Five killer exercises you can do right now to improve your balance

Posted by George Aird on August 6th, 2018

You'd be surprised as to how much balance can affect your day-to-day life...

Find yourself constantly tripping, or unable to carry the shopping back to the car? That'll be down to your balance. 

See, balance affects everything. You could be the strongest person in the room, but if you can't apply that muscle strength with a stable core, then it means nothing. Improving your balance will therefore allow you to lift heavier, run faster, and generally will ease the day-to-day strain on your body. 

But how do you go about improving it? 

Below you can find some of the best and quickest ways to improve your balance. We've combined exercises, with sports and elements of fitness, in order to give you the best chance possible of staying on an even-kilter. 

Want to walk proudly without the fear of toppling over? Get reading! 

1. Yoga

Anyone who finds themselves struggling with balance on a regular basis should consider Yoga. The combination of dynamic movements, integrating strength, flexibility, and poise, into one exercise session, helps to develop a variety of muscle groups that direct improve one's ability to balance. What's more, Yoga's recent surge in popularity means that it is easier than ever to access top quality classes, including free online sessions run by Vloggers on YouTube. 

 
2. Snowsports 

Skiing and snowboarding are all about balance. The high intensity nature of these sports means that, traditionally, they weren't for everyone. However, recent popularity and rise the in the number of Skiing UK Venues means that more and more people are gaining access to snowsports. The disciplines can teach you how to specifically train those parts of your body that will help with balance: namely, the core of your body. 

 
3. A Focus on functional fitness

A decade ago, weight machines and isolated exercises were all the rage. This was particularly true in fields like bodybuilding, where individuals what to improve the composition of specific muscles, and would therefore train only those areas of the body. We now know that, to improve your fitness in a practical context - let's say you have a job that requires manual labour and constant exertion - that you need to focus on improving functional fitness. What's that? Well, functional fitness is the kind of fitness you use in everyday life: the muscles you use lifting the shopping, or walking up a steep hill. The only way to improve this, and to improve your balance, is to construct a regime comprised of compound workouts that improve a number of muscle groups, rather than just one. 

Here you should consider: squats, deadlifts, lunges, rows, planks, mountain climbers, and crunches. 

 
4. Core Muscle Workouts 

As mentioned earlier, your core controls everything. Nothing is going to improve your balance more than having a strong and stable core. Again, to improve these muscles, you should be focusing on compound exercises, especially things like squats that work your back and glutes. 

That's right, despite what many people believe, your core is more than just your abdominals. It is in fact most of your muscles that aren't in your arms and legs. Because your core allows your extremities to function at optimal capacity, you need to improve the composition of these muscles to have any hope of not falling flat on your face. 

 
5. Climbing and Bouldering 

What better way to test your balance than to suspend yourself half way up a boulder, using nothing but your raw strength. The true test of any climber is not how often they can lift themselves with their arm, but in fact how well they can traverse across tiny crags using nothing but their fingers and toes. What does this require, other than a great degree of skill and bravery? You guessed it, balance! 

Climbing combines athleticism, flexibility, strength, and cardio. All of these in combination result in one thing and one thing alone - better balance!