![]() ![]() Place your hands on your hips for balance. Begin to hinge at the waist, keeping your left knee soft. Put your weight into your left leg and come up on to your right toe, using it as a kickstand for balance. Stand tall with your feet as wide as your hips. *Optional: Add resistance band around upper thighs to make this more challenging. Lower your hips back to ground and repeat the exercise 10 times. Then, exhale as you slowly roll down one vertebra at a time. Once you’re up in the air, take a deep breathe in. With your head resting on the floor, slowly raise your hips in the direction of the ceiling by curling up your lower back, middle back and then upper back. Rest your arms straight down at your sides with your palms on the floor and bend your knees so that your ankles are under your knees. Repeat on the opposite side (right leg and left arm). Exhale, engaging the core, as you slowly lower the opposite arm and leg (left leg and right arm), hovering them above the floor. Then, lift your legs and bend your knees into a tabletop position, stacked over your hips at a 90-degree angle. Keep your shoulders and low back flat on the floor as you lift your arms straight toward the sky, above your shoulders. Continue alternating, performing 10 reps on each side. Switch sides and repeat using your right arm and left leg. For an added challenge, bend your left elbow and your right knee in toward each other until they touch underneath your stomach. Straighten your left arm out in front of you and your right leg out behind you, balancing on your opposite hand and knee. Start on all fours with your shoulder over your wrists and hips stacked above the knees. Then slowly roll back up to the starting position, first peeling your upper back off the ground, then middle back, and finally the lower back. Lie down on the ground and reach the arms overhead. Allow your low back to touch the ground first, then your middle back, then your upper back. Begin rolling your body back toward the ground slowly, rounding your back and neck. Extend both arms straight out in front of you at shoulder height. Bend your knees so that your feet rest flat on the ground. Sit up on the floor with your back straight, shoulders relaxed and down, and your feet resting in front of you, hips-width apart. *Optional: Add resistance band around ankles to make this more challenging. Hold for 10 seconds, rest, and repeat for a total of 3 times. Make sure the shoulders stay over the wrists and be mindful not to round or arch the back. Pull the abs in and step the feet back to come up into a plank position. PlankĬome onto your hands and knees, opening the hands as wide as the shoulders and the knees as wide as the hips. Work your core in all directions with this quick routine. >Want to track your walking mileage this month? Get a printable calendar for February here. So by incorporating balance training into your routine you won’t only be stronger and more stable in your daily movements, but you may also feel tighter and more toned in your midsection. (The participants researchers analyzed were ages 51 to 75.)Ī bonus is that balance training really fires up the core - since it’s the foundation of balance in the body. In fact, a recent report published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that people who couldn’t stand on one foot for 10 seconds were nearly twice as likely to die in the next 10 years. Not to mention that our balance is a reflection of our overall health, especially as we age. Strengthening these muscles helps to improve our overall body mechanics, allowing us to move more efficiently and reducing risk of pain and injury. These include smaller muscles in your feet and around your ankles, muscles in the front and sides of your hips, and muscles of the core that help with posture and trunk stability. When we walk, lift weights or perform any daily movement (from standing up from a chair to bending down to pick something up), our body recruits stabilizing muscles for balance. This month we’ll be adding two strength and stability workouts to our walking routine: A 5-minute workout focused specifically on building core strength - the main source of balance in the body - and a full-body balance workout that will challenge your stability and strengthen the lower body and core. So here we are! Thanks to Al, our February workout challenge is focused on improving strength and stability in the body to support you in everyday activities and help you walk more efficiently. ![]()
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