BALANCE YOUR LIFE…(on one foot!)

I really don’t know where these titles come from; now I have to follow up with words!  Now, we, (or pretty much most all) of us  know how old I am; 54 next week.  We have a few more out there in the next few weeks with that special day coming up.  Special day?  Absolutely, a special day!  Why wouldn’t it be?  Every day is a special day, so enjoy each one!  Some people shy away from their birthday; most of you don’t know how I ENJOYED my 50th; 5 months after my first brain removal, OOpps, I mean meningioma removal.  I was REALLY  looking forward to that day; and some special people threw a great party for me, as a lot of you were there; so yes, enjoy your day.  My cousins Julie just had one, Mary, Bruce, Brad, Matt, (all cousins), my brother Joe is Saturday, the 15th, Jayson is Tuesday the 11th, and I know I’m missing people, but the point is, enjoy YOUR day, that’s why we make such a big deal about it, their important!

Do you want to know how I think you can feel good about these days, and, as one of my buddies calls them, “our back nine”?  Balance.  One word: BALANCE.  So OK, now that I’ve thrown my age out there, it probably figures that you know I’ve been in the fitness business for a while; I’ve had my fitness business over 27 years.  My goodness, how does time fly??  I remember my first day on the the “job”,  really, though, who doesn’t?  I think back to those days, the early days, the ideas were great, but some of the approaches that we used back then, mechanically, were obsolete.  Everything was safe, but I would say that we weren’t the most efficient with our time.  Everything had to be 2 hours at the gym.  Anything less than that, well, “why did you go to the gym”?  Now, I’ll take the effectiveness of those 2 hours, and wrap it into 30 minutes.  Balance.  I keep using that word;  those that have worked with me, know, that I’ll use the exercises from 30 years ago, but activate them with an uneven surface, or unstable surface, and multiply the effectiveness in an BIG way.  You’re whole core is active throughout most movements, which makes what was normally a specific movement, into a multifunctional engagements of muscle movements.  Now, if that’s not EXCITING to you, because we don’t use a whole lot of rest( think about all of the bullsh##t talk we used to do to lengthen out our time!), we’re done much quicker, and your bodies’ metabolism burns so much more, in so little time!  I think I like this!!

Now, forget about my word “balance”.  I know what I’m trying to say, now we’ll use a visual that helps you understand.  Raise one foot, and do an exercise, without putting that foot back on the ground at all.  You’ll feel your complete abdominal area tighten up, to help stabilize you; and while you do that, you’ll feel your lower back release any tension, and feel it go into your glutes, (or butt).  In the old days, we used to have to posture ourselves, to keep tension out of the back.  The irony of today’s thinking, is that the more unstable you are going into that movement, the less tension you have in your back; it’s (tension) all in your core!  So basically, every movement you do in an unbalanced state, you’re working with your abdominal area.  Why settle with working with just one muscle area; work with 3,4,5, muscle groups, in one time frame!  Good stuff, with minimal time; but effective time.

That’s the exercise part; but what all of this does in your everyday life keeps you flexible, and stable.  See, now I talk STABLE!  It’s true, though, for all that you work on in the gym, on an unstable surface, makes you react instinctively when you, I don’t know, run into a wall, (as I seem to always do!), or have to change a direction that you’re walking; anything like that.  Over time, it’s really adds up, and guess what?  WHO FEELS YOUNG AGAIN??  Most of the time, I do, but there are those days…..

There are mini pads that you can stand on, for 30-60 seconds.  Stand on one foot, and do a movement, letting your core absorb the shock of the movement.  Get a balance board.  Go back to a hula-hoop.  Jump rope.  There are a lot of things that can add to your stability.  Remember, I’ve had two brain tumors, and I lost a lot of balance right after them; so I HAD to do this stuff, so I’m speaking from experience; not patting myself on the back, but trying to get my point across that balance is everything.  Use it, use me!  Ask me questions, throw anything by me if there’s anything confusing you!  Sometimes when a person reads something, they might need it in a more visual content, and that’s ok.  Throw it at me!

I think that we all know that we want to feel as young as we can; and you can by your balance.  Try just one thing, and do it for a while, and I mean until you feel completely confident of your control.  You will feel so GOOD!  Then go on to something else.  By the way, this can be very fun!  DO IT!  DO IT !!  DO IT!!  You’ll be happy, and isn’t that what this life is all about?  Feeling happy?

So have that birthday, and another one after that, and keep going with those, because you will keep yourself YOUNG!

Scott