Transcription
The most important exercise for preventing falls takes less than two minutes and almost nobody over 60 is doing it. So if falling over is your biggest fear right now, this is the video that changes that forever.
When most people work on their balance, they just practice standing on one leg. But that's one of the least effective ways to actually prevent falls. Because falls don't happen when you're stood still. They happen when you lose your balance and you can't correct yourself. So the exercise that actually prevents falls has to train exactly that. Let me show you.
Now the exercise I'm going to show you today is called the toe lean. And it looks something like this. Now that looks simple, right? Well, it's actually pretty tough. Let me show you it properly and I'll explain why it's the best thing you can do to stop falls. And if you stay until the end, I'll show you how to make it significantly harder once you've mastered the basics.
One of the most important parts of your body in preventing falls is right down near the ground in your toes. And when you start to wobble or lose your balance, your foot muscles will instinctively switch on to try to make your toes grab the ground. And this grabbing helps to pull you back into a balanced position. But the problem is most people have lost so much connection to these little muscles that this reflex barely works for them anymore. It's like trying to switch on a light when someone has cut the circuit. Nothing happens.
But unlike an electrical circuit, you can rebuild this connection. And that's the good news. These muscles respond quickly when you train them consistently. And your body hasn't forgotten how to do it. It just needs reminding. So let's have a look at the exercise now.
But before we get into it, if this causes you any pain, then please don't do it and work within what feels safe for you. Okay? So, here's how to actually practice this at home. So, I usually recommend people start off in something called a safety corner, which is the corner between two walls. And if you stand at it like this, the worst that's going to happen if you lose your balance is you're just going to fall into one of the walls. But because we're tipping forwards, you might also want some chairs in front of you here just to make sure you can put your hands out and stop yourself.
So, what we're going to do now is stand with your feet pretty close together but not touching. And then keep your back up nice and tall and gently lean forward. Okay? And if you're barefoot, what you'll feel is your toes are having to grab the ground really quickly to stop you from tipping. Now, before you start to tip over and have to step forward, I want you to use those toes to pull yourself back into a balanced position. So, we're going to go forwards like this. Wait until the toes kick in and then bring ourselves back like that.
So, super simple. And if you're going to practice this at home, you're going to do 10 of these in a row. And then you just go about your day as normal, but try and come back to it three or four times. Because the best way to do this exercise is through something I call balance exercise snacks, which are basically just short bursts of exercise, typically about 30 to 60 seconds long. So just a normal set, but you do it a few times a day. And this is the exact concept I teach in detail in my brand new book, Independence for Life, which you can find in the link below the video.
So anyway, that's the basic version. So to make this more effective, we're now going to add in a little bit of resistance just to make it a bit harder for us to correct our balance. So a small weight works really well or you can fill up a bag with books. And either way, whatever you choose, you're just going to hold it into your chest like this. Then we're going to get into the exact same position we were in before. And then we're going to lean forward again.
Now do it more slowly this time because remember, you're going to be topheavy. So, as soon as you start to feel those toes interact with the ground and really grab it, that's when you know you need to bring yourself back to the center. So, if someone's watching you from afar, it won't look like anything's happening, but I can tell you right now, my feet are working incredibly hard just to bring me back to the center. So, we're drifting forward, forward, forward. The toes are grabbing the ground. And then we come back like this. And remember, because we've got that weight, your toes are having to work much harder to pull your body back to the center.
So, that's one of the best exercises to help you prevent falls and how to do it safely. But balance is actually only one half of the battle when it comes to preventing falls. The other part is your leg strength. And if your legs are weak, research shows you're more than five times more likely to fall just this year alone. But thankfully, you can strengthen your legs at any age. And I've got another video on the screen right now showing you exactly how to do that. So, click on that next and I'll see you over.