10-Minute Better Balance Workout

Here we go. This workout is called the balanced body because a balanced body is a healthy body and all we're gonna need today is our body weight, some safe space, we always have a water available so you can sip water throughout the workout whenever you need it. Scale of 1 to 10, 10 being your hardest work, you stay at a 7 or below. If you feel pain, if you feel dizziness, you stop when you need to. The last thing is we're gonna make sure that we check keep breathing, keep breathing, keep breathing, don't hold your breath. So as long as you have safe space, I'm here, I'm ready to work with you. I can't wait to build a balanced body and we're gonna start with a little warm-up. 3, 2, 1, and here we go. So first let's just open up our arms, we're gonna pull the hands back away from us and we're gonna let our body rock just a little bit. So just a little forward to backward, not too much, but this starts to let our brain know, okay, our body is moving in and out of kind of our plumb line of balance. It starts to get us ready for the work ahead. Stretch. So we open that chest up, we keep that chin back so we don't stick our chin forward. Now we're gonna come up a little bit more on our toes. You can come back with your hands if you want. Sometimes what I love to do with this and if you want to try it over the course of the workouts, if you come back to me, which I hope you do, is sometimes I'll just do little tap patterns. So I'll go tap top, then I'll double tap and then I'll switch so the other hand's over and that just gets my brain going. It gets a little coordination pattern. We're gonna go through it one more time. I'm reaching those fingertips back, reaching the fingertips back and we're just gonna step side, nice and easy. We're gonna just start to work a little bit of balance here if we can because the first movement we're gonna do is a little squat with a side balance. So we're gonna prep this slower first. We always say get your pattern right, do it nice and slow, let the brain know what the body wants to do. The brain starts to tell the body what it's ready to do and then we can ask it to do a little bit more. So one more step each way and then we're on our way. So here's our first movement. We're gonna set our feet wide, comfortable base. We're gonna squat down to where you feel comfortable, nice and slow. We're gonna come up and balance. So that's a toe tap. We're gonna come back, receive the floor, hips back, knees up, tap, little balance right here. So over time, you can try to get a little deeper with your squat where you feel comfortable. That might happen, which is fine. That's good work. It's safe but it forces us to react, to fight through that stumble, to stay on our feet. Up now. Over time, you start to feel comfortable or if you have something that you can help keep yourself safe, you can lift that leg up. Stay nice and tall and strong, balanced through that body. Tap when you need to. We're gonna do two more. Find the floor, feet are flat, coming up to top. Last one. Go as deep as you're comfortable, flat back, up and rest. Good. Sip of water if you need it. Also have a mat on the floor if you want so you can be comfortable, especially when we get down to the ground. We're gonna turn. You don't have to, I'm going to, to show you what we have going on. It's that split stance. We work on this a lot and I love it. So we're gonna set our base, the wider our feet are apart, give a more sturdy foundation under us, less balance required. The closer we get them together, the more balance we need. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna squat down and we're gonna reach. We're gonna squat down a little bit and we're gonna reach. So I'm going to different points. The eyes are gonna follow those fingers. So sometimes I think about having a clock over my head. So right above me, that's 12. And I'm gonna come over here, come with me to one. So just picture a clock on your ceiling. Reach up to two and come down. We're up to three. Take your time. We're gonna go over to nine and we're gonna go to 10. Good. Reach for it. We'll go to 11. Reach for that and rest. Now we're gonna switch. The deeper you go, more leg work. The higher you reach and lead with your eyes, more balance work. You can just go right here. So come with me. We're gonna go to 12 first. We're gonna come down. We bend. Chest stays up. We reach for 12. Now I can just come to here toward 12 without reaching. That's fine. Let's go one o'clock. Good. Come here and up. You look for two. Come back down. Controlled. You look for three. Eyes follow the hands. We're gonna go to nine. Up and across to your nine. Good. Fight for that balance. My leg is shaking. So that's a good thing. 10. Here comes number 11. Fight for it. Reach up. Get tall. Last one. Let's go back to 12 overhead. Hands reach and rest. That's a beautiful balance drill. Get near a wall if you feel unsafe. Have something around you. A counter or sturdy chair so that you can start working that a little bit more if you need to help yourself. Because every little inch you get, the further you're able to reach, I extend my capacity to do things functionally in life. And that's a good thing. So we're gonna take our action down to the ground. Got our mat. Something comfortable on the floor to be able just to help make it easy for us. We come down under control. We take our time. We use multiple points of contact. We're gonna come around. If this isn't comfortable for you, then you can just stay up and march. You can do some heel lifts while you're standing. But for us, we're gonna come down. We're gonna hit our backside and our glutes because strong backside, strong hamstrings help balance out our