Surfing a wave, spinning in pirouette, walking a tightrope …

Imagine, for a moment, all of the possibilities that go into the human annals of “great feats of balance.”  Yet great feats of balance happen every day, especially when we walk.  That’s right, walking, as musician Laurie Anderson reminds us, is a controlled fall:  As we step off with one foot, we naturally, and ever so slightly, fall forward.  Fortunately, we usually catch our body with our other foot!

In reality, walking is one of the many daily movement behaviors that involves a constant and natural balancing act.  It’s as if we are tightrope walking without the rope!

What is balance and why is balance important?

From a personal training/biomechanical perspective, balance results from maintaining your “center of gravity” within your “base of support” (a.k.a. COG within BOS).  Picture COG as the relation between moving your sacrum or base of spine and your feet. [Editor’s note: Compare the different perspective Chinese Martial Art systems brings to locating COG, e.g., the “dan tien” – an area said to be an inch or two below your belly button, in alignment with the force of gravity that runs from your head to your feet.]

Next, imagine standing with your feet about a foot or shoulders width apart.  You feel pretty stable and might even sense you have good “balance” right?  Now start leaning over to one side, forward or back.  The more you lean, the less stable you feel.  In other words, you feel less capable of keeping your balance.

Motor Control Test

In personal training, we say “Shift your COG to the edge of your BOS” – as in yogic asanas like the Tree Pose (in sanskrit, Vrksasana) shown below.  Put in everyday terms, ask yourself, what does it feel like to shift your weight to one foot?

You probably discovered that when your center of gravity moves outside the range of your base of support, you fall.  So, the better you are at handling challenge to your balance, the more sturdy and stable your body tends to be.  You might also notice overall efficiency when you move.  Connect the dots: When you expend less energy,  you avoid an overall taxation of muscles, nerves and bones working in harmony to our benefit!

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Best Tips for Improving balance?

Here are 3 key tips for finding ways to include COG and BOS balance exercises in your exercise or fitness program.

1. Go for strength!:  Strengthen overall neuro-muscular strength throughout your whole body, especially your core –

–   all abdominal (superficial and deep) muscles

–   pelvic floor and wall muscles

2. Be Flexible!:  Insure proper range of motion throughout your entire joint system.

–  Warm up joints with rotational movements, e.g. wrist, elbow, shoulder and neck circles for the upper body; hip, knee and ankle for the lower body.  The Martial/Somatic Art of Living practice of Tai Ji is an excellent practice to help increase joint rotation.

– Try dancing to maximize your joint rotation ability:  Flamenco, Belly Dancing, Bharata Naytam (Indian Classical Dancing) are great examples of dance traditions that emphasize rotation.

3. Be Aware!

– Fine tune your Proprioceptive System.

Proprioception is a fancy schmancy scientific word for the neural receptors set throughout your body, enabling you to sense your position in time/space, your relation to objects, depth perception etc.

–  Cross train your Vestibular System.

The Vestibular System is another finely tuned receptor system that orchestrates time/space information flow between your inner ear and your brain.  Healthy VS is vital to helping you ground and balance your body in time/space!

– Sharpen Your Visual System.

Did you know your ability to balance is highly dependent upon your visual ability to gather spatial orientation?  Create new ways to test and ramp up your visual ability to track the world around you.  For example, work with depth of field exercises or consider some of the cool brain games that are out on the market designed specifically to increase visual tracking skills [Editor’s Note: Check out the visual tracking games at Posit Science and Happy Neurons -- both companies ground their work on rigorous & substantial neuroscientific research.]

Suggested Balance Exercises:

Keeping in mind the above tips for approaching balance exercise, there are countless exercises, dynamic systems and fitness toys designed to improve your balance.   Below are 3 favorites that come with 2 caveats:

First, if you can’t balance on each foot very well, there’s no reason to put yourself on an unstable surface to test balance.  Start with simple, stable balance trials, adding complexity and difficulty once you master each step.

Second, the following suggestions presume a slow, mindful progression of adding challenge.  Take your time.  Have fun experimenting!

1. Somatic practices like Yoga and Tai Ji as well as the glorious fine art tradition of Ballet are terrific for targeting balance.  Click here for Doc Torres’ “fluid” tips on using Tai Ji for balance.

2. Narrowing your BOS will challenge your balance.  Try standing with your feet touching.  Now try lifting one foot off the floor.  How long can you hold that position on each foot?

3. Changing your base of support is a great place to start for balance work.  Remember I mentioned the powerful role vision plays?  Try closing your eyes and notice how drastically you challenge your balance.

The Big Picture?

By tackling the art of balance in your fitness program, daily life activities become easier to do!  Whether you’re playing with your child, reaching for a glass on a top shelf, or trying out a new yoga pose, your balance is always being put to the test.  The more balanced your whole body is, the better chance you have to meet the physical challenges of everyday life!  And remember, the next time you see one of the world’s best performers or athletes demonstrate a breath taking feat of balance, think of how you’re holding up your end of the balancing act!

Take Home Message:

Balance is part of our every day lives.  Think of balance as an ideal opportunity to strengthen and fine tune your whole body  from the inside out.  Let’s make doing those daily movements a piece of cake!