Do you ever feel like you’re constantly off balance? Whether you’re out for a walk, running on a treadmill, or playing a sport, having good balance is essential. Good balance can help you stay on your feet, reduce your risk of injury, and even improve your overall coordination.
How can I improve my balance?
Wondering how can you go about improving your balance? The answer: exercise!
By incorporating certain exercises into your workout routine — such as step-up knee drives, split lunges, kneeling trunk diagonals and goblet squats — you can significantly boost your balance. Each of these exercises challenges your body in different ways and helps to strengthen your core muscles, which are essential for balance. Additionally, these exercises will work to improve your overall strength, flexibility, and coordination.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these exercises.
Step-Up Knee Drives
A great exercise that targets your glutes and helps to build strength in your hips and legs while improving your balance and stability.
- Stand with one foot on a step or platform.
- Making sure to keep your weight on the heel of the foot that is planted on the step, drive the opposite knee forward and up, keeping your knee in line with your toes.
- Lower your hips back down and repeat.
Kneeling Trunk Diagonals with Medicine Ball
An excellent choice for an exercise that improves core strength and balance.
- Start in a kneeling position with a medicine ball in your hands and your left leg forward.
- Raise the medicine ball diagonally from the right side, up and over your head, and across your body to the left side.
- Lower the medicine ball back to your starting position. Repeat the same motion on the opposite side.
Split Lunges (Split Squats)
This exercise will work to strengthen your glutes, quads, and hamstrings, while also helping to improve your balance.
- Stand with one foot in front of the other and lower your body until your front knee is bent at a 90 degree angle and your back knee nearly touches the ground.
- Push off your front foot and return to the starting position.
- Make sure to keep your chest up and your abs engaged throughout the exercise.
Goblet Squats
Another great exercise to strengthen your glutes, quads, and hamstrings, while also helping to improve your balance.
- Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and hold a weight in front of your chest with both hands.
- Push your hips back and lower your body down into a squat. Make sure to keep your chest up and your weight evenly distributed on both feet.
- Push off your feet and return to the starting position.
Your core muscles are the muscles in your abdomen, lower back, and hips that help to support your body and maintain stability. Strengthening these muscles helps to improve your balance by providing more stability and support. Improving coordination is also important for maintaining good balance.
Exercises such as those featured above not only build core strength but also improve coordination, including reaction time and focus which are essential for coordination.
Improved balance and coordination can help reduce your risk of injury, especially as they empower you to avoid falls. So, what are you waiting for? Start exercising and get your balance back on track.
Start your physical therapy journey today.
As physical therapists, we know the importance of movement for overall health and well-being. From injury recovery to achieving optimal performance, our passion is to help every patient reach their goals and live an active, pain-free life. Get started with PT today!