As you age, you may notice your balance slipping away. Sometimes, when you do a side-step, for example, you may go off balance and look a bit on the tipsy side, even when you haven’t had anything to drink. Yes, we must admit, looking tipsy in public can be a major embarrassment. Good balance peaks at the age of 20 and will normally remain good until your mid-40s. However, after the 40s, your balance may start to deteriorate at a slow rate and eventually, it will become noticeable. The good news is, you don’t have to let your balance deteriorate – you can do something about it. Even if you are young and feel as if your balance could be better, you can fix the issue. Have you ever heard of strength training? Does strength training help with balance? Of course it does.
What Can Strength Training Do?
Strength training can do numerous things to better your body. Before we tell you more about strength training and improving your balance, let us give you a short list of some things strength training can do for you:
- · Improve bone mineral density
- · Lower your risk of injury
- · Improve ability to take part in daily activities
- · Improve your self confidence
- · Decrease bad cholesterol levels
- · Enhance speed and power
- · Improve aerobic capacity
- · Improve your balance
Strength Training Can Improve Your Balance
That’s right, we said strength training CAN improve your balance, but it is not something that will happen overnight. In strength training, you will be creating a new relationship between your brain and your body. As you learn how to properly coordinate your movements, the signals going to your brain will grow, starting with the pathways leading o your brain and then the joints and muscles directly. Strength training will teach our balance centers (this includes the feet, eyes and ears) to work together in order to sense imbalance and correct it. As the muscles gain strength, especially in the lower portion of your body, you will become more stable.
Reduce Your Risk of Falling
Through strength training, the benefits go past the appearance of your body having well-toned muscles. Your coordination, posture and balance will improve. If you are known for having poor balance and flexibility, you can turn to strength training to help you reduce your risk of falling by up to forty percent.
Your Balance Improves with Practice
Like we previously said, this isn’t something that will happen overnight. It is going to take time before you notice any improvements, but once you do, it will be well worth it. You can turn to strength training exercises in order to help improve your mind-body connection and to help you build a nice stability in the big muscles of your legs. Afterwards, turn to specific exercises that are known for challenging your balance.
