Improve your balance

Balance is one of the first fundamental movement skills a person should practice as it will help you perform other skills effectively. Balance is a skill that is vital to movement and is important to keep practicing for any age or ability! For example, a dancer may balance on their feet, hands or knees to perform a dance move; a senior will rely on their balance while walking down an icy pathway; while a bike rider needs to find different balance when they lift their foot off the ground and start pedaling with two feet! For this skill however, we are focusing on the one-foot balance.

Helps you:

  • Stand up, reach up high for things and carry things
  • Prevent injury and do fun stuff like dance with your friends
  • Preform in surfing, gymnastics, baseball and other sports

How to do it:

  • Find an open area where you have room to move without hitting any breakable objects. Such as down a hallway, or outside in a yard.
  • Stand facing forwards, with your feet shoulder width apart and a slight bend in your knees.
  • Keep your hands at your sides, or lightly touch a surface for support. Slowly shift your weight onto your right foot, and lift your left leg by bending your knee in front of you. Try to hold for a count of 5.
  • If comfortable, either let go of the surface you may be holding, or alternatively, lift your left leg a bit higher, and hold for an additional 5 seconds.
  • Place both feet back on the floor and try this with the other leg!

Challenge yourself

  • Try the one-foot balance on a different surface. For example, stand on a piece of wood or a soft surface. For a softer surface, like a pillow or cushion, figure out what you need to do to adjust for finding balance! Is it that your arm position must move to help with balance or do you need to add more bend in your knee?
  • Try to balance on one foot while moving your arms around. Even better, while on your one foot, slightly bend forward at the waist, which will force you to readjust your weight distribution!

Try these activities to help you work on your balance:

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