Balance/Flexibility

Regular stretching and balance training helps us maintain or regain better balance and coordination, and makes us less prone to injuries from falls. It also increases the flexibility of our muscles, which can improve our daily performance in everything – even tasks such as lifting, bending, or running to catch a bus. By stretching, we help keep our muscles from getting tight, which tends to improve posture and minimize aches and pains.

Balance is essentially the body's ability to right itself. Our ability to remain stable on our feet involves proprioception, a mechanism that sends messages from the brain to the body and back, letting us know how to react and with how much tension in each muscle group. In general, this is an automatic system, but exercise and training can enhance it.

Stretching reduces stress, decreases muscle soreness and increases performance, as well as helps us to relax during and after a workout. Not all studies have confirmed that stretching exercises prevent injury, but many do show benefits for specific muscle groups (e.g., the hamstrings behind the thighs and the triceps muscles at the back of the arms). Often stretching is done as a warm-up to increase blood flow prior to a workout, and as a cool-down after a cardiovascular or strengthening session to increase flexibility while the muscles and tendons are still warm.

Strength Training

By lifting weights and doing resistance training, we can increase the size and strength of muscles and fortify bones. Denser bones lower the risk for osteoporosis, making them less likely to fracture. Building strength also protects our joints, which can decrease pain from arthritis. Strength training also helps stabilize blood sugar levels, which makes diabetes less likely. The resulting lean body mass raises metabolic rates, which helps burn more calories throughout the day and can be helpful for weight control.

Professional body builders are not the only ones who benefit from strength training. Older men who spend three months doing weight training show that they can double or triple the strength and size of the large muscles in their upper legs. Even residents in nursing homes have shown dramatic improvements in strength and bone density from weight training.

When muscle groups are well-balanced, there is a reduction in the risk of injuries that occur when one muscle group is weaker than its opposing muscle group. To avoid such muscular imbalances, make sure that when you train a specific muscle group, you train the opposing muscle group as well. If you do several reps of biceps training for the muscle at the front of your arm, you would also want to work the opposing muscle, the triceps at the back of the arm, in order to remain balanced. Also, start out by using a light enough weight that allows you to complete 10 to 15 repetitions of each exercise. As your strength increases, so can your weights.

It is important to have adequate periods of rest between training sessions so muscles will repair and rebuild, since strength training tears down muscle fiber,. One approach is to cross-train or work out different muscle groups on alternate days, which allows for that kind of rest. You can train one group of muscles, such as your arms, shoulders and chest on one day, and another group, your thighs, calves and hamstrings, the following day. You might want to try a routine switches between cardiovascular workouts one day, and strength training sessions the next, while including a flexibility (stretching) and balance component in all your workouts.

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