One Practise EVERY Hiker Should Have [Balance]

So I think single leg balancing is an essential movement for hikers or really for anyone that likes to be able to walk. If you think about it, walking is just a series of single leg balances one after the other. So when we slow the movement of walking right down to balancing on one leg and doing so in different ways, not only can we mimic the demands of a technical trail, but we can also give the body an opportunity to engage, mobilize, strengthen, and most importantly gain control of the muscles that are most important for the act of walking. As humans, we've evolved to walk upright. So it makes sense that the largest muscle in the human body is responsible for keeping us upright and propelling us forward. The problem is that the glute max only reaches its maximal contraction when we're in hip extension, meaning the knee is behind the midline of the body. And unfortunately, many of us are limited in hip extension because we're in the opposite position all day, which is hip flexion. Sitting at work, sitting on the way to work, sitting on the way home, sitting at the gym, only to come home and reward yourself from that long day of sitting with a little bit more sitting on the couch. And I'm not here to make you feel guilty for sitting. We just have to think about how can we replace some of the sitting in our movement diet. Sit in a deep squat, sit cross-legged, sit half kneeling, sit like a frog. The options are endless. So that's why I keep saying the number one stretch for modern humans is the hip flexor stretch. But stretching isn't enough because although we gain some length in that muscle from the stretch, it doesn't last very long. And also we need to use that newfound range. And if we don't use it, we lose it. But the main reason I think balance is so important for hikers and in particular young hikers who sit at a desk all day for work is to change the body's predominant pattern into being hip dominant. And hip dominance simply means that we use the biggest joint in the body as our primary means of walking, squatting, moving, dancing, as opposed to proximal dominance where the knees are doing more of the And you might not understand exactly what I'm saying here with this terminology, but I'm sure without any knowledge of the body, you can understand what it looks like when someone dances with their knees. So establishing hip dominance means that our walking is primarily powered by the largest muscle in the human body. That's the glute max. So if you do struggle with balance, it's likely that the glute max is not getting involved. And then it's also likely that the glute max is not working to its full potential when you're walking and hiking. And that means that the job is primarily being done by the knees and by the ankles. And in the short term, you might not notice this. It might not make any difference to your hiking, but in the long term, what it means is a great deal of wear and tear on those joints. So in order to prevent long-term or even short-term knee and ankle injuries that could potentially put an end to your hiking, I've got some exercises for you to try out. So with these balance exercises, keep in mind that even though I'm performing them on a beam, these can be done just standing on the floor. A great thing is to just put a two by four, like a piece of wood on the floor to make things a little bit more difficult. And of course, whenever you're doing these exercises, we want to be there for it. Let's get into it. Okay. Walking on the pads of the feet. So we're going to walk up and down your beam or your line on the floor or your two by four, whatever you have, but only walking on the front of the feet. So just the foot pads. And when you reach the end, we can spin around and go in the other direction. Keeping eyes up, small adjustments, keeping the core involved, using the glutes, just on the foot pads. Heel to heel. This is a really challenging one. So we're going to pivot all the way around, try and get heel to heel, and then regaining our balance at the end. So pivoting back and forth, reuse your hips to get you into that position. If you can't get heel to heel and pause and be controlled in this position, we're lacking a little bit of external rotation in the hips. So in that case, you want to start with this pivoting on the top of the toe there. That's going to make that a little bit easier, but ideally we want to get heel to heel. Toe to heel, walking on the beam. Nice and simple one. As the name suggests, we want to get heel to toe. So touch the back of the heel with the toe, walk the length of the beam or the length of the line. Cop car went past a second ago. That gave me a bit of a weird look. I think they think I'm practicing for the DUI test. And it's a shame that we don't have a little bit more of this in everyday life. We have the breath test now, but back in the day, before my time, you would have had to be pretty good at this. That's toe to heel. I think there's this perception that balance training is just for old folks, which is true. I mean, fall risk for elderly people is serious ----. One of the leading causes of death in elderly people is complications from falling. So definitely you old folks should be focusing on your balance, but there's so many fun and experimental ways to do this all the way up to the more extreme example of high lining and slack lining. So let's teach your hips to move again with some of these fun beginner balance exercises you can follow along in this video. And if you want to continue to teach your body to walk with your glutes and your hips instead of your knees and ankles, then check out my programs. You can see the link in the description. The FAQ section on my website will help you pick the right one for you. Thanks for watching. I'll see you on the summit.