5 posts tagged “balance”

This one is a little more difficult and can be dangerous. Please – safety first. There are handrails on the staircase for a reason. And, although the reason may not be the following, they will serve as excellent stability boosters for the following exercise.

Last post you tried walking backwards up a hill. Other than being unusual, it is not that difficult for most people. Of course, there are ways to make it more difficult. We’ll save that for another post.

Our home is built into a hill on the shore. It is about a 50 foot rise from the water to our driveway/front entrance. The front entrance is actually the third storey out of four. You can imagine there are a lot of stairs. And, when my husband and I designed the home, we chose to have higher than average ceilings, therefore, the staircases are longer than normal as well. Do not worry, we thought ahead: there is an elevator for future considerations.

To stumble out of bed in the morning (today at 40F but sunny) and reach the hot tub on the deck requires 2 full flights of stairs plus the few steps outdoors. Now, I wouldn’t attempt the following first thing in the morning before my muscles are warmed up, but I do try it once in a while during the day for variety.

Pick any staircase where no one else is around – this is not something to try in a mall.  With your dominant side closest to the handrail, grasp the rail with that hand at the base of a set of stairs. Now, carefully, walk in reverse up the flight of stairs. It will feel quite strange and you will need the handrail for a while. Gradually, loosen your grip on the rail over time until you are barely touching it. Try not to swivel your head around and look behind you while doing this exercise. The goal is to look straight ahead just like you do when you are going down the stairs normally. You are reversing all the motions, not changing anything except your direction. This exercise will work your muscles differently and will definitely give your brain a bit of a workout as well.

Have fun. Be safe.

To variety…

Susan Crutcher, RRPr, CPTN-CPT, PHC

Life Empowerment Mentor, Health & Wellness Coach, Baby Steps to Success Expert

www.SueCrutcher.com; www.Sutopia.com

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Permission to reprint. This article (and all articles on this blog) is copyrighted by Susan Crutcher. You have permission to reprint this article in its entirety as long as you include the following credit with the article:

Susan Crutcher is the author of “Health & Wellness Made Simple” and is currently working on a series of self empowerment books which incorporate her baby steps to success theory. She is a life empowerment mentor, health and wellness coach, baby steps to success expert and motivational speaker, is certified in personal training and over a dozen complementary care modalities with over 30 years of teaching experience. Susan is manager of Greystone Retreat (a luxury rental home on Georgian Bay), co-founder of Academy of Holistic Modalities Inc (holistic education), editor of the Reflexology Registration Council of Ontario (RRCO) newsletter ‘In Touch’ and a founding member of the Grey-Bruce Spiritual Network (GBSN). Download and enjoy a free sample of her book at: www.SueCrutcher.com

Well, Sue, that certainly is a strange lead-in. Yes, it is. Lots of things are strange … particularly how things connect in our minds at times.

There I was, walking backward up a steep hill (well ahead of the unit in case of an incident … wouldn’t want to be crushed by a falling outhouse!) supervising angles and distance below the unit when I realized … about half way up … my shins and glutes were not happy. Ah ha! Something to write about on my blog, I thought to myself…

Quite some time ago there were a series of posts on walking and baby steps to changing your routine – variations on a theme. This is one I hadn’t thought of at the time.

When we walk in our normal manner (or do any other routine for that matter), our body quickly adapts to the methodology. It is important to constantly add in little ‘surprises’ to keep the body ‘on its toes’ so to speak. This one (and tomorrow’s) will do just that.

Is there an area near you, perhaps where you walk now, that has a fairly steep incline? Yes? Perfect.  If not, see if you can think of one. If not, try this the next time you chance upon a hill.

Walk normally until you get to the incline area. Then, turn around backwards and walk up the incline in reverse. If you don’t do this regularly, you may need to pay extra attention to your surroundings … it is more difficult than you think.  While walking in reverse, be aware of how your body is reacting differently. The way it automatically adapts for balance; your weight distribution on your feet; the different stress on your knee and hip joints; the new sensations in your muscles.

These types of exercises are important parts of adaptation for your brain and are very useful as we age. The more aware we are of our spatial orientation, the better balanced our bodies will be. The more balanced we are, the less chance of falling and being injured.

Tomorrow: a variation on this concept.

