- All right, Bob and I are gonna show
you 12 exercises that are
fundamental for balance and fitness.
These are meant that you could do 'em along with us.
You will need, if you use a walker,
you want use your walker.
If not, you can use a chair,
and you'll see how I'm set up
so we have something to hold on to,
'cause they will challenge your balance.
- Yep. Safety first.
- Yep. Something to hold on to.
And we'll go one step at a time.
Other thing that this is really nice for,
is if you cannot get outside to do your walk, bad weather.
This'll help-
- Get your heart rate up.
- Get your heart rate up and work the balance,
it's a double win situation. - Right.
We'll be back in 9.3 seconds.
♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet. ♪
- Okay, so before we get started,
I just wanted to reemphasize,
make sure that you're using your walker,
or a chair in front of you.
You could have a countertop in front of you.
At the sink works good,
so you can put your hands over the sink
and give you something stable.
- With a chair behind you.
- Yeah, with the chair behind you,
so when you're tired you can sit.
Or if you lose your balance, you won't fall to the floor.
If your balance is pretty good
and you don't think you need any of that,
you walk around without anything,
I would still recommend having a stick,
a cane, or just something to make sure you're safe.
- Right.
Alright, let's get on with the first one, Bob.
The first one, if you have something in front,
Bob's got just a little cushion there, a pad.
I've got a box.
You can use a stool, and they're toe taps.
So with your right foot, you just go up and tap.
- [Bob] Right foot.
- It doesn't really matter right or left.
We're gonna do 10 of these.
- [Bob] All one one leg, or do you alternate?
- [Brad] You can go alternate,
or you can go 10 on one leg and 10 on the other.
I've got, I'm going 10 on the other.
And if you do more or less, it's not a big deal.
You'll find once you get this memorized,
you'll be able to go through
without having to stare at us on the screen.
Much more pleasurable.
Okay, let's go on to number two.
(air whooshes)
Okay, the next one works the hip muscles
in three directions.
The first direction, we'll do
this side closer to the camera.
Kick out in front of you,
then out to the side, and then behind you.
And then repeat.
Front,
side,
behind.
This is a probably a good rate to go.
You don't wanna go too fast.
You wanna strengthen the muscles,
work your balance. One more time.
Good. Now we'll do the other leg.
In front,
out to the side.
Go as far as you can comfortably.
Don't feel like you're losing your balance.
Front,
side,
and behind.
Front,
side,
and behind.
Try and keep your posture up nice and tall.
Don't find yourself doing this type of motion.
All right, next one.
(air whooshes)
Next one is mini lunges, or you just step out slightly
to the side of your chair or your walker and bend the knee.
If you get any pain in your knees with any of these,
you need to stop, 'cause you don't want your knee
to collapse and have a fall.
So use good judgment.
What number are we on, Bob?
- [Bob] Six.
- Hey, he's counting.
Again, five to 10, 10 is a good goal to work towards.
- Nine. - Nine.
- 10 - 10.
And then we'll do the other leg off to the side.
Little lunge.
This is a nice balance one.
It works the same muscles that gets you
up and down the stairs, so it helps that way.
- [Bob] Five.
- Good upright posture.
- Six.
- Bob's doing a nice job pf counting
for me, 'cause I usually get my numbers mixed up.
- Eight
Nine. - Nine.
- [Both] And 10.
All right, let's go next.
(air whooshes)
Okay, the next one is a single leg balance.
Make sure you've got both hands on something
for balance, and lift your right leg up
off the floor and then you can take one hand off
and see how your balance is.
If it's doing okay, you can take both hands off.
We're going for 10 seconds.
I did not look at the clock, I'm gonna guess.
And if, let's go to the other leg,
I'll show you another trick just to
help the balance and challenge.
Lift up your left leg.
You can hold on both palms.
Good, solid. If that's too easy, go to fingertips.
That's a little bit harder.
- [Bob] Yeah.
And then if you go fingertips on one hand.
I've had people go like one fingertip,
two fingertips, two, and then go to one, whatever it is
so that you're challenged without one or the other.
- Don't break your fingers.
- Yeah, don't break your fingers and do not fall.
Safety first.
Let's go to the next one.
(air whooshes)
Okay, the next one. Standing marching.
This one is the old as the hills for therapists.
Simply just bring one knee up and then the other.
Bring them up as high as you feel comfortable,
Keep your balance, and nice, good posture.
Keep breathing while you do this.
Are you counting Bob?
- [Bob] Nope, I-
- He's not counting.
All right, we're gonna shoot for 10 on a leg.
That would be 20 if we counted right, left,
right, left, or 1, 2, 3, 4.
- Were were you in band?
- Huh?
