What are "balance exercises"?

What are "balance exercises"?

John Spencer Ellis (Author, TV Show Host, Trainer and CEO, National Exercise & Sports Trainers Association) gives expert video advice on: What is the most common fitness mistake?; What is the difference between fitness and physical activity?; Why is exercise so important? and more...

Balance exercises are incredibly important for all individuals regardless of what they do and they should be done near the beginning of a workout regimen. So, let me go back just a moment. There are postural movements that you should do and that helps stabilise your body. After someone has done postural exercises to stabilise their body, they can then do balance movements like reaching, leaning, twisting, reaching out for a ball, or whatever it is. There are many different types of balance movements. If you're an athlete, you have to know how to balance because if you're just strong but you don't have good balance, then that strength or power means nothing because it's hard to transfer. If you're a senior, you'd want to do balance training so you can help prevent falls and hip fractures, which oftentimes then actually leads to pneumonia and even death in seniors. So, simply by doing balance training, we can actually decrease the likelihood of death among seniors. It's a shorter correlation than people think. So, everyone can benefit from balance training, and I encourage you to do so.