How to Improve Balance and Coordination

Yoga balancing exercises can help improve coordination.

Maintaining coordination can sometimes be difficult even for experienced athletes, since many sports often emphasize strength over balance. Balancing exercises especially benefit older people, who can sustain serious injuries if they lose their balance and fall. You can significantly improve your balance, coordination and posture by exercising every day in a specific, targeted manner and using an array of techniques.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Dumbbells
• Resistance bands
• Balls
• Yoga DVD

1. Incorporate strength training and cardiovascular exercise in your routine. Pick up some dumbbells in a range of weights, along with some resistance bands. Incorporate strength training into your routine every other day. For cardiovascular exercise, walk for 20 minutes or more every day. Physical activity and core training improve coordination, joint stability and balance, so make sure that you have a structured exercise routine.

2. Switch hands and practice writing. Regularly switching hands while writing will help you improve coordination while working areas of your brain that you don't typically use.

3. Bounce a ball and catch it. Improve your hand-eye coordination by bouncing and catching a ball with alternating hands. You can do this at home for a few minutes a day for arm exercise and muscle coordination. Alternatively, if you like playing tennis or ping pong, fit these sports into your weekly schedule for a coordination boost.

4. Try yoga and balance equipment to improve balance. Pick up a simple yoga DVD and do balance exercises, such as standing on one leg. You can also invest in a balance ball to work on specific balance exercises that will also help develop your core. Start out slowly and always have something you can grab onto nearby to prevent a fall or injury.

5. Incorporate balance exercises into everyday activities. Raise both your legs off the floor when you are seated at your desk and balance on the edge of your seat. Try standing on one leg while brushing your teeth first thing in the morning. Do five minutes of pilates exercises every morning. You can improve balance and coordination by incorporating fitness and targeted exercise into your weekly workout routine.

6. Eat a diet rich in blueberries. A study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1999 found that consuming blueberry extract reversed coordination loss associated with aging and helps restore short-term memory.

Tips & Warnings

• Be consistent and build up to more advanced exercises. Make sure not to overdo it.

• Create a structured exercise plan that you can follow every day and monitor your progress with each targeted exercise.

• Have a chair or a wall to grab onto when starting out with balance exercises.

• Talk to your doctor before adding any strenuous exercise into your routine.

References

• Share Care: How can I improve my coordination and balance for basketball?
• Mayo Clinic: Slide show: Balance exercises
• U.S. Department of Agriculture; Blueberries May Restore Some Memory, Coordination and Balance Lost with Age; Judy McBride; Sept. 10, 1999