Some folks may think it's common sense when it comes to beginning a workout routine.  For others, it's not so simple, especially if you are dealing with a lack of balance.  My focus and objective when I was developing "Balance University" was to create a simple to follow but very effective, results driven balance program.  And that's what I've done!!

One of the easiest and more simple exercises you can do to improve your balance is called the Single Leg Lateral (pictured above).  This exercise will strengthen your ankles, lower legs and hips creating a more responsive system that can adjust and redirect misteps quickly.  This movement will also greatly improve the communication network system between your brain, spine and muscular system.  This is ,otherwise, known as neuromuscular efficiency.  The benefit to increased neuromuscular effeciency means that when your brain detects your body becoming unstable and unbalanced, you will be able to adjust and adapt quickly.  This improved system will result in less falls, which means more confidence and less worry for you and your loved ones.

You can find this exercise, along with others like it, in Balance University!

When you work, results follow!

Balance deteriorates as we age and there’s nothing you can do to prevent this natural process. The reason? It all begins with your brain and the way it communicates with the muscular system. As we get older, the synapses in our brain get farther apart, we lose a few connections here and there and on top of all of that, the signals do not travel as quickly as they did when we were younger. Now, this is the “watered-down” version of that story but that will suffice for our purposes of understanding how balance works.

Your brain and spine make up the nervous system. Your muscles make up your muscular system. Our muscular system is attached to our bones, which is the skeletal system, otherwise, we would be big a pile of flesh, cartlidge and muscle on the floor. Our nervous system communicates to our muscular system and those messages, or electrical signals, activates our muscles and instructs their movements. Our balance depends on how well these two systems communicate.

We can do exercises to help improve our balance significantly! However, you have to work at it. Improving your balance requires consistency and progressively harder exexrcises.

Balance University is designed to increase and improve the communication network between your nervous system and your muscular system. The exercises in balance university are organized in such a way, that each week the exercises get progressively harder. In return, you will be challenged each week, within your boundaries, and you will see your balance improve.

Now, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. If you look at the picture above, you will see the balance university key (colorful circle with arrows and words). Balance University is based on this key. However, YOU DO NOT NEED EQUIPMENT! I have included substitutes for every exercise that uses equipment that you can do at home. Balance University will improve your balance!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and is gearing up for the new year!

Becoming healthier takes practice... in all of my years in this industry, I have heard hundreds of clients talk about how they are going to “start now” or “starting on [insert day/date here]”. The truth is, getting healthier takes effort and practice. You are changing habits and that takes a bit of time. Very few people can “flip” a switch and change everything over night and KEEP it that way. To be honest, this may not be the best way either! Why? As if it’s not enough to change your diet and exercise habits... think of all that time you don’t have to add more tasks to your day for meal prepping, and that hour long session with your trainer or fitness class.

So what do you do? Pace yourself... remember, this is a marathon NOT a sprint. I tell my clients to change one meal at a time. Let’s work on breakfast, for instance. Stop eating whatever it was that you were eating and let’s eat some oatmeal and hard boiled eggs (these are not the only healthy options). Same with the exercise. Let’s find three days out of the week to focus on exercise and create a habit. Once we can consistently handle these changes and they become part of our life (the idea is to execute these changes consistently for 1-3 weeks before adding more changes) then we will add a few more.

Don’t put yourself under unnecessary pressure and try to change everything overnight. You can do it and I’m here to help.

Shoot me an email if you need some motivation or more tips! Have a safe and happy New Year’s celebration!!

Balance University is the summation of 16 years of experience in the “field” working with clients, education and numerous certifications, years of teaching balance classes and pretty much everything else I’ve learned in my life. It has taken me two years to put the right program together. I believe, after all the revisions and feedback from physical therapists, occupational therapists, nurses, physicians and fellow colleagues whom I respect greatly, this is the best of what this community knows, put into a 10-week program. I did not want to make this book overwhelming. Instead, I chose to make the program and the book simple, easy to read, include lots of pictures and make dang sure it gets results!!

There is no doubt in my mind, this program works. I am extremely proud of it and proud of those who have helped me to develop it.

So... here goes! If you or someone you know is struggling with balance, I hope that you do yourself and/or them a favor and buy this book. I promise, you will not be sorry!

Whether it's your first month or you have competed in a couple of bodybuilding shows, these exercises need to be in your routine.  These three exercises strengthen your core and we all know, the stronger the core, the stronger the person.  Get the most out of your time in the gym.  The more muscle you activate, the more calories you will burn during the workout and the more muscle you build, the greater the 'afterburn' effect.

Train smart, train hard...

1.  Front squat to press

You can do this exercise with a pre-set barbell or, if you don't have the flexibility in the wrists and forearms, you can do it with dumbbells.  This exercise activates the core by having the load in the front of your body, your body will  activate more muscle throughout the glute,hip complex, pectorals, delts and lats.

2.  Deadlift (Barbell or dumbbells)

The deadlift is a great movement to increase lower body and core strength.  You will also improve your grip strenth.  There are many different versions to the deadlift and you'll get different opinions but I like placing my feet at hip width and placing my hands at a shoulder width on the bar so that they are outside of my legs when I descend.  This exercise burns maximum calories and builds maximum muscle.  

3.  Chest press (includes push-ups, bench press, ect...)

The good 'ol chest press, and even the push up is a timeless exercise.  The primary muscles are the pectorals, but the lats, rhomboids, triceps and shoulders are all being activated in this  movement.  You can do these on a stability ball, alternate arms up and down.  Use a barbell on a flat, incline and/or decline bench.