To better balance…

Susan Crutcher, RRPr, CPTN-CPT, PHC

Life Empowerment Mentor, Health & Wellness Coach, Baby Steps to Success Expert

www.SueCrutcher.com; www.Sutopia.com

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Permission to reprint. This article (and all articles on this blog) is copyrighted by Susan Crutcher. You have permission to reprint this article in its entirety as long as you include the following credit with the article:

Susan Crutcher is the author of “Health & Wellness Made Simple” and is currently working on a series of self empowerment books which incorporate her baby steps to success theory. She is a life empowerment mentor, health and wellness coach, baby steps to success expert and motivational speaker, is certified in personal training and over a dozen complementary care modalities with over 30 years of teaching experience. Susan is manager of Greystone Retreat (a luxury rental home on Georgian Bay), co-founder of Academy of Holistic Modalities Inc (holistic education), editor of the Reflexology Registration Council of Ontario (RRCO) newsletter ‘In Touch’ and a founding member of the Grey-Bruce Spiritual Network (GBSN). Download and enjoy a free sample of her book at: www.SueCrutcher.com  

What is the most important key to self care?

It is difficult to say.  There are so many … I think each of us would have our own version of the most important to us as individuals.  Certainly we need to include, from a holistic point of view, at least one item from each of the four main categories: body, mind, emotion and spirit. We also need to include: responsibility, accountability, respect, duty, value to self; family; career; goals; volunteer and/or charity; relaxation and much, much more.  Notice the problem here … most of these are not ‘tangible’.  They are perceptions.  How do we measure these perceptions?

When I first meet a client for a consultation, we sit together (or go for a walk in nature) for at least an hour and discuss the client’s goals, interests, priorities, issues, problems, and purpose for future meetings.  In this first session, I glean all types of pertinent information (client’s drives, ambitions, where can I delve, what is sensitive or ‘out of bounds’, what are the prime motivators to success, is coaching a waste of time for either the client or myself…). The client determines whether or not they are comfortable with our interrelationship with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision to further sessions.  When the answer is ‘yes’, we discuss and together determine the path we will take toward the client’s goals.

The most important key to self care – from a coaching/counseling/mentoring point of view – is to have a methodology in place by which we are able to track progress. How do we do this? One of the best ways I have found is an assessment tool which I refer to as ‘the wheel of life’.

I suggest you try this exercise once a month. Don’t get all caught up in checking it constantly.  As we change on an ongoing basis, it will change. We are looking for overall progress (or, perhaps, stagnation or reversal). Think of it like your weigh scale: you can check your weight several times a day and get all caught up in the emotion attached to the fluctuations, or you can check it once a week and get a good grasp on your progress.

The point of the ‘wheel of life’ exercise is to see change in a positive manner with an overall goal of balance in all sectors.  It does not matter if that balance is acquired at 10% or 90% as long as all sectors are equal. When all sectors are relatively equal, your perception of life will be that of more contentment.  Contentment, in the moment, is a wonderful and peaceful place to be.

EXERCISE

• Draw a circle
• Divide it into 4 approximately equal sections
• Label the sections:
• Physical
• Emotional
• Spiritual
• Intellectual

Before you start

Consider the centre of the circle to equal 0% and the outer most line to be 100%

First, look at the ‘physical’ sector

Draw a line across the sector (or a dot anywhere within) that will represent where you are right now physically as a percentage. This is a general perception including: strength, fitness levels, health, diet, stamina and anything else physical means to you.

Next, move to ‘emotional’

Draw a line across the sector (or a dot anywhere within) that will represent your emotional level right now. The easiest way to choose this number is to ask yourself: ‘How happy or content am I right now?’ and chart it as a percent.

Now, move to ‘spiritual’

Using the same process, draw a line or dot to represent your perception of how spiritual you consider yourself to be.  For some spirituality and religion are relatively inseparable, for others, there is a distinct difference between the two.  Spirituality represents your personal connection to whoever/whatever you consider your creator to be, to the universal life force, chi, prana … whatever you choose to call it regardless of what religion you may or may not be.

Finally, complete the ‘intellectual’ section

This is not about your IQ. This represents your perception of how close you are to your perceived intelligence potential at present.  It could be relative to how intelligent you would like to be down the road; how intelligent you are relative to how you once were

Almost done...