pelvis, help us stabilize. So we're just gonna bring the feet toward our backside, hands down on the ground, and we're just gonna squeeze, make fists like 5 out of 10 with our backside. We're gonna push our hips up. We hold for a second. We come down. We don't hold our breath here. So you're breathing. We're gonna squeeze first, drive the hips up. We push the feet through the floor. No pain in the back. Coming down under control. So we're not arching the back to try to bring our hips up. It's a squeeze and lift. Push through the ground. Feel it here. Feel it here. Hold. Keep squeezing. Keep squeezing. Keep squeezing. We'll come down. We're gonna do about three more. Squeeze and up. Building glute strength. Building hip strength. Letting our core rest. Strength around our pelvis helps stabilize us in so many of the things that we do. A lot of times we don't work the backside and open the front side. We sit a lot, which affects our posture. When our posture's off, our balance and our strength is jeopardized. Last one. Squeeze up. We pick it up. We don't go really high. It gets to our end point where we feel comfortable. Get that squeeze right there. Fire the backside. Don't hold your breath. And we come down. Now we're gonna roll to your side. Hand comes on the floor. Pushing your body up to where you feel comfortable. You're gonna come around. And this one, if you didn't have a mat, I do want pillows or a pad or something soft underneath your knees. We just want to protect those and keep those safe. We want our fitness to serve us, not steal from us. We're gonna get in an all-four position. So knees will be underneath our hips. Hands underneath our shoulders. And we're just gonna find balance here through our core and help our back gain some strength. So we're gonna reach opposite hand, slide the other foot back, sting. Push the hand through the ground. Reach our fingertips out. Head stays down in line with the spine. We're gonna hold here. Two. One. And we're gonna come back under control. Find strength again first. Push this hand through the ground. Stabilize first. And we reach. Fingertips reaching towards something out in front of you. Eyes down on the ground in front of you. Nice strong back. Power through the ground. Not letting our hips tilt. That's the key. You come back. You can keep doing that or, if you're ready, you can actually slide. Reach. Very tiny pickup. Now we've got more balance. More core. Hips still can't dip and swing. Back can't drop. Pull that belly button up and in. Strong arm in the ground. Balance on that knee. And return. Let's try the other side. If you have to keep the foot on the floor, totally fine. Otherwise, we can just lift a very little bit. Don't want that arch. A little bit. Feel that strength. Build it. Build that balance. This is where we do it. So it works for us anywhere we want in the world. Good. And then we come back. Beautiful. We're gonna come up to top now. And we're gonna do a movement called squat to star reach. So get your breath. Sip of water. Check where you're at. Are you above a 7? Below a 7? Bring yourself down. Pause me if you need to. Here's the move if you just want to do it in a way that's comfortable for you. We reach. Step, step. Balance. We step back. Okay? So that's what you can do the whole time if you want. Otherwise, you're gonna come with me. We squat down. We pop up. If your arms can only go to here, that's fine. Here, that's fine. There's a balance here. Good. Stay close to a wall in case you need it or something sturdy. We step back. We return. Ready? And up. Good. We're gonna do five of these total. That's two. Reach for it. Fight for your balance. Stay strong. And step back. Good. Down. Reach those fingers behind you. Hips go back. And up. Good. Feet come out to where you're comfortable. There's that balance. Here we go. Come on. And if you're here, that's fine. Over time, just try to reach a little more pain-free. Back. Down. Come on. Up. Good. Hold it. And down. On a go call, you're gonna go up. Don't let me trick you. On a go call. Hold it. A little burn, I know. Start. Up. Go. Good. Way to be with me. I won't get you the next time if I got you that time. And we rest. Okay. Now, we're gonna have some fun. Move your shoulders. Get you out of here. We're gonna split our feet again. And ultimately, what I'm gonna have you do is I'm gonna say switch, and you're just gonna come from here. You can step or just come to here. And I'll say back. Switch. And back. Good. Switch. And back. Good. Stay with me. Switch. And we step up. So, it's a reaction. It's reactive, just like life. If you need to step to that position and step back, that's fine. Stay there. Switch. Good. Back. Here we go. Now, I'm gonna call left or right. Left. Up. We got four more. Left. Up. Strong. Strong. Keep that chest up. Let those arms move. Feet find the floor. Good. As soon as that dynamic nature happens, two more. Right. Good. We find the ground. We find balance. We return. Right. Good. And we come back. Beautiful. A little bit of that speed, a little bit of that reactive is gonna help us in everyday life. Get your breath. Sip of water. Pause me if you need to. All we're gonna do here is just a little shoulder. Come up under control. We reach to the side. We come back. We bring it down. We're bringing our breath down. Pulling our chest apart. Good. And we're back. We're gonna do two more. Up. Out. Nice and tall. Open the chest up. Feel the shoulders just a little bit. You can always use light dumbbells for this if you want in the future. Come back down. And then now you're gonna march. You're gonna stretch. You're gonna do what you need to to get your heart rate, to get your work energy down to a two or three. I'll see you next time.