Fitness

If You Can Do These 10 Balance Exercises, You’re in Good Shape

Published

4 hours ago

August 2, 2024

If You Can Do These 10 Balance Exercises, You’re in Good Shape

Balance isn’t just for tightrope walkers or yogis. It’s a crucial component of overall fitness that enhances your ability to perform everyday tasks, from walking and climbing stairs to playing sports and lifting weights. Good balance can help prevent injuries, improve coordination, and boost physical performance. It’s an often-overlooked aspect of fitness that deserves more attention in your training regimen. That’s why we’ve rounded up some of the best balance exercises that reveal whether or not you’re in good shape.

Balance naturally declines as you age, increasing the risk of falls and injuries. Incorporating balance exercises into your routine can counteract this decline, enhancing your stability and overall quality of life. Whether you’re an athlete aiming to elevate your performance or want to move more confidently and securely through daily activities, working on your balance offers substantial benefits.

Ready to test your performance? These 10 balance exercises can help you assess and improve your stability, ensuring you’re in good, if not even great, shape. Each exercise challenges your balance differently, delivering a well-rounded approach to this essential fitness component.

If you can master these balance exercises, you’ll be well on your way to achieving better balance and overall fitness!

Single-leg Stand

The single-leg stand is a fundamental balance exercise that tests your static balance and lower-body stability. It’s beneficial for identifying imbalances between your left and right sides.

This exercise engages the stabilizing muscles in your ankles, knees, and hips, promoting joint health and reducing the risk of injuries. Additionally, it enhances proprioception, which is your body’s ability to sense its position in space, which is crucial for maintaining balance and coordination in everyday activities and athletic pursuits.

Stand tall with your feet together. Lift your right foot off the ground and bend your knee to form a 90-degree angle. Hold this position for 30 seconds to a minute without letting your hips tilt or your standing knee wobble. Switch to your left foot and repeat. To increase the difficulty, try closing your eyes or standing on an unstable surface like a foam pad.

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Tree Pose

A staple in yoga, the tree pose improves static balance, focus, and proprioception and strengthens the muscles around your ankles and knees. By requiring you to balance on one leg while maintaining a specific posture, the tree pose enhances your mental concentration and mindfulness.

It encourages proper alignment and posture, which can translate to better overall body mechanics. Additionally, the tree pose stretches the groin, inner thighs, chest, and shoulders, contributing to flexibility and muscle balance.

Stand with your feet together and your arms at your sides. Shift your weight onto your left foot and place the sole of your right foot against your inner left thigh or calf (avoid placing it directly on the knee). Bring your hands together in front of your chest in a prayer position. Hold for 30 seconds to a minute, then switch sides. For an added challenge, extend your arms overhead or close your eyes.

Single-leg Romanian Deadlift (RDL)

The single-leg RDL targets your hamstrings, glutes, and core while challenging your dynamic balance. It’s excellent for improving stability and strength in the posterior chain. This exercise enhances hip mobility and can help correct muscular imbalances that often lead to injuries.

By engaging your core muscles throughout the movement, the single-leg RDL promotes better posture and alignment, reducing the strain on your lower back. This exercise is particularly beneficial for athletes, as it mimics the movements required in many sports that involve running, jumping, and changing directions.

Stand on your right leg with a slight bend in the knee. Hinge at your hips, extending your left leg straight behind you while lowering your torso toward the ground. Keep your back flat and your hips squared to the floor. Reach your hands toward the ground or hold a weight for added resistance. Return to the starting position and repeat for eight to 12 reps before switching legs.

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Split Squat

The split squat enhances lower-body strength and balance, particularly in the quadriceps and glutes. It also helps improve hip mobility and stability. This exercise isolates each leg, allowing you to focus on developing unilateral strength, which can help correct muscular imbalances and improve overall leg strength.

By requiring you to stabilize your body in a split stance, the split squat engages your core muscles and promotes better balance and coordination. It’s a versatile exercise you can modify with weights or varying stances to target different muscle groups and intensities.

Start in a staggered stance with your right foot forward and left foot back, about two feet apart. Lower your body until your right thigh is parallel to the ground and your left knee nearly touches the floor. Keep your torso upright and your front knee aligned over your ankle. Push through your right heel to return to the starting position. Perform eight to 12 reps before switching legs.

Single-leg Squat to Box

This exercise improves single-leg strength, balance, and coordination. It also helps identify and correct imbalances between your legs. You engage your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves by performing a controlled squat on one leg, enhancing lower body strength and stability.

The single-leg squat to box also challenges your core muscles to maintain proper alignment and balance, reducing the risk of lower back strain. This exercise can improve your performance in activities that require unilateral strength and stability, such as running, jumping, and changing directions.

