Anti-Aging: Why Practicing Balance Is Important

By Coach John Hughes

This may seem like an irrelevant recommendation to cyclists. You have no problem staying on your bike, right? Here’s why that isn’t sufficient:

1. Balancing on a bike is a learned skill. Beginners are very wobbly, but as you become proficient you learn to ride a straight line. The gyroscopic forces are relatively unimportant. [Dr. Hugh Hunt, Cambridge]
2. Because balancing on the bike is a learned skill it doesn’t apply directly to other situations where balance is required.
3. Different biomechanics. How you maintain balance is different on your feet than on the bike. And how you maintain balance while you’re moving is different than balancing when you’re standing.
4. Regaining your balance when you start to fall is different than maintaining your balance standing, walking and cycling.

Experts differentiate between balance and stability. Balance is controlling your body without movement against gravity. Stability is controlling your body during movement. For simplicity in this column I’ll use the word balance to cover both balance and stability.

I’m a multi-sport athlete and balance is different in each activity. Balancing on my mountain bike on rough single track is different from balancing on the road. Balancing cross-country skiing is different than snowshoeing and very different from cycling. Balance while hiking uneven terrain is also different than walking.

I’m working on an eBook Cycling in Your 70s, 80s and Beyond and this column is based on my research.

Balance and Aging

Falls are the number-one cause of injuries and death from injuries among older Americans. Every 19 minutes in this country, an older person dies from a fall. (New York Times)

As you age the body’s systems that detect gravity, identify exact body positioning (proprioception) at any moment, and promote balance and stability become less effective. These declines increase your risk of falling, they often occur alongside losses in muscle strength and mobility. Another factor is peripheral neuropathy, or nerve damage that can result in numbness in the hands, feet, and other parts of the body. Type 2 diabetes, which affects about 25 percent of older adults, is one of the most common causes of peripheral neuropathy, or nerve damage that can result in numbness in the hands, feet, and other parts of the body.

Because balancing is a set of learned albeit unconscious skills, you need to practice so your body learns the skills in different situations. Maintaining cycling fitness requires regular riding. Similarly, in order to maintain your balance skills you need to continue to practice.

Injuries

Each year, 2.8 million older people are treated in emergency departments for fall injuries. These are not just inactive frail seniors. Because of the physiological changes described above we’re all at greater risk of falling and going to ER.

One out of five of these falls causes a serious injury such as broken bones or a head injury. Over 800,000 patients a year are hospitalized because of a fall injury, most often because of a head injury or hip fracture. Each year at least 300,000 older people are hospitalized for hip fractures. More than 95% of the hip fractures are caused by falling, usually by falling sideways. Many of the injured either don’t survive the first year or do not regain the ability to walk without assistance and have to live in an institution. Falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries. (Centers for Disease Control)

Exercises

Here are drills to work on your balance. Your balance will be better if you:

• Look forward toward a fixed horizon.
• Practice in a room with no moving distractions, e.g., other people or the TV on.
• Tighten your core so your body is stable except for the limbs you intentionally move.
• Relax your knees instead of locking them.
• Allow your toes to move — in ballet dancers are on the tips of their toes and are constantly moving their toes.
• Imagine you’re pushing down with one hand onto a solid object.

1. a. Standing on one leg:

Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your weight equally distributed on both legs. Shift your weight to your left side and then lift your right foot about six inches off the floor. Slowly count the seconds you are balancing on one leg – try for 15 seconds initially. Slowly lower your right foot placing it hip-width from your left foot. Slowly shift your weight to your right foot, slowly raise your left foot and count the seconds. Put your left foot back on the floor. Raising and lowering both legs is one repetition. Practice doing two or three reps increasing the duration of each until you can do 30 to 60 seconds per rep.  As you get better you can make this harder with this progression: 

b. Rotating your head:

Stand on one foot like #1 and slowly count to five seconds. Stay on just that foot and slowly look over your right shoulder while counting to five. Still standing on that foot, slowly rotate and look over your left shoulder while counting to five. Slowly rotate your head back to center while counting to five. This is one rep. (You stand on one foot for a total of 20 seconds.) Do five reps on one foot (20 seconds per rep) and then switch feet. Practice increasing the duration of each of the five reps to 40 to 60 seconds per rep.

