Get Stronger, More Flexible Legs in Four Weeks!

I just finished my first four-week brain-based balance training session of 2020 at the Andy Morin Sports Complex in Folsom, CA.   A class of eight older adults were eager to train the two things they don't want to lose; their brains and their balance and the most consistent improvements were stronger, more flexible legs.

The pre/post senior fitness tests showed remarkable improvements; life changing results.  Recall that I use the only standardized senior fitness tests to measure lower body strength, lower body flexibility and dynamic balance and agility on the first and last day of class.  

Legs are your fall prevention muscles; strong legs keep you upright and independent.  Having flexibility in lower body helps you walk safer by picking up your feet without tripping and increased lower body flexibility is directly related to reduced low back pain.

The most improved student was a 70- year old woman.  She increased lower body strength by (9) NINE chair stands, in 30 seconds!  She reached 3.5 inches further when reaching toward her toes and walked one and half seconds faster in the 8' Up and Go test.

Amazing.  These are life changing improvements.  She has stronger, more flexible legs and moves quicker on her feet.  This woman had vision problems that were trained over the four weeks and she now has skills to continue training her vision at home.

Perhaps the greatest improvement was an 82-year old woman who could not stand up without using
her hands on the first day.  On the last day, she did NINE (9) chair stands without using her hands.  This is a huge improvement when it comes to safety, and dignity!  She also improved lower body flexibility by (3) three full inches.  This is huge when it comes to low back pain and fall risk.

One participant who has more physical aliments than others improved her dynamic balance and agility (how quickly she got up and walked around a cone) by (4) FOUR full seconds.  Walking quicker with a steadier gait is a huge improvement that can save a person's life.  This woman has vestibular issues that require one-on-one training but we were able to find several high payoff drills that significantly improved her balance.  Instantly.

I have to note that this is small group training and individual needs cannot be addressed in a class setting.  Due to the nature of brain-training, individualized assessment and testing is required and strongly recommended.   I offer private sessions at a substantially reduced rate to all class participants.

The final significant improvement I'd like to mention is a 77-year old woman who increased lower body strength by (3) three chair stands and lower body flexibility by (3) three inches.  Again, stronger more flexible legs significantly reduce fall risk.

Enroll in Brains and Balance Fall Prevention Training to improve leg strength, reduce lower body stiffness and improve walking gait thereby increase personal safety.

Movement is life.  It's time to start living!

Brain-based Balance Exercises Are Simple, NOT EASY

"These exercises aren't easy", "This stuff is totally different than anything I've done", "I can't believe how tired I get just by moving my eyes".....these are just a few of the comments I've heard from clients about their brain-based balance exercises.

"These exercises aren't easy".  While nodding your head may seem simple, it's not always easy if you have a balance problem.  If you have a nerve dysfunction or part of your brain needs more or less activation, doing these specific brain-activation drills can be hard!

"This stuff is totally different than anything my doctors or physical therapist have me do".   Neuroscience is the thriving, evolving science changing due to constant discoveries about the organ that runs the entire body.  New discoveries not yet published in textbooks are changing people's lives.

Your doctors and physical therapists have not read these recent studies or learned the skills because they do not specialize in functional neurology.  Mostly, our current healthcare system is an insurance-fraud scheme.  Doctors are death prevention specialists; they prevent death.  They are not in the business of curing patients because a patient cured is a patient lost.

"I can't believe how tired I get just by moving my eyes".  I hear this time and time again.  If I don't hear it, I see it.  The eyes are the #1 input to the brain and the eye muscles burn through fuel.  Following a pencil with both eyes requires specific eye muscle activation which stimulates specific areas of the brain.  When decreased areas get activated,  the results are instant.

THERE IS NO MAGIC PILL.  DO THE WORK.

Results may be instant but in order for those changes to stick, you HAVE TO PRACTICE THE DRILLS.   The science of neuroplasticity proves that the brain can and will change structure, at any age, in order to survive.  But like all things, you have to work for it.  Research studies show that you must practice 20-40 hours for neuronal change to become permanent.

I do not offer any magic pill, no paid medical treatment using a big fancy machine.  I teach holistic, brain-based drills that stimulate areas of the brain.  It's nervous system activation.



When doing brain-based training, prepare to do some different things; things that may seem silly but drills that activate specific muscles, which activate specific nerves which stimulate specific areas of the brain.