Stand on your right leg in front of a box or bench. Slowly lower yourself into a squat, lightly tapping your glutes on the box. Keep your left leg extended in front of you and your torso upright. Push through your right heel to return to the starting position. Perform six to 10 reps before switching legs. Start with a higher box and gradually decrease the height as you get stronger.

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Single-arm Plank

The single-arm plank challenges your core stability and upper-body strength and tests your ability to maintain balance with asymmetrical loading. Lifting one arm off the ground forces your core muscles, particularly the obliques and transverse abdominis, to work harder to stabilize your body.

This exercise also engages your shoulders, chest, and back muscles, promoting upper-body strength and endurance. The single-arm plank improves your coordination and balance, making it an excellent addition to any functional training routine.

Begin in a standard plank position with your hands directly under your shoulders and your body in a straight line. Lift your right hand off the ground and extend it straight before you or keep it by your side. Hold for 10 to 20 seconds, keeping your hips level and your core engaged. Switch to your left hand and repeat. To increase the difficulty, try lifting the opposite leg simultaneously.

Suitcase Carry

The suitcase carry tests your dynamic balance, grip strength, and core stability. It mimics carrying a heavy object in one hand, which requires significant stabilization. This exercise engages your obliques, shoulders, and grip muscles, promoting overall functional strength.

The suitcase carry also improves your posture by encouraging you to maintain an upright position while carrying an asymmetrical load. It’s a practical exercise that enhances your ability to perform everyday tasks, such as carrying groceries or lifting objects, with better balance and reduced risk of injury.

Hold a heavy dumbbell or kettlebell in your right hand at your side. Stand tall with your shoulders back and your core engaged. Walk forward for 30 to 50 feet, maintaining an upright posture and avoiding leaning or twisting. Switch hands and repeat. Focus on keeping your steps controlled and even.

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Heel-to-Toe Walk

This exercise enhances dynamic balance and coordination, making it particularly useful for improving gait and stability. The heel-to-toe walk engages the muscles in your lower legs and feet, promoting strength and endurance in these areas.

This exercise challenges your proprioception and spatial awareness by requiring you to place one foot directly in front of the other, helping you maintain better balance and coordination. The heel-to-toe walk is an excellent exercise for older adults or anyone looking to improve their walking mechanics and reduce the risk of falls.

Stand with your feet together. Step forward with your right foot, placing your heel directly before your left toe. Continue walking straight, placing each heel directly before the opposite toe. Keep your eyes forward and your arms at your sides or extended for balance. Perform for 20 to 30 steps.

Lateral Shuffle

The lateral shuffle improves lateral movement, agility, and dynamic balance. It’s excellent for athletes who need to move quickly in different directions. This exercise engages your hip abductors, adductors, and quadriceps, promoting strength and stability in these muscle groups.

The lateral shuffle also enhances cardiovascular fitness and coordination, making it an excellent addition to high-intensity interval training (HIIT). By improving your ability to move laterally, this exercise can enhance your performance in sports and activities that require quick direction changes, such as basketball, tennis, and soccer.

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Shuffle to your right by pushing off your left foot and stepping your right foot to the side. Follow with your left foot, keeping your feet apart and your movements quick and controlled.
Shuffle for 10 to 20 feet, then switch directions. Perform for 30 to 60 seconds.

Three-way Toe Taps

This exercise tests your balance and proprioception in multiple directions. It strengthens your ankles, calves, and core. Tapping your toes in different directions challenges your ability to maintain balance while shifting your weight, promoting better coordination and stability.

The three-way toe taps engage your hip flexors, glutes, and lower leg muscles, enhancing overall lower-body strength and endurance. This balance exercise is particularly beneficial for improving your ability to perform multi-directional movements, such as those required in sports and daily activities.

Stand on your right leg with a slight bend in the knee. Tap your left toes forward, to the side, and then behind you, returning to the starting position after each tap. Keep your torso upright and your movements controlled. Perform eight to 12 taps in each direction before switching legs.

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Fitness

Sit a Lot? Exercise Might Offset the Damage to Your Health

Published

11 hours ago

August 2, 2024

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Sit a Lot? Exercise Might Offset the Damage to Your Health

FRIDAY, Aug. 2, 2024 (HealthDay News) — People can offset hours spent sitting around with minutes of active exercise each week, a new study claims.

Folks who are sedentary for eight or more hours daily can lower their overall risk of death – and especially their risk of dying from heart disease – if they perform 140 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity every week, results show.

These results show the importance of encouraging people to work out every week, “particularly for individuals whose life circumstances necessitate prolonged sitting in particular, such as drivers or office workers,” said senior researcher Sandra Albrecht, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.

For the study, researchers examined data on more than 6,300 people with diabetes who participated in the annual National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2007 and 2018.

