To perform efficient movements across a host of activities and tasks, we need to be able to maintain control of our body’s positioning. Balance in the body increases our ability to maintain control of a particular body position whilst performing any task with minimal postural sway. Balance exercises focus on strengthening your core muscles which regulate all balance and stability in the body. Athletes, bodybuilders and fitness enthusiast all need to train their core muscles to not only improve balance during athletic and bodybuilding movements. So if you’ve been feeling a bit wobbly lately, try these core training exercises for better balance.

Hip Twist

Start by sitting comfortably with your abdominal muscles contracted and your legs lifted to a balanced position. Place your hands on the floor, facing forward. Lifting your head, lengthen your spine and stretch your legs away from you, making sure to engage your abs. Inhale deeply and point your toes. Circle your legs clockwise ten times and switch to anti-clockwise. Lastly, lower your legs several inches down and rotate ten more times on each side.

Walking Heel Toe

This is a pretty simple but very effective movement. In a standing position, make sure your spine and back bones are properly aligned and your abdominal muscles contracted. Now walk very slowly in a straight line, placing the foot infront so that the heel of the front foot touches the toes of the rear foot. With time, you will gradually get used to it, then feel free to close your eyes.

Single Leg Balance on Pillow

You will need a small pillow or cushion for this one. Start by standing on the pillow on one leg and try maintaining your balance for at least one minute. As you improve gradually, try closing your eyes or adding more pillows.

Balance exercises should be initially performed for 5 minutes a day and progressed to 10-15 minutes or longer, provided they do not cause major discomfort. Ensure that your environment is safe and prevent serious injury in-case you lose your balance and fall.

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For many of us hard at work, lunch hour couldn’t come any sooner. However, instead of protesting that there’s never enough hours within the day to hit the gym or go for a jog after work, why not use your lunch break to complete some easy exercises. Sitting all day can be cause injury to your posture, leaving many of us aching or clicking our backs and necks every hour or two.

So we’ve come up with a solution, prepare a meal the night before so it’s ready to go after you’ve finished exercising. Luckily for us the sun is here so a quiet park or empty office room is the best place to set up your exercising spot, you never know it might even result in becoming the new cool area for all staff members to join in with the exercise too.

Star Jumps

Why star jumps?

It’s time to wake and shake yourself up! Star jumps will help boost your heart rate, allowing you plenty of energy to complete the day.

How to do it :

1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart
2. Slightly bend your knees
3. Squat and jump vertically
4. Once you land, remember to be in a squat position
5. Repeat 4 sets of 10 reps.

Push Ups

Why push ups?

Push ups are an excellent exercise to help strengthen your core muscles, they don’t require any equipment or much space to practice.

How to do it :

1. Lay on your front
2. Arms shoulder width apart
3. Your arms should be straight in starting position
4. Squeeze in your glutes and tuck in your tummy
5. Begin by slowly lowering your arms until they reach a 90 degree angle or until your chest almost touches the ground.
6. Hold this position for 2 seconds then gently bring yourself back up to starting position.
7. Repeat 4 sets of 10 reps.

Calf raise

Why calf raise?

From all that sitting, you need to get your feet moving. This exercise will help build stronger and more toned calves. Calf raises don’t take up too much space and require no equipment to complete the exercise, unless of course you would like to hold light dumbbells in your hands.

How to do it :

1. Stand with your feet slightly apart
2. Toes pointing forward
3. Lift your heels off the ground
4. Hold the position once you’ve come up for a second or two
5. Slowly lower your heels back to the ground
6. Repeat the exercise, 4 sets of 10 reps

Jumping Lunges

Why jumping lunges?

Jumping lunges are a great way to finish your workout. No exercise equipment needed, it’s just you and your heart pumping one last time before you sit down for your already prepared meal.

How to do it :

1. Stand with one foot in front of the other (lunge position)
2. Lower into lunge position
3. Feet must be pointing straight forward
4. Use your arms to help you lift your body in the air
5. Whilst in the air switch your feet around
6. Repeat – 2 sets of 10 reps

How many times do you look in the mirror and feel unsatisfied with your body? How many times do you tell yourself you’ll do something about it tomorrow? But tomorrow never comes!

Recognize The Problem. 

Majority of the time we can blame ourselves for not exercise enough or at all. You should have maybe worked harder and not spent the entire time at the gym worrying about looking silly or admiring others more than focusing on your own training.

Maybe you haven’t given up the unhealthy foods? Regardless the exercise reasons behind it all, sometimes you’ve got to simply understand that our genetic makeup and characteristics just works against us, sometimes that body you want just can’t be for us.