If you used lines across the sections, colour or fill in each section from the center out to the line that you drew.  If you used a dot to represent where you are; join each dot to the next sector dot with a straight line.

Now, thinking of this completed exercise as if it actually were a ‘wheel’…

If you were to cut along the lines of either the filled in portions or the joined dots, stood the wheel upright, would it roll smoothly?  If the answer is ‘yes’, you are very well balanced in life (from this viewpoint) and should congratulate yourself.  If your answer is ‘no’ (and the majority are), you now have a ‘map’ of areas you need to be aware of … what to work on and what to let be for now. Perhaps you’re very strong at a physical level, but spiritually or emotionally noticeably weaker.  At this point, we are simply getting a ‘feel’ for where we are currently. In a private session, we would delve into this a little deeper before we proceeded to tomorrow’s exercise.  If you would like more information, send me a ‘private’ message.

To your success...

Sue Crutcher, Life Empowerment Coach & Mentor

Thanks to Aaron, who made a comment on yesterday’s blog regarding balance, I am now sidetracked into a different angle of ‘variation on a theme’ relative to walking.

If you have been implementing the last couple of suggestions (walking backwards and sideways) this week, you will most likely have some sore muscles.  If not, don’t worry, they’ll show up eventually.  It takes from 24 to 48 hours to feel the reaction as an ‘ache’ and everyone is different on their timing.  If you feel pain, as opposed to ache, at any time STOP immediately.  The theory of ‘no pain; no gain’ is assinine for the average human working on a healthier lifestyle.  If you’re a professional tri-athlete, it’s a different story for you.

Today:

• Continue incorporating little blocks of walking backwards and sideways into your day when you think of it and it’s safe (thinking of Yann in central London here) to do so.
• If you have sore calf muscles, here is a stretch that will help them.  Also ideal for women who habitually wear high heels (yes, April, I know they are a great conversation starter for meeting new people and yes, Jenn, I know they are part of a fabulous wardrobe), your calves are likely very tight from standing on your tip toes for extended timeframes.
• Requirement: set of stairs with a railing
• Stand on the bottom step; grasp railing with one hand as if you were going to climb the stairs (do not panic, we are not going to run or even walk the stairs today).  Place both feet side by side a little closer than shoulder width apart.
• Nudge your feet backward off the step until you are on the balls of your feet only with the rest of you suspended in space.  Keep hanging on the to railing for balance and support.
• Now, GENTLY, lower your heels as far as you can.  Do not bounce.  Just lower and hold.
• Raise back to your starting position.
• Now, GENTLY, lift up on the balls of your feet as high as you can. Again, do not bounce.  Just up and hold.
• Repeat 10 times (if you can)
• Remember to breathe.  At this point it doesn’t matter when you breathe in or out, just remember to breathe.  Some people have a tendency to hold their breath when they concentrate that’s why I mention it.  Just be aware.

That’s it.

Repeat throughout the day when you have an opportunity to do so. Do not get overly excited and do 100 of them … you’ll be sore and sorry. Although the bright side is you’ll be forced to remain sitting.  In which case, you will be able to put in many more hours than planned on Kevin Hogan’s IMWW course!

Sue Crutcher, life empowerment mentor / personal trainer / success coach

Baby Steps to Success

Since we’re focused on walking from yesterday, I would like you to try something a little different.  I call it ‘variations on a theme’ and when working with a client during a life empowerment session, we approach many issues with this concept.

In a safe location on a level surface, walk BACKWARDS.

• Check the area first to familiarize yourself.
• Do not look behind you (this will twist your neck and hurt your back if you keep it up) simply walk in reverse until you get a little nervous.
• Stop.
• Now, walk forward briskly to where you started.
• Repeat three times.
• Do this over the day a few times when you think of it.

Walking backwards will work your muscle groups in a different way even though you are using the same muscles. A slightly different stabilization process will be required by your body and this will make the muscles work harder.  Walking backwards will also stimulate the balance centers of your brain referred to as proprioception. Balance is very important especially as we age.  A senior with good balance will be far less susceptible to falls, broken bones and mobility issues.  So … start now and you will reduce potential future problems.

What the heck is proprioception?  Visit this blog tomorrow to find out!

Sue Crutcher, Certified Personal Trainer, Life Empowerment Mentor