“Managing the elevated mortality risk in this high-risk population is particularly pressing given the widespread diabetes epidemic and the tendency among adults with diabetes to sit more and move less,” said lead researcher Wen Dai, a doctoral student in epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School in New York City.

As part of the survey, people were asked to estimate the amount of time they spent each week performing moderate to vigorous physical activities, as well as their time spent sitting.

Federal guidelines recommend that people get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each week, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise.

Moderate-intensity activities can include walking fast, doing water aerobics, playing doubles tennis or pushing a lawn mower, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. Vigorous activities include running, swimming laps, riding a bike fast or playing singles tennis or basketball.

People who sat around for eight hours or more daily had a 77% increased risk of dying early if they got less than 140 minutes of moderate/vigorous physical activity each week.

However, those who met the 140-minute goal had just a 20% increased risk of early death, results show.

Physical activity had an even greater impact on the risk of dying from heart disease, researchers found.

People sedentary for eight hours or more daily had a nearly 3.5-times increased risk of dying from heart disease if they got less than 140 minutes of moderate/vigorous physical activity each week.

But if they exercised 140 minutes or more, their risk of dying from heart disease actually declined by 11%, despite their sedentary behavior.

The new study was published recently in the journal Diabetes Care.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on levels of physical activity.

SOURCE: Columbia University, news release, July 31, 2024

Fitness

Best cheap gym equipment for home: Additions that are low in cost but high in gains

Published

18 hours ago

August 2, 2024

Press Room

Best cheap gym equipment for home: Additions that are low in cost but high in gains

Want to lift weights at home? Dying to clock up some steps in between video calls? Or do you want to add some extra tension to bodyweight workouts once you’ve put the kids to bed?

If you’ve decided you want convenience, comfort and cost-effectiveness from your workouts then it’s worth taking a look at the best cheap gym equipment money can buy.

Whether you’re looking to grow muscle, get stronger, boost your cardio fitness or all of the above, the best at-home gym equipment can help you get there — and better yet, there’s no costly membership or constrictive timetables necessary.

What’s the most useful piece of gym equipment and why?

This will be dependent on you, your space and your workout goals. For example, there’s no point in buying a treadmill if you prefer running outside. The same goes for buying a skipping rope if you don’t intend on skipping. However, if you are looking for a place to start, personal trainer Sarah Campus, the founder of LDN MUMS FITNESS, says she couldn’t live without her dumbbells.

“Exercising with dumbbells offers a wide range of benefits that can help you achieve your fitness goals and create a healthy and active lifestyle,” the expert says. “Dumbbells are versatile and can be used to target a wide range of muscle groups. By challenging your muscles, you can increase your strength and improve your overall fitness level. Whether you’re looking to tone your arms, build strength in your legs, or work on your core, dumbbells can help you achieve your fitness goals,” Campus adds.

What should you factor in when buying at-home gym equipment?

Along with your budget and health goals, you’ll also need to take your space into consideration. “The space that you’re going to be working out in is important, because you may not have enough room to do certain exercises or set up certain equipment,” Chloe Thomas, the PT, nutrition & mindset coach behind Chloe Inspires, explains.

“Also, if you’re living in an apartment or flat, you may not be able to do certain exercises because of the noise depending on what time of day you work out,” the PT adds.

“Your budget is also important, because you may not be able to do certain exercises if the equipment is out of your budget. However, I would recommend looking at charity shops or secondhand websites online for people selling equipment in your local area.”

To help you discover the best cheap gym equipment available right now, we’ve tested out a range of options — from weights and resistance bands to foam rollers and exercise machines — and whittled it down to the top-rated additions below. Plus, with prices starting from £4 and going up to £160, there’s something for all.

Best cheap gym equipment at a glance:

Best barbell: Weight Training Bar – £29.99, Decathlon
Best resistance bands: USA Pro Woven Resistance Band Trio – £7, Sports Direct
Best Pilates and yoga mat: JLL Yoga/Pilates Mat Extra Thick – £17.99, Amazon
Best weights bench: Tiltable Weights Bench with Collapsible Pegs – £109, Decathlon
Best TRX: TRX – £134.99, Argos
Best kettlebell: Metis Neoprene 10kg kettlebell – £26.99, Amazon
Best dumbbells: Dumbbells Set Heavy Weights Hex, £22.99, Amazon
Best skipping rope: Muza Skipping Rope Adult – £3.69, Amazon
Best treadmill: Space Saving Motorised Treadmill – £159.99, Home Fitness Code
Best foam roller: Core Balance Foam Roller – £11.89, Amazon

Fitness

For healthy aging, light exercise or sleep beats being sedentary

Published

1 day ago

August 1, 2024

Press Room

For healthy aging, light exercise or sleep beats being sedentary

Less TV, more physical activity and more sleep — those are the keys to healthy aging according to recent research.
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If you want to increase your odds of living a long and healthy life, watch less television and become more physically active, because even a small amount of physical activity can improve overall health, according to an observational study published last month in JAMA Network Open.

