The Importance of Balance Training

Target your core and posture and you can look 5-10 lbs. thinner instantly.

By Regina Kravitz, Certified Personal Trainer, Wellness, Lifestyle Coach

The Importance of Balance Training

Balance training is an over looked, simple series of exercises not included as we overdo cardio to lose weight or lift and strain to shape our silhouette! Balance training activates the core and cues the body to improve alignment and adjust posture.

Poor posture is an unattractive as ill-fitting clothing and under normal circumstances, just demands a little attention to detail.

Shoulders back! Tummy In! Stand up straight are drills we all may have heard since childhood but they can, in fact, instantly make us look 5-10 lbs. thinner.

Balance training is a life long staple to put in your exercise tool box!

Summer days are hot and challenge our devotion to a consistent fitness routine if you can’t make it happen before 10 AM. Balance training can be done anywhere, anytime with a modicum of sweat. They are also somewhat meditative and when combined with attention to breathing, can be transformative and mind clearing.

Balance training specifically trains and strengthens the muscles that help keep you upright, notably your legs and core. They are surprisingly difficult if you have never paid much attention to these static movements.

Obviously, designed to improve stability, they focus on slow, methodical stances and can range from simple chair implemented poses to intense yoga and Tai Chi.

They are hardly ever included in chi chi studio or hyper active gym classes and are thought of as primarily senior citizen or over weight applicable, but that is not valid. If you are an advanced exerciser, likely you will still need to start with something simple, then, advance to more complex moves which both challenge your stamina and muscular strength. Think vertical planks.

They can be as simple as standing on one leg or as advanced as using a Bosu half circle along with a video game.

Try some and you will be surprised by how actually inept and challenged you are by them.

Examples include:

Standing on one leg and raising the other leg to the side or behind you
Try different arm positions: overhead, in front of you, outstretched.
Close your eyes! This will totally disorient you and force you off balance
Put your heel in front of your opposite toe. Stand up straight like you are walking a tight rope, arms out -stretched and see what happens.
Walk, alternating with knee lifts. Wobbly??

Hold the postures for longer amounts of time.

Create a smooth routine and in effect, you are typifying the movements of beginner Tai Chi which are known to advance health and well-being into old age!

This weeks Motivational Motto: