Improve your Balance in 5 minutes!

I'm Julie Robinson from move it or lose it and I've taught thousands of people to help them improve their balance and stability it's something that tends to decline especially as we age but there's lots that you can do to help rectify that the first thing is always make sure that you are safe to be able to do a balanced exercise sometimes you need to improve your strength before you start to attempt any balancing so if you're concerned at all please ask your doctor you can get a referral to a Falls clinic but if you're just at that stage where you're noticing that things are not so good as they used to be then I'm going to show you some simple exercises you can do at home and that's going to really help you feel more steady on your feet so I'm going to use a chair at my side but if you're doing this at home you could stand and use the kitchen sink which is really stable and sturdy and hold that with both hands while you're trying these exercises make sure you've got some space around you and something to hold on you can even have a chair at each side the first one is the one leg stance so you're going to stand with support on only one leg soften the knees slightly and take the weight on that foot keep holding for support tighten your tummy muscles and focus on something ahead then lift that foot up just a little way keep the foot flat and then see can you balance or you can keep touching the chair for support and remember you can put your foot down at any time you will feel a little bit of wobble and sway that's completely normal see if you can hold for up to 10 seconds and down just do a little bit of heel raising in between let's try that on the other foot so soften the knee bringing those core muscles get a point to focus on and keep holding until you're confident to be able to do with a fingertip touch think how many times in a day you will need this stance as you walk up or down stairs if you're getting on or off an escalator at a busy shopping center and that's C so try and practice that regularly and if you can build up to doing that for 30 seconds on each leg make sure you've got your chair for support you can do this holding the chair with both hands I'm doing it this way so you can see what I'm doing feet are hip-width apart are we going to raise the heels and keep holding the chair until you find the point where you feel safe to be able to maybe keep fingertip touch you might even be able to let go and hold you will get some wobble through your ankles that's okay keep correcting the position of the core here until you feel sturdy and steady and can hold for 10 seconds you don't need to lift the heels up too high now if you want to progress that you might find that's really easy you can do it with a little bit of a head turn that's really going to affect your balance so if you're not sure make sure you keep hold of the chair so heels come up get the point where you feel that you're nice and steady if you can let go and then turn your head very slightly one way back to the center and round the other way this is going to affect you but of course this is what we do in everyday life and heels back down please make sure you've always got something to hold on to while you're practicing your balances do that several times through the day so this next one is dynamic balance which means you're moving as you balance which is very realistic in everyday life if you're not sure about this just stick with the one leg stance until you feel more confident and can hold for at least 10 seconds comfortably on each leg so it's the same setup we've got our support soften that supporting leg bring up one foot in front foot flat and then if you're ready to hold that balance keep the focus we're going to take the foot just behind slightly back up so we're just doing a knee raise and bringing the foot back one or two times and then pop that foot back to the floor and rest let's try that on the other side at first practice with holding on foot flat lifting up taking the foot behind slightly and back then try with just fingertip support or without think how many times do you do this every day without thinking if you're walking up and down stairs or getting on and off an escalator is a busy shopping center this balance exercise is really good for your core muscles and they're so important for balance as well so we're going to raise one arm and the opposite leg holding that chair for support at first until you feel confident enough to try without so feet apart he puts at least softening the supporting knee and then we raise up one arm and then the opposite knee and down just two or three seconds and see if you can build up a little bit of a rhythm where we open up opposite arm opposite knee make sure that foot stays flat you don't have to bring the knee up too high and make sure that you're bringing those tummy muscles in each time you try try and do ten on each side

Channel: Move it or Lose it UK

Views: 1,991,048

Keywords: BBC, Julie Robinson, Move It Or Lose UK, UK, Exercise from home, Cardio, Fitness, Exercise, Arthritis, Training, Health, Well Being, Exercise DVD, Exercise For the Elderly, Older People, Exercise for Seniors, Tone, FABS, Falls, osteoparosis, falls prevention, Strong, fractures, Amazing, 5 minutes, workout, Balance, senior workout, senior exercise, wellness, strength, body, exercise classes for seniors

Id: ujoD1l4fnP4

Length: 6min 4sec (364 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 13 2016