Your exercise tip – exercise to improve balance
If you are noticing that there is a deterioration in your balance, there are exercises you can do to improve. So what is balance?
The physiology of balance is the body’s ability to sense that there is movement and to stabilise a joint or body part to be able to carry a goal efficiently (i.e. walking without falling over). The sensors at that joint (we will use the ankle in this example) will detect there is a movement that needs to be controlled or stopped. This message is sent to the brain, is interpreted (in this case to turn on the muscle that stabilise the ankle) and sent to the muscles that need to be recruited to stop the issue. This all takes place in a 1000th of a second.
Practicing balance exercises will help in two ways to improve your stability. Firstly, it will help the messages become faster and more efficient at getting the results needed (in this case turning on the muscles). Secondly, it will build the stamina and strength in those muscle recruited, again hopefully reducing the risk of injury or fall.
The exercise to start with is ‘stork standing’, where you stand on one leg, with the eyes open (to begin with), balancing for 30 seconds. Change legs and repeat the process to see if you can do the same amount of time on the opposite side. Practice this (whenever you remember) over your week.
Your health tip – A quick snapshot on the role of minerals in the body.
Minerals are an element that can never broken down or lost, and play vital roles in our bodies day to day and long term health. The link (above) is a great source of what minerals are and what they do.
Exercise of the week – Lat Pulldowns
This week we are looking at the Lat Pulldowns, an exercise for the biceps, shoulders and major muscles in the back. There are multiple variations, but keep it simple in the beginning. Tips for the bench press are:
- When pulling the weight downwards, try to maintain the scapula (shoulder blades) stable and pulled together. It may feel like you are pushing your chest towards the roof.
- Breathe out when you pull the weight downwards, maintaining a smooth pace. When you let it return to the up position, maintain control and don’t let the elbows straighten out all the way.
- This is not an exercise that you would have in a routine if you had issues with chronic elbow issues.
- If it hurts – stop!
Your life tip
We often look at how we look and wish that we are more beautiful than we seem to be. This does not matter in life unless we make it a matter.
This week’s wise words
‘Live life to express not impress.’
Anonymous
Have a great week and keep healthy in 2017. David.