It's not just ONE exercise that improved my balance

No one likes to admit they need help.  I've found that some older adults are hesitant to join "fall prevention" programs because if they did, they would be admitting weakness. Women are by far more likely to join balance training classes and thanks to their loving wives, more men are joining my classes.

One gentleman whose wife had to coax him to join the class, did amazingly well. His posture improved and his walking gait was steadier.  During the last week of class he admitted that his balance was better but he didn't know what exercise made the difference.  He said, "I think it was the cumulative effect of all the drills that improved my balance".

And he's right; a healthy brain needs activation. Because everyone is different and no two brains are the same, the types and amounts of stimulus will vary from person to person.  The key to great movement, better balance, improved vision, quicker reaction speeds and better posture is finding the type and right amount of activation YOUR brain needs.

That's what we do in my four-week Brains and Balance Training classes; systematically activate the different areas of the brain.  The brain has different parts that do different things.  Because neurons that lie together fire together, activating one area of the brain stimulates other areas.

How do you know what drills make you better?  You assess and reassess.  In the fitness world, "You're guessing if you're not assessing" is a golden rule among top-notch trainers.  Seriously, why would you want to do a drill or exercise that makes your body movement worse?  You don't.  That's why you need to assess and reassess to see how your body (and brain) are responding to exercises.

In Brains and Balance Training, I give adults tools for their "balance and fall prevention" toolbox in order to live a better life.  Different brains, different options.  Discover what areas of your brain need stimulation and enjoy the benefits of healthy functioning brain.

Your Brain's Movement Maps

Your brain controls how much each joint moves.  Our joints have receptors in them that tell the brain about things like location, pressure, and temperature.  This joint-receptor input forms a three-dimensional map of the body.

This 3-D map is located in the brain and this is known as the third sensory system called proprioception.  This spatial awareness is how your brain knows where your body is in space at all times.  The better your brain's map of the body, the better your movement.

Conversely, if you don't move a body part, the brain's map for that area is "blurry".  If you were injured and didn't rehabilitate 100 percent (which is defined as the ability to move a joint in all ranges of motions at all speeds), then your brain's map of that injured area is blurry.

As a result, when your brain has to move the previously injured area, movement might be choppy, ratchety, spastic, or rushed.  These types of movement indicate poor mapping, an indication that your brain doesn't know how to move an area.

The better the brain's map of the body, the more smooth and efficient the movement.  Think about a highway.   You can go fast on well-traveled roads.  Similarly, when you repeatedly practice a movement, your body (and brain) get really good at that movement.  

Practice makes perfect but you need to practice perfect.  That's because your body gets good at whatever it does, exactly how it does it.  This is known as the SAID principle or specific adaptations to imposed demands.  You get good at whatever you do, exactly how you do it.

For that reason, you want to practice all movements in good form or your body will get good at bad movement.   Your brain's mapping of the body is dependent on many other neurological factors but for this blog, just know that all movement is planned and controlled by your brain and your brain depends on receptor input to know where the body is in space.  

Take-aways:

• Your brain can forget how to move a body part if you don't move it.   
• Practice moving each joint in all directions at all speeds.  
• The better the brain's map of the body, the better your movement

Why Your Eye Doctor Doesn’t Give You Vision Training Drills

We are a vision-dependent society.  In other words, we heavily rely on input from our eyes to help us navigate through life.  This is because vision is the number one input to the brain.  Our brain relies on visual information to decide how to move and where to go.

Each eye sends over 1.2 billion bits of information per second to the brain.  That is an enormous amount of information per second, per eye, flooding the brain.  The brain has to decide which information is accurate in order to act quickly and appropriately.    Appropriately means safe.

Each eye has 6 muscles!

What's interesting is that vision is brain-wide event; it's not just the transmission of information on the optic nerve.  Vision includes the occipital, temporal, parietal and frontal lobes and there are four components of vision necessary for good "vision".

As Z-Health Neuro-Performance Specialist, I implement brain-based drills to train the four
components of vision.  What's awesome is that every brain is different and therefore, each brain needs different types of activation.  Through assessment and reassessment practices, you learn the types of vision drills your brain craves and responds well to.

What's fascinating is that vision is a skill and like all other skills, it will improve with practice however you must train all four components regularly if you want to improve your vision.  

Clients are blown away with instant results and often ask, "Why isn't my doctor telling me how to do this?

One simple answer:  the applied neurology training techniques I use are cutting edge, neuroscience-researched practices based on the science of neuroplasticity.  Neuropolasticity is the science of hope.  Medical doctors can't give you hope or they'll get sued if it doesn't work.

Eye doctors sell glasses, eye surgeries and medications.    Physical therapists sell costly treatments covered by insurance and are driving up the cost of Medicare for conventional approaches to movement.  

The medical community, doctors and physical therapists included, are going to have to go back to school to learn the applied functional neurology training techniques that I am teaching because more and more evidence proves new things about the brain and nervous system

Brain-based training is the future of fitness.  If you want to move better and see better, you have to train the systems involved, from the brain's perspective.   Find a trained neuro-performance specialist