Being a personal trainer allows me to help people in ways they might not be able to help themselves. From the young athlete who needs some extra muscle for his sport to the elderly man who has hip pain, I get to see it all. Most of my clients are in the 55 and above age bracket. They see the value of good health and know what it means to live and age well.
Most of these people need to increase bone density and improve balance. Falls are the leading cause of death and injury in people over the age of 65, two thirds of these people will fall at least once. A fall could yield minor injuries like scrapes or bumps or in more severe situations, a broken hip or leg. Sometimes these injuries cause psychological consequences as well. Often the loss of independence associated with a major injury can be enough to cause depression. Exercise can offset the effects of depression and will improve both bone density and balance if done properly. Most if not all falls could be prevented if people would focus on the right things, their vision.
One of my clients swears to me that she has not only better posture, but has not fallen once in the 6 months we have been working together compared to the three she prior to our working together. She does not do any specific balance work, and could not tell you the last time she did a Crunch. So how can she of made all these great improvements? Hard work, dedication and a lot of eye exercises
By exercising your eyes, you gain a better perception of the world around you. When your eyes are functioning at their best, they teach your body how to properly place itself. Therefore preventing injury and allowing the client to remain in the gym or the trail or the pool doing the physical activities they love and strengthening their bones. Go to any fitness center anywhere anytime and you can see people working their arms, back, chest and abs but never the eyes. Our eyes are the most underworked muscles in the gym, yet the most important.
I suggest you look up vision exercises on the internet and start to implement them right away into your training program. They take only a few minutes and are what I would call “high pay off” meaning you get the most benefit for the amount of work it takes to do right. You, your eye lids and balance will thank you. My clients do.
So next time you go to the health club look around see how many people are doing vision drills. Balance is not something you get from standing on a half ball or small disk, but a dynamic process that works various systems of the body in concert with each other. Balance it something you see and fell. Sanding on a disk is supposed to improve one balance, but when in your life to you stand on a something wobbly. Training on unstable surfaces makes people good at on thing, standing on an unstable surface. That’s it.
