Balance work becomes important as you get older in the context of falls prevention i.e. the better you are at balance work will reduce the likelihood of falling and breaking a bone. Bone health is one of the aspects of fitness that is potentially impacted by the menopause. There are a lot of factors regarding bone health, but preventing falling by improving your balance is sound advice.
There are a few different types of balance work and typical exercises to help you get started, depending where you are on your fitness journey. If this is a new addition for you, then I think your kitchen is a good place to do many of the balance exercises. Where you can use the kitchen bunker for support.
A timer is also useful to measure your progress. Starting at 30 seconds building up to a minute.
Heel lifts
This is when you are in standing and lift both heels of the floor at the same time and take a breath at the top before lowering with control. Rising back up before letting your heels graze the floor before rising again.
You most likely to find this is a Pilates class.
Single Leg – Static Balance
As it sounds you lift one leg off the floor, so your knee is roughly inline with your hip and hold. Starting at 30 seconds and building up to a minute
You most likely to find this is a Pilates class. You may also find static balance work in yoga such as Tree pose.
Single Leg – Dynamic Balance
As above but the leg is moving creating a imbalance to work with. The moving leg is similar to Knee Float if you have come across that in your Pilates journey
It is recommended that balance work is incorporated into your workouts 2-3 times per week. It’s easy to make sweeping statements that it will be in a yoga or Pilates class. As I’m sure you are aware all classes are different and the question becomes is balance work included in your Pilates or yoga class?
You may also find Tai Chi useful to improve your balance.
Samantha Valand is a Pilates teacher, Yoga Instructor and Personal Trainer. Who helps women fall in love with exercising again after the menopause. You can find some inspiration over on the blog Samatha has a free newsletter and a fun way to sign up is through my 'Elements of Exercise | Post menopause Quiz' which help you figure out what type of fitness focus to set next using Elements of Exercise framework