Don’t beat yourself up, find what works for you. Train either indoors or outdoors depending on your preference and season, choose healthier meal options and even take up stretching classes.

Realistic Goals.

Instead of setting goals that are just to lose weight you should be more specific. You need to exercise as a whole rather than just wanting to lose weight on your belly. It just doesn’t work like that.

Unless you’re aiming to starve yourself into a size 0, sometimes we’ve got to accept the fact that somewhere whilst seeking to lose fat the body can only lose a certain amount before it becomes unhealthy. Will a massive weight lose change be good for you?

A major problem is people forget that when training hard, muscle weighs more than fat. So some people will wonder why they’re not losing fat (weight) when in actual fact they’ve done an excellent job! But of course they’ll never see it and will wonder what on earth people around them are saying when they begin to get complemented.

Set up short-term goal that aren’t about your weight, and be commit to them fully.  When you reach the short term goals be kind to yourself, give yourself a complement or two.

Stop and Think.

Don’t constantly put yourself down. Something you’ve probably not even thought about is that the more you insult yourself the more the people around you will begin to see more faults in you too. Which in turn will make you feel worse but at the day it’s your own fault for sharing it with them. You must be especially careful in case there are children around, this could potentially be a negative experience for them. They’ll begin to question what is the ideal body? Soon children will start to wonder if they’re fat themselves and at a young age it’s too difficult for them to understand weight loss, strength training and proteins.

• Take the first step, sign up to classes or a gym.
• Be punctual and consistent – Don’t take time out because it’s raining or you’d rather relax and work extra hard tomorrow.
• Bring in friends and family to join you exercise.
• Drink plenty of water.
• Stay positive!

An hour before I plan to hit the gym for a solid workout, hungry or not a post-workout snack and beverage are key to restoring your body’s energy and nutrients. But avoid a high-fat, empty-calorie snack that can negate all of the hard work you just did. Instead, opt for a nutritious post-workout food with a hydrating beverage.

Why Post Exercise Nutrition is Important

The body needs water and glycogen levels restored after an exercise session. Your post-meal snack or meal helps replenish those levels. Protein and carbohydrates create a post-workout combination that aids in the body’s recovery.

Time Frame for Post-Workout Eating

Fluid intake should occur during and immediately after the workout. This keeps your hydration levels up throughout the workout. The post-workout snack or meal should take place shortly after you complete your exercise. It is recommend to eat a carbohydrate snack 30 minutes after your workout, the amount of which should be 0.5 to 0.7 grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight. You should then have a meal within the first two hours after your workout for the most effective recovery. Waiting too long to eat could make the recovery process take longer.

Start training SMARTER and overhaul your calf strategy. We all know the calf muscles are insanely stubborn and a pain to grow, which is why most people stop focusing on them altogether. It’s a valuable investment with an extremely high return to focus on training them regardless if the end result seeming to be a long journey away, and one that’s capable of completely transforming your lower body without doing much work whatsoever.

Devote 10 minutes of dedicated, progressive calf work onto the end of a long day and you’ll quickly start noticing lumps on the backside of your lower legs. Make sure you do this on a regular basis and you’ll gradually build mountainous calves.

1. Seated Calf Raises

Target Calf Muscle: Soleus

Seated Calf Raises are THE best exercise to hammer the soleus directly.

• Load a plate machine. Sit upright with a tight core.
• Powerfully contract your calves and press up as far as possible.
• Hold for 1 second and lower slowly all the way down to the bottom.
• You should feel a deep stretch through your calves.
• Hold for 1 second at the bottom and repeat the movement.

Alternatives: If you don’t have a plate-loaded calf machine, you can easily replicate the movement by placing two dumbbells on top of your quads (the front half).

2. Standing Barbell Calf Raises

Target Calf Muscle: Gastrocnemius

The Standing Barbell Calf Raise is an all-around calf killer that not only hits the gastrocnemius, but also works the core and cranks up the intensity.

• Load a barbell and place 2 plates together on the floor.
• Stand with your feet slightly more narrow than shoulder-width, with the balls of your feet on top of the plates.
• The plates help increase range of motion.
• Powerfully contract your calves and press up as far as possible.
• Hold for 1 second at the top and slowly return all the way down to the ground.
• Repeat.

Alternatives: You can also do these with dumbbells, a Smith machine, or a standing squat machine. Or use your bodyweight and do them with one leg.

3. 45 Degree Calf Raise

Target Calf Muscle: Gastrocnemius

• Load up a leg press machine and keep your legs straight.
• Place the balls of your feet on the platform with your heels hanging off.
• Powerfully contract your calves and press the platform up as far as possible.
• Hold for 1 second and release back as far as possible.
• Hold for 1 second at the bottom and repeat.