d. Raising your knee:

Slowly raise your left knee until your thigh is parallel to the ground. Hold for five seconds, lower until only your toes tap the floor. This one rep. Do five reps with one leg (25 seconds total) and then switch legs. Practice increasing the duration of each of the five reps until they total 40 to 60 seconds with one leg. Then switch legs.

e. Moving your upper body:

For example, stand on one foot while you’re brushing your teeth or doing dishes.

e. Kicking:

Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your weight equally distributed on both legs. Cross your forearms in front of your chest. Shift your weight to your left side. Slowly kick forward and up with your right foot with your leg as straight as possible. At the same time sweep your arms out until they’re about parallel with the floor. Hold your foot up for six seconds and lower right foot back to stand on the floor. Cross your forearms back in front of you chest. This is one rep. Do five reps with one foot (30 seconds total) and then switch feet. Practice increasing the duration of each of the five reps until they total 60 seconds. Then switch legs.

2. Tandem or tightrope walking:

Try walking in a line, heel to toe, for a short distance, gradually increasing the distance. Use a line on the floor if possible. This is harder than normal walking because your stance is so narrow.

3a. Four-way stepping:

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, arms at your sides. Engage your core. Stand on your right leg and step in four directions with your left foot so that with each step just your left toes touch the floor and all your weight is on you right foot. 1) Step forward and back to center.  2) Step to the left and back to center. 3) Step to the rear and back to center. 4) Move your left leg across the front of your right leg, step to the right and back to center. Put your left foot down shoulder-width from your right foot.  This is one rep. Switch feet and repeat. Practice building up to 5 to 10 reps per foot before you switch legs. You can make this more difficult by raising and your hands above your head and lowering as you step in each direction.

3b. Three-way lunge:

This is similar to the four-way stepping. Stand on your right foot and lunge three directions: 1) Lunge forward and back to center. 2) Lunge to the right and back to center. 3) Lunge backward and back to center. This is one rep. Switch legs and repeat. Only go down as deep in the lunge as you can without any knee pain. If your knees hurt this isn’t the exercise for you. Practice until you can do 5 to 10 reps with one leg before switching legs.

4. Airplane:

Stand on one leg with a slight bend in your knee. Bend forward from your hips. When your torso is almost parallel to the floor, extend your arms out to your sides and twist your trunk in either direction, as if you’re landing a plane. This is one rep. Practice until you can do 5 to 10 reps with one leg before switching legs.

These exercises are from three sources:

• Silver Sneakers Balance Workouts for Greater Stability
• Mayo Clinic Balance Exercises
• Bernhardt Balance Exercises

Each of these sources has more exercises.

More challenging: You can make each of the above more challenging doing it with your eyes closed. For an exercise, start by resting your hand lightly on a chair, table, etc. The hand is for safety, not to maintain your balance. When you start to lose your balance try to catch yourself with your body and only use the hand if you really start to fall. As you become more proficient hold your hand above the chair, etc. so you can catch yourself if you start to lose your balance.

This more general column from the New York Times is very informative about what you can do in addition to balance exercises.  Falls Can Kill You: Here’s How to Minimize the Risk.

Anti-Aging: 12 Ways You Can Slow the Aging Process My e-Book explains the physiology of aging and how to assess your current fitness. It includes exercise programs for cardiovascular health and endurance, training with intensity, resistance training, getting more flexible, improving your balance and slowing bone loss. It includes a dozen stories about their personal experiences by riders ages 54 to 82. The 107-page Anti-Aging: 12 Ways You Can Slow the Aging Process is $14.99.

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Coach John Hughes earned coaching certifications from USA Cycling and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. John’s cycling career includes course records in the Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200-km randonnée and the Furnace Creek 508, a Race Across AMerica (RAAM) qualifier. He has ridden solo RAAM twice and is a 5-time finisher of the 1200-km Paris-Brest-Paris. He has written over 40 eBooks and eArticles on cycling training and nutrition, available in RBR’s eBookstore at Coach John Hughes. Click to read John’s full bio.