, your Curves Coach is there to lead you through every gym workout. With your Curves Coach success is within reach. For more information about Curves and the full body workouts the Curves Circuit provides, visit ‘Why Curves’, or find your local Curves and sign up today!

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