I was recently asked about balance exercises. Since we work with a lot of seniors and retirees (like Ivan, Lynn, and others), a lot of them ask how to improve balance as you age? Makes sense. Some people as they get older fear falling, and possibly breaking a bone. Other people can use improved equilibrium to play golf and tennis better (or other sports as well). Regardless of how you’re going to use your sense of balance, the training and progressions are the same. After all, balance is balance.

So before I tell you how to train balance, let’s go over the agenda for today (feel like you’re in school?). Here’s what we’ll talk about:

  • Common mistakes people (even personal trainers) make when trying to improve their balance.
  • What is balance (the 3 components that make it up)
  • How do you increase your equilibrium? What exercises improve balance?
  • How long does it take to improve balance?
  • Does walking improve balance?

how to improve your balance as you get older

Original source: here.

Mistakes When Doing Balance Exercises

I’ve been in a lot of gyms, and watched a lot of people. One thing I see in almost every gym is people standing on either BOSU balls, or balance boards or sitting on stability balls, trying to balance.

If you ask them why they’re doing it, their answer isn’t exactly “training for the circus”, like you’d expect. It’s frequently scientific-sounding answers, like “to work my core” or “to burn more calories” or “to work my stabilizer muscles.” And unfortunately most personal trainers reinforce these misconceptions. But that’s just what they are: misconceptions. The scientific term for these kinds of exercises is “funky nonsense.” And it’s definitely not Igor-approved.

But anyways, in the past, I’ve written a full article on why these implements don’t actually do any of these things they’re supposed to do, so I won’t go into that in this newsletter. If you want to read that article, click here.

So then, if doing funky nonsense isn’t going to improve your balance, what will? To understand that, let’s break down what balance really is.

What is Balance? 

I would agree with the standard Webster’s definition of balance: your ability to maintain equilibrium (ie to not fall). How does the body know to do that? It is the fine integration of 3 systems:

  1. Your visual system: what your eyes tell you.
  2. The vestibular system (the inner ear). There is a fluid inside the inner ear that basically tells your body about its position.
  3. The nerve endings. The nerve endings have receptors for position, length and tension of muscles.

The brain then integrates these 3 systems, without your conscious control to keep you from falling.

If you think about it, there are a number of variations that can happen to challenge your balance, like:

  • Your eyes can be moving, while your head is still
  • Your head can be moving while your eyes are still
  • Your head could be moving as you are walking
  • Your head could be moving in one direction as the eyes are going in the opposite direction

And these are just scratching the surface.

So to train your balance in a “real-life” way (as opposed to something that doesn’t happen in real life… like standing on a BOSU ball), you need progressions, just as you would in strength training and endurance training.

How do you Increase Your Equilibrium: What Exercises Improve Balance

             Just as with anything, you want to find your “sweet spot.” You want an exercise that is not so easy that it doesn’t do anything, but not so hard that you simply can’t do it.

So here are some progressions along the way to superior balance, from easiest to hardest (I learned these from Z-Health):

  1. Stand in one place, with your feet apart, and just look forward for 30 seconds. This one is obviously very easy for most people.
  2. Same exercise as above, but this time with your eyes closed. This will be more challenging for some people, and they may find themselves swaying.
  3. Now repeat the previous 2 with your feet together. Now, you have a smaller base of support.
  4. Now repeat the first two while standing on one leg.
  5. Now repeat the first two while standing on one leg, with the eyes closed.
  6. Now you can rotate your head while standing in place.
  7. Now you can nod your head while standing in place.
  8. Next, you can walk forward, while turning your head.
  9. Next, you can walk backwards, while turning your head.
  10. Next, you can walk backwards with your eyes closed while turning your head.

As you can see, we’ve progressed from easy to very difficult. And yes, there are lots of progressions in between these, that we just didn’t have time to go into in this article.

 

How Long Does it Take to Improve Balance?

As with my “exercise prescription” series of articles (like diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and others), we want to know “how much”. So how long do you have to do these exercises before your balance improves?

The fortunate answer is on a per-session basis, you should be training balance for 10-15 minutes at a time. There’s not much of a benefit to doing it below 10 minutes, and no greater benefit to going beyond 15 minutes.

Weekly, for there to be consistent improvements, it has to be done 3-4 times per week.

The nice thing is that if you’ve never done balance exercises, you’ll see progress fast. Very fast. Every 2-5 workouts, your balance will improve.

how long does it take to improve balance

Original source: here.

Does Walking Improve Balance?

Walking, unfortunately does not improve balance. To improve anything, it must be challenged. For example, if you’re trying to improve your strength, lifting 2-pound dumbbells won’t do it, because (I assume) it’s pretty easy for you, and you can do it more than 20 times.

The same applies to balance. You have to use exercises where you have to really focus in order to balance, instead of not having to think about it. And when you’re walking, you’re not really thinking about your balance, so now, walking does not improve your balance.

Results 

What results can you expect from doing these balance exercises?

  • Reduce your risk of falling
  • Decrease tightness. Sometimes, you may not respond to stretching if your sense of balance is off. Your nervous system reflexively tightens you up as a protective mechanism.
  • Improve athletic performance
  • Fewer injuries

As with anything, balance training must be individualized to the person doing it. You have to figure out the right speed of progression, the right training frequency, the right duration of a training session, and more. If you want help with that, let me know.