I recently came across an article written by a fellow fitness professional, Allison Westfal, MS, NASM-CPT, NASM-PES, who addressed this question. In short, we all need to incorporate balance training into our workout routines. Whether you are young or less young, a couch potato or an experienced exerciser, or an Olympic athlete or weekend warrior, having sufficient balance is the foundation of everything we do in our everyday lives. Imagine how difficult it would be to walk down the stairs with an infant in your arms or even walking through the streets of downtown Chicago if you didn’t have the balance to walk up and down steps without a handrail or the balance to negotiate uneven pavement or a high curb. Here are some benefits to balance training of which you probably didn’t know:

  1. Makes You Younger (Functionally): The better your balance is, the better your body is able to move efficiently. An efficient body is a young body.
  2. Sit-ups Are No Longer Necessary: Balance training forces your core to engage during activity in order for you to complete that activity in an efficient manner. Good balance = increased core strength and coordination.
  3. Become A Better Athlete In Sport And In Life: Everybody knows sports are very dynamic in nature. In order to perform sports skills successfully, an athlete must have the balance and coordination to repeatedly carry out that skill efficiently without causing injury. Even “regular” folks, especially older folks, can maintain their independence and confidence while living their everyday lives if they maintain their balance and decrease the likelihood of falls.
  4. Injury Prevention: Most of us are more familiar with the injuries that occur from falls due to poor balance, but having sufficient balance can also prevent common strains and tweaks which may result from bad posture or from poor sports skill technique or bad exercise form.
  5. Eases Anxiety: Anxiety about an upcoming event can be due to a lack of focus on what needs to be done in the present. To successfully improve your balance and coordination, you must concentrate on what exercise you’re doing and how you’re doing that exercise right now, not what the next exercise is going to be or what you’re going to watch on the TV as you’re riding mindlessly on an exercise bike. Focusing on the present is key to improving your future.
  6. Boosts Brainpower: Exercise has been proven to increase our decision-making abilities. By incorporating balance training into an exercise routine, we can improve our cognitive skills even further. John Martin, PhD, a neuroscientist at City College of New York, says, “Complex movements force your mind to work harder by engaging multiple parts of the brain.”
  7. Quick Results: Since balance is a learned activity, you can see improvements in balance quicker than in strength. Building on this point, you need to improve your balance before you can build your strength. The faster you develop better balance, the faster you can improve your strength.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can improve your balance and coordination, give us call at 708.620.4612 or email info@trainwithtenacity.com.