While there have been many studies showing that moderate to vigorous physical activity is associated with healthy aging, researchers wanted to know if light physical activity compared with sedentary behaviors also improves healthy aging, and if not, how can people’s time be reallocated.

They found that replacing a sedentary behavior such as watching TV with even low-intensity activity — such as standing or walking around while cooking or washing clothes — increased one’s odds of healthy aging. And at work, replacing some of the time spent sitting with simple movements such as standing or walking around the office can improve health.

“These findings indicate that physical activity need not be high intensity to potentially benefit various aspects of health, which have especially important public health implications as older people tend to have limited physical ability to engage in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity,” Molin Wang, an associate professor in epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an author of the study, wrote in an email.

For the purposes of the study, healthy aging was defined as surviving to at least 70 with no major chronic diseases, and no impairment in subjective memory, physical function or mental health. The data, though, suggests the relationship between light activity and healthy aging continues into the 80s and 90s, Wang said.

Replacing TV time with physical activity or sleep

Researchers used responses from a Nurses’ Health Study of 45,176 women that began more than 20 years ago. Respondents were asked questions such as “On average, how many hours per week do you spend standing or walking around at home?” or “On average, how many hours per week did you spend standing or walking around at work or away from home?” Participants had an average age of 59.2 and were free of major chronic diseases when the study began in 1992. They were then tracked for 20 years.

Working in regular exercise, whether it’s a walk in the park or a light workout session at the gym or in a class, is good for healthy aging.
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The study incorporated isotemporal substitution modeling to evaluate the potential effect on healthy aging of replacing one hour of one behavior with the equivalent duration of another. They found, for instance, that every two hours spent sitting and watching television was linked to a 12% decrease in the odds of healthy aging. Conversely, every two hours per day of light physical activity at work was linked to a 6% rise in the odds of healthy aging.

Replacing TV time with light physical activity at home increased one’s odds of healthy aging as well. For those who slept seven hours a night or less, replacing television time with sleep was also beneficial for health.

For healthy aging, the activity you choose doesn’t have to be an all-out workout. It could be a light walk or even being active in your house.
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“What we found is that if you replace sedentary behaviors with any activities, I mean, even light physical activities, like standing or walking around, or doing household chores, it’s better than just being a couch potato for an extended period of time,” said Frank Hu, professor and chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an author of the study.

And swapping TV time for light physical activity, or sleep for some individuals, at any age would be beneficial, Wang said.

The researchers adjusted for several variables, including age; income; family history of cancer, myocardial infarction and diabetes; baseline hypertension and high cholesterol; menopausal status and postmenopausal hormone use; and diet.

The study findings show an association between sitting and watching television vs. light physical activity, and the odds of healthy aging, and not a causal relationship. The researchers also wrote that because their study population was limited to nurses in the United States, the “findings might not be generalizable to other populations.”

Hu said the isotemporal substitution model they used was important, likening it to the concept of opportunity cost in economic theory or the idea of isocaloric substitutions in food and nutrition. These models acknowledge that people have a finite amount of time in a day or a finite number of calories they are going to consume, so when they choose one thing over another, it comes at a cost of doing something else.

Watching TV and junk food consumption

The problem with watching TV is not just that it’s a sedentary habit. While watching, people tend to eat more junk food and drink more sugary beverages, increasing their caloric consumption, Hu said.

Scott Lear, a professor in health sciences at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, said that while the findings of the study may not be groundbreaking, researchers made some important distinctions. They made clear that health is also affected by what people are doing when they’re sedentary and where they’re doing it — not just that they’re inactive. There are different health repercussions to sitting at home vs. at work and between sitting and watching TV as opposed to sitting and reading or writing.

“Watching TV has been associated with greater risk for early death, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers, and watching TV is a bit different than just, say, sitting reading a book,” said Lear, who was not involved in the study.

The fact that sleep was included in the study was also novel, Lear said, noting that it’s an underrated health behavior. It may seem like a sedentary behavior, but the brain is very active when we sleep, performing functions that affect our overall health.

He compared the brain to an office, and at the end of the day, all of the day’s happenings — going to the grocery store, having to run to the bus, talking to someone at work — are like files that have been scattered all over the floor and must be picked up and organized by morning. That’s what the brain does when we sleep, he said.

Sleep is also when we remove toxins that build up in the brain throughout the day, and studies have shown a link between an accumulation of this metabolic waste and a person’s risk for dementia later in life, Lear said.

“We talk about physical activity and healthy nutrition. Those tend to be the two heavyweights that we talk about. But sleep is incredibly important,” Lear said.