For those of you who know me, whether it is from a sports massage treatment or one of my fun filled running sessions, you know how much I bang on about balancing on one leg.

Now it isn’t just me being mean and wanting to laugh at you trying after you have done a brutal hill session it is because it has many benefits.

Fact: Did you know 40% of the time spent walking is done on one leg…think about it?

We spend a lot of time sitting down and this is affecting our balance. Balancing on one leg helps muscular strength, neuromuscular activity (using our brain cells), stability, injury risk reduction, even weight distribution, proprioception (the awareness of our body in the space it holds) and our overall general health and well being.

It is thought that standing on one leg can actually help you live longer!

When we stand on one leg our brain is working overtime, sending signals back and forth, it is picking up the visual signals from our eyes, auditory signals from our ears (if you have ever had an ear infection you will know how balance is affected from issues with our ears), signals from all of our joints and muscles, so not only is it a work out for your body it is a workout for your brain.

How many muscles are you engaging when walking, standing, running? So it stands to reason that standing on one leg is going to benefit all of these muscles – your quadriceps (thigh), calves, glutes (bottom), hamstrings, hip flexors and your core and deep core muscles all are getting a workout when you are standing on one leg.

As we get older our body deteriorates, eyes, hearing, muscles so lets work on strengthening these whilst we can and you can understand why these exercises can help us in the long term, the more we do it the better we will become.

With the added strength in our joints and muscles and the training of our brain we will see postural improvements and with postural improvements you will also see health benefits.

Fact: It is easier to breathe and to get more air in our lungs when standing upright than when bent over double – a point I often make to runners!

As you can see there are so many benefits to standing on one leg so what is stopping you.

You might think you don’t have time, too busy running around after the kids, working all hours, washing, cleaning the house etc….I have a question for you….

Do you clean your teeth twice a day?

If the answer is yes, then why not when cleaning out teeth start doing it on one leg?

Start slowly, lift one leg gradually off the floor and after 30 seconds swap to the other foot – I am sure you will find one leg more stable than the other but take time and slowly get comfortable on both legs – twice a day and you will soon improve.

Then go slightly higher, each time finding stability before moving on – eventually you will be comfortable with your knee at right angles and steady as a rock! This will benefit you immensely and all it takes is a couple of minutes a day.

If you want to challenge yourself further, start closing your eyes – in theory you should be able to stand for 1 minute on one leg with your eyes closed without a problem.

I have attached a few photos of me to show you what I mean – however, I say this with all seriousness – please be careful and only do what you are capable of, I don’t hold any responsibility for any teeth cleaning accidents.

Have a go and good luck!

Paul

Ps. Just to prove I don’t make this stuff up there is even an article on the BBC

BBC Article on Balancing on One Leg