For the brain to thrive, you have to learn new skills.  You have to engage the brain.  Make these changes last.  Improve your brain, improve your balance.

INFO@THEFALLPREVENTIONLADY.COM

Woodland Seniors Significantly Reduce Fall Risk

I just finished teaching my last class of 2019 at the Woodland Community Center.  I had 14 older adults in my brain-based fall prevention class and the results were some of the best scores I've ever seen.  From 96 years old to the youngest in the class, age 60, these mature adults got stronger, more flexible and moved quicker in eight sessions.

In four weeks, a 96-year old lady improved her lower body strength by 3 chair stands, reached 1.5 inches closer to her toes and walked 1 full second faster around a cone eight feet away.  These are tremendous improvements at 96 years old.

The most improved was 67 year old hispanic woman.  She improved lower body strength by 5 chair stands in 30 seconds, improved lower body flexibility by 3 full inches and improved her dynamic balance and agility by 8.7 seconds!  Yes, that's right!  8.7 seconds faster getting up and moving around a cone that is 8 feet away.  This skill alone can save her life.

I am so proud of everyone in the class.  Investing in this brain-based balance training can save your life.  Learning how to move quicker, with more flexibility and stronger legs, will improve reaction times.  We practice reaction strategies so if you lose your balance, you know how to react appropriately.  This improves your self confidence.

Some other noteworthy improvements:
A baby boomer couple in the class for work-related interests both significantly improved lower body strength; one by 7 chair stands and the other by 3 in 30 seconds.

A gentleman who survived a stroke over 20 years ago increased his lower body strength by 2 chair stands and his dynamic balance and agility by 3.3 seconds.  He moves a full 3.3 seconds faster getting up from a chair and walking eight feet, without a cane.  His overall walking gait showed significant improvement as well.

A 72 year old lady did 5 more chair stands in 30 seconds and reached 3.3 inches further.
A 78-year old lady did 3 more chair stands and reached a full 4.5 inches further.  "Reaching further" is a measurement of lower body flexibility.  The ability to touch your toes.  The ability to pick your foot up and not drag your toes, reduced low back pain because hamstrings are more flexible.

An 86-year old man increased lower body strength by 2 chair stands and improved lower body flexibility by 2 inches.  AT AGE 86.

A lady with Parkinson's showed significant improvement in her posture and reaction speeds.

You're never too young or too old to improve the way you move.  Movement is life and it's time to start living!

This brain-based training is great for anyone who wants to gain control of her/his body and enjoy life on life's terms.

Do You Want Your Life Back???

I'm finishing up two amazing Brains and Balance classes at Sun River church in Rancho Cordova and my students are thrilled with the results.  This awesome lady explains how the class changed her life but is giving her life back!

"This class is not just LIFE CHANGING, 

it's giving me LIFE BACK!

She's been living with neuropathy for over 10 years.  She went to multiple neurologists and physical therapists who told her there was nothing they could do for her.  Discouraged,  she stopped doing the things she loved.

Through sensory activation, she's gained control of her body and is hopeful about her future.  She still has peripheral neuropathy but she feels stable and is more aware of her body and knows how to move it.

Do you want your life back?  Do you want to do the things you love again?  If so, join me in one of my Brains and Balance Training classes.  Lots of classes scheduled for spring and summer.
If you can't make classes, I can come to you for private sessions.   And thanks to technology, we can even do some training online!

Your brain controls everything, learn how to active different parts of your brain for better movement. After all, movement is life and it's time to start living.

Elements of Efficient Movement to Prevent Falls

Professional athletes make movement look graceful, flawless, effortless.  We're not professional athlete's but your brain's ultimate goal of movement is efficiency.  Efficient movement requires less energy and your brain likes to conserve energy.

So how does your movement become efficient?  Practice, practice, practice!!!  Practice solidifies neural pathways with myelin and your brain (and body) get good at that movement.

But here's the kicker;

your body gets good at whatever it does

exactly how it does it.  

What that means is that if you're practicing sloppy, compensated movements, your body will get good at bad, inefficient form.

This is why you need to practice movements in perfect form. Dr. Cobb, creator of Z-Health, has identified four elements of efficiency that must be present in the "PERFECT REP".  And they are:

1. Perfect Form
2. Dynamic Postural Alignment
3. Synchronized Respiration
4. Balanced Tension and Relaxation 

What does that look like?  Well, perfect form begins in Lengthened Spine.  Dynamic Postural Alignment means that all joints are relaxed and properly aligned.  You're sitting, or standing, tall and relaxed.  Feet, knees, hips and shoulders all facing forward.

Synchronized Respiration is relaxed nasal inhale into your belly and nasal or mouth exhalation.  This breathing pattern continues throughout the movements.  It will change as energy requirements increase but you SHOULD NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH AT ANY TIME!

The final element of efficiency is the ability to maintain balanced Tension and Relaxation in your body.  This means no contraction, flexion, forward bending, locking of arms when doing movements, no tension.  This is a challenge when a person is asked to move a joint in directions and speeds they haven't done in....forever!

IT's very common to see people tighten up when trying to move a body part in isolation that has never been moved before.  It takes concentration!  Concentration can rob your body of efficiency because all your brain wants is to do the movement and not look stupid.  This should be easy.  But it's not.

One perfect rep means doing whatever drill with all the forms of efficiency present.  Breathing.  Relaxed.  Postural aligned and perfect form.  In my Brains and Balance Training classes, we practice drills that should be easy. You would think three circles clockwise and three circles counterclockwise would be easy.  But it's not always the case!

Learn how to control your body with the elements of efficiency.  Get good at good movement.  Quit living your life in bad form!  Say goodbye to poor posture and instability.   Learn how to move each joint in isolation so you can move them all together efficiently.

Brain-based training: The future of Fitness.
If you're not training your senses, half your brain is dying.  Use it or lose it.

No One's Going To Do It For You!

My dad was tough.  Marines tough.  Brigadier General tough.  I remember playing him in tennis and he kicked my butt.  As I was rising to the top of my basketball game, he beat me.  No mercy.  It made me cry!  I don't know why but the fact that he played hard and beat me seemed unfair.  At the time.

I cried.  I was hurt.  After all, I was his daughter.  I was only visiting him since my parent's divorce and I was a good athlete.  Dad's are supposed to let their girl win.  Or at least that's what I must have thought.  But I'm here to tell you, he didn't give me any special treatment and it taught me that life isn't fair and you have to do the work if you want to benefit.   It made me a better player.  A full scholarship athlete. Thank you Dad.

You can't expect anyone to do the work for you.  In this day and age, you have to be your own advocate.  If you want better balance, you have got to put in work.  It's up to you to seek education classes and workshops that explain aging, balance and coordination as you age.  

If you have fallen down and you don't want to fall again, it's up to you find a balance class that gets you results.  IN order to get results you have to face the frustrations, make the mistakes and re-learn how to move correctly.                    

                 

As you teach your brain to move again, you will have the 'why won't you do what I'm telling you' conversation with your body parts.  Your brain can forget how to move a body part if you don't move it regularly.  Practice makes perfect and perfect practice gets results.  

You can rewire your brain for better movement, better balance and less pain.  The science of neuroplasticity proves it.  I have invested to become a brain-based movement re-educator that focuses on brain activation for better movement, balance and vision.    It works.....if you work it.  

Nothing comes easy.  Anything worth having is worth working for.  Practice makes perfect.  You've got to put in the work to get the results.  Join me in one of my brain-based fall prevention classes or sit in on one of my dynamic educational workshops.

www.thefallpreventionlady.com
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Comradery, socialization, better stability. the list goes on

Brains and Balance Training with Coach Kelly class participant shares how four weeks of brain-based training has improved her life.    This woman radiates confidence and joy as she reflects on the training process.

Benefits of Brains and Balance Training are everything you want:
1.  Socialization
2.  Noticeable Improvements
3.  Get Up Quicker
4.  Increased Stability
5.  Defensive Walking skills

This Brains and Balance Training class participant radiates confidence and joy as she explains the benefits of the 4-week class at the Woodland Community Center.

I love teaching small group classes and she nailed the reasons!  Comradery, socialization, sharing of struggles and seeing the improvements.  Knowing you're not alone in your fears is wonderful for emotional health.  Sharing struggles restores your sanity and seeing the improvements is beautiful.
Get Results.

Next class:
Woodland Community Center.
Feb.12-March 7
1:00-2:30pm

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