Cardio. Strength training. HIIT. Weight lifting.
Everyone seems to be talking about cardio versus strength training! Is it good, is it bad, do you need to do it?! These days, when it comes to health and working out there always has to be an extreme or a black and white answer. But in reality, there is no one size fits all when it comes to health. Social media is such a blessing in so many ways. Constant access to free information and the ability to share and communicate with people all over the world.
Sometimes, that means it can be hard to sort out what is true and false. When it comes to exercise, everyone is usually fighting between strength training and cardio. The simple answer is that both are important. They are both aspects of optimal health. It’s important to have both strong muscles and a healthy heart! However, at FMF we like to acknowledge some aspects of physical health and movement that aren’t usually talked about in the average discourse you see online. For one - balance! Balance is an extremely important but underrated part of our health.
There has been a new and exciting study emphasizing the importance of balance. In fact, it found that whether or not a person can balance for 10 seconds on one leg is indicative of their life expectancy. The study found that “After accounting for age, sex, and underlying health conditions, the inability to stand one-legged for 10 seconds was associated with an 84 percent heightened risk of all-cause death over a median follow-up period of 7 years” (Araujo et al., 2022).
This is such an exciting result! At FMF we have stressed the importance of balance training for many years. It’s something you don’t really think about! Lorae always says, “if you don’t use it, you lose it!”. The study demonstrates this really well. It shows that 54% of the 71-75 year olds were unable to complete the task. Risk for all health problems increases with age. Luckily, there are things we can do to decrease our odds of numerous illnesses to live a long and happy life! One of those things is exercise. And the great thing about exercise is that we can strategically choose what to do.
The way we program at FMF we make sure to do exercises conducive to maintaining balance well into old age. Balance is important as we age because it helps reduce the risk of falls. Falls are indicative of life expectancy. We actually have a blog from a year ago going into detail about this: https://www.foundationmf.com/new-blog/2022/5/30/balance
One way Lorae has always taught clients to practice balance on a daily basis that is really easy to remember is by balancing on one foot while brushing your teeth in the morning and night. It’s a good way to tie a new habit to one that already exists. The other ways are to train single leg movements.
So I thought I’d give you a few great single leg exercises that you can try adding to your movement practice.
Box Step Ups
Star Lunge
Marching Press
Until Next Time,
Sabrina
Araujo, C. G., de Souza e Silva, C. G., Laukkanen, J. A., Fiatarone Singh, M., Kunutsor, S. K., Myers, J., Franca, J. F., & Castro, C. L. (2022). Successful 10-second one-legged stance performance predicts survival in middle-aged and older individuals. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 56(17), 975–980. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2021-105360