- Were you in band?
- In band?
No, I was in orchestra, Bob.
And I had a cello, so I had to do everything seated.
- No marching, then.
- No marching in my instrument plane.
That was probably a good thing.
(Bob laughs)
Okay, good.
Let's go to the next one.
(air whooshes)
All right, stepping to the side,
we're gonna go to the right first.
One step there, step there,
and then back to the center.
Step to the left with both feet,
and back to the center.
To the right.
Back to the center.
This one is really nice,
because a lot of times you step sideways
and you never are aware of it,
and you don't think about it.
And if you catch your foot stepping
sideways in the kitchen or in the bathroom,
that's a good place to fall,
so this helps minimize that fall risk
while you're sidestepping to get through narrow areas.
Areas that we just talked about. How you doing Bob?
- Seven.
- Seven? He's counting.
That's what I like to hear, because I'm lost once again.
- Eight.
- Ah,
yes.
You can do this with little music on if you want.
I would start singing-
- Nine But we'd lose you all
at that point.
♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ Bob ♪
Oh yeah, I can sing that one.
We have
♪ The two most ♪
What number are we on, Bob?
- That's it.
- All right, good, let's go to the next one.
(air whooshes)
Okay, the next one we call mini squats.
Make sure you, again, have your hand in.
We're gonna squat down as far as you feel comfortable.
This is where it's really nice to have the chair
behind you just in case you go farther than you should,
and you end up going backwards and then you're safe.
All right, so nice posture, shoulders back.
This is one that is easy to compensate and do this.
That's not a squat.
It's all with the legs.
Head up, shoulders back.
- Eight. - Eight.
- Nine. - We better be in unison, Bob.
It's like that- - 10.
Choreographed dancing.
All right, next one.
(air whooshes)
Okay, this is a balance exercise.
Take your right foot, put the heel
on the toe or in front of the toe.
It's like you're walking the tight rope.
And just hold it there.
And then see what you need to balance.
You can take your hands off a little bit,
and if you're gonna get wobbly, put your hands back on.
So challenge yourself a little bit, but not too much.
So good judgment, be safe.
Okay. - [Bob] And switch.
- Yep, and then switch.
It's real simple.
Just work the balance.
There we go.
And it all depends.
Everyone's gonna have a little bit different
balance tolerance here.
Little challenge, but not too much.
We wanna stay upright.
All right, next one.
(air whooshes)
Okay, nine and 10 we're gonna combine.
You'll see, nine is go up on your toes
as far as you feel comfortable.
Get the heels in the air.
Working that ankle strength. Real nice to do.
This is something we do when we walk up and down steps.
Reach up into the cupboard when it's a high reach.
- Eight - Eight,
I was hoping you were counting.
- Nine,
10.
- Now the next one.
Now just be careful with this one.
We're gonna actually lift our toes in the air,
so our heels
stay on the ground.
And this is one where you might
lose your balance going backwards.
The chair should be there, so just be careful with it.
10 of these.
- 8,
9,
10.
- Yes. All right.
Only two more to go.
(air whooshes)
Okay, so the next one I'm gonna demonstrate.
If you feel comfortable,
this is a strictly an optional exercise.
Have your feet shoulder width apart and see
if you can raise your hands up like this.
If that feels very safe, then bring your arms
out like this, and back together,
and do that five times.
If you feel like you're wobbling,
you're done, and you don't wanna do it.
If it feels very comfortable and easy
and you want more of a challenge, again, feet together.
If you feel safe like this, really easy or not wobbling,
then you can put on the,
we call it abduction of the shoulders and arms.
And that's it for that one.
(air whooshes)
Okay, the last exercise is a strengthening exercise.
We're gonna go down,
it's nice if you have armrests from a seated position
and then use your armrest to stand up.
That's one.
And we're gonna do five, 10 of 'em,
If you feel comfortable.
if you feel a little strong
and you only need one hand, go ahead and challenge yourself.
There will be some people who can probably do this
without either hand, but it's nice to have the chair
behind you, something in front so that you can-
- Six. - Keep your balance.
- Seven.
- Oh.
The other nice thing about this one-
- Eight.
It's the hardest one to do.
You're probably gonna be tired,
you're gonna have tired legs.
- Nine.
So we're gonna finish seated.
- 10.
- There you go.
That's it.
12 exercises.
Good exercise, good balance.
Bob, what do you say?
Smoke 'em if you have 'em.
- Smoke 'em if you have 'em?
(both laugh)
- Maybe not.
Yeah, this is healthy, fit, and pain free.
- Forget it.
- Yeah, Bob digresses a little bit.
So enjoy the day, and exercise wisely.
Thank you.
(upbeat music)