Why You Should Be Practicing Balance Drills (with Video)

If you look at a human being, we shouldn't be able to balance on our feet, let alone run and jump and dance and lift. Look at other bipeds and they have fail safes built in to prevent them from falling. Kangaroos have those enormous feet. Chickens have a super low center of gravity keeping them weighted down and stable. Apes, our closest relatives, can manage awkward bipedalism for a few strides but always default to all fours. Humans somehow walk around completely upright and manage to avoid falling over despite stacking our entire bodies on top of relatively small feet. Well, mostly. We're always on the brink of falling over, of teetering to one side or the other. When we walk, we are doing controlled falling. When we jump, we must land. And weय fall, we do become misaligned. Our sense of balance is precarious and can fail. After all... The leading cause for injury hospitalizations in the elderly is falling. The leading cause for injuries in athletes is "landing funny." The leading cause for injuries in recreational strength trainees is "losing your balance and doing a lift all weird." Incredibly, humans have to learn to balance on their feet. Babies take about a year to learn how to walk. It's a struggle. In other words, balance is incredibly important at every stage of life. It's precious but perilous. It's not a sure thing. We can lose it, and that's when things start to fall apart for us. So, what are some simple balance drills you can practice to develop and maintain your sense of balance? My friend and longtime colleague Brad Kearns is back with a fantastic video introducing some basic balance drills you can do if you're young, old, experienced, or a beginner. Here it is: Standing on one leg This is very simple, but not necessarily easy. Lift one foot off the ground and stand on the other. Do it slowly and deliberately; really think about what you're doing. Be present in your body and feel the ground with your feet. "Grab" the ground with your feet. Be barefoot or in minimalist shoes like Vibram Fivefingers. The closer you are to a barefoot state, the better your results. Being barefoot allows you to activate all the supporting musculature necessary for a proper single leg balance. It also allows better proprioceptive awareness of your place in space and time, and gives the nerves in your foot (and thus your brain) full access to the information needed to establish strong balance pathways between brain and body. After 30 seconds or so, or when you start wobbling and struggling, switch feet. Standing on the ball of your foot This is a variation on the last one. Once again, you're standing on one foot but this time instead of using the entire foot you're balancing on the ball of your foot. Keep your heel slightly off the ground. Don't go up on your toes, but stay on the ball. It's ŠContinue reading "Why You Should Be Practicing Balance Drills (with Video)"The post Why You Should Be Practicing Balance Drills (with Video) appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple