[Narrator] Video Clips on Blindness Tips. A series of video demonstrations for Daily Living
Skills for the blind and visually impaired, presented in conjunction with
the Washington State School for the Blind. The following tip features
Jennifer Butcher, Health and Fitness instructor at the Washington State
School for the Blind.
Jennifer explains a series of core training exercises to improve balance
and strength for blind and visually impaired people.
[Jennifer] My name is Jennifer Butcher and I am the Health and Fitness teacher here at the
Washington State School for the Blind.
I'm here with my student Cody Glenn and we are going to introduce to you a basic
core training that you can use anywhere you are. Basically the core deals with
all the muscles from your chest down to your thighs and it goes around the
circumference of your body. And it's involved in everything that you do,
standing, walking, bending, twisting. Anything that you are engaged in you are
using your core. Core exercises and core training for the blind and visually
impaired are so important. If they have a tight core then they will find daily
activities even easier. Without the sight they lack a lot of balance and a
tight core will enhance all of the activities. This core training routine
that we are going to show you is a great example of something that you can take
anywhere that you go.
It is a wonderful tool for a classroom pull out. You can do it at home before
you go to bed, when you wake up. Anywhere you are, all you need is a floor
there's no other equipment required. To begin this core training exercise we are
going to do a balancing move which involves lifting our leg off the ground.
Cody, go ahead and just lift your leg off the ground. You're gonna hold it for
15 seconds. After your 15 seconds you are going to go ahead and switch to the
other side.
It's okay if you cannot hold it for 15 seconds, you just want to work your way
towards that and just hold it as long as you can.
Our second exercise is called the balance hinge. We're going to get into our
balancing position on one foot and then we're going to very slowly come down to the
ground and very slowly come back up.
And while you're doing this you want to make sure your belly button is in as
tight as you can, it's kind of like you squeeze it to your spine.
If it gets really loose, you're going to get way off balance, so you want to keep
it tight.
You do not want to forget to breathe, even though you're tight you still need
to breathe.
We want to do this exercise three to five times. Once we're done with that we
switch to the other side.
The next core exercises are all done in the tabletop position. So your student is
going to be on their hands and on their knees and you want to make sure that
their back is pretty flat.
So right now his back is not totally flat, so Cody go ahead and move your arms
forward.
Excellent. And also you want to make sure that their belly button is squeezed into
their spine, but you also want to tell them to keep breathing. While they're in
this position they're going to go ahead and take one arm and lift it by their
ear
straight ahead. And you're going to hold it for 15 seconds. When he gets to 15
he's going to go ahead and switch to the other side.
When he finishes with the arms, he's going to go right to the legs. You want
your arms and your legs to be as straight as possible and off the ground.
So Cody, raise your leg a little bit. And again keep your stomach tight, and keep
breathing. And switch to the other side.
Alright Cody, now you're going to take the opposite arm and the leg, so take
your left arm and right leg and hold it for 15 seconds.
Keep the stomach tight and keep breathing.
Now very slowly, I want you to bring your elbow and your knee under your chest, and
back out.
We're going to try to do that 15 times.
When you finish with the 15, go ahead and switch sides and hold it.
And again bring it in and out.
Keep breathing, stomach, belly button tight.
And back to table position. Our next core training exercise is called the holding
push-up and push-up cycle.
We're going to go ahead and get the body into a holding push-up position.
So our hands are going to be right under the shoulders. We want the toes to be in
contact with the floor or the mat. And so what you're going to do is keeping your
body completely flat, as if there's a board, right on your back you're just
going to lift your body off the ground, so that just your toes and just your
hands are in contact with the floor or mat. You want to make sure that the body is
completely straight,
the abdominals are tight, and that they are still breathing. When he's in
this position, he is going to hold it for 15 seconds. After the 15 seconds
he's going to slowly bend his elbows and go right into a push-up.
He's going to do three to five. Then he's going right back into the holding push-up.
This is a cycle to be done three times. If a push-up is too difficult for the
individual, you can do modified push-ups. Cody, go ahead and drop your knees to the mat.
Keep your back and your bottom in the exact same position. If you want, you can
lift your feet off the ground.
Bend your elbows and do a push-up. The next core exercise we're going to do is
called a plank, and it's a holding push-up on your forearms instead of your
hands. To get in position
we need to bring the hands by the shoulders. Cody go ahead and bring your
hands by your shoulders. And just help them relax on the mat, but kind of keep
them tight in and relaxed. And we want to make sure that our toes are in contact
with the mat or the floor.
Our goal is to remain flat as if we were on the ground even though we're going to
be in the air.
Cody go ahead and lift your body off the mat but keep your forearms on the ground.
You're going to hold it here for 15 seconds. After your 15 seconds, you are going
to take a rest and you're going to do two more for a total of three.
Our next core exercise are forward curl- ups. These are done on your back.
We are going to go ahead and bend the knees and put the arms right on the
thighs.
Now he's keeping his body in this exact position, he's going to tighten his
abdominal muscles and lift his body so that his hands come to his knees and
then down. He's going to do this 15 times. When you get to number 15
you hold it at the top for 15 seconds, and by holding it at the top we are
working the abdominal muscles deep, all the way into the deepest layer. After our
forward curl-ups are side crunches.
We're going to go ahead and bend the knees as we did before, but this time we
are going to put an ankle and rest it on the knee.
Okay now, you're going to take the opposite elbow and put it behind your
head. Now you're going to crunch and bring the elbow towards the knee.
You're going to continue this for 15. When you get to number 15
you are again going to hold it, stable. While you're working this you need to
keep your abdominals tight, and again now you are working the transverse
abdominals along the side, all the way to the deepest level. When you've completed
the 15 we go ahead and switch. Switch legs and switch arms. Now
elbow towards your knee for 15. And after 15 go ahead and hold it at the top for
15 seconds.
Another core exercise is called the reverse bridge. He's going to be on his
back and knees are going to be bent. His hands are going to be on the ground or
the mat, flat, face down and all he's going to do is lift his hip off the ground and
he's going to hold it there for 15 seconds. And what he's doing is he's
actually working all of his core from his chest to his thighs, all the way
in a very deep layer. If we want to make this exercise more difficult,
we can stay in this position and we can lift one leg. But if we lift the leg we
want to make sure that the knees are at an equal level.
Go ahead and switch legs Cody. And again, if you do it with the legs, you want to
hold it for 15 seconds.
Our final core exercise is called the supine leg lifts. The student wants to be
on their back,
the legs are straight, toes are pointed up, the hands are positioned right on the
mat right by the hips. Pressing slightly down into the mat the student
is going to lift their legs straight off the mat in the air, and straight down.
You want to make sure that the legs are completely straight the entire exercise.
You're going to perform
15. While you are doing this exercise it is okay to place your hand on the mat, you
can actually push your hand into the mat to help raise your legs.
What is not okay is for the hand to come all the way under the bottom and give
you extra support for the legs.
If the students legs are hitting the floor very hard,
they are going a little bit too fast and they need to slow down and be more
controlled. Core exercises can be very difficult.
It is okay if you wobble around or even if you fall over. It's a good thing to
just keep on trying because you will get it, it just takes practice. [Narrator] More Video Clips
on Blindness Tips are available from the Washington State School for the Blind at
wssb.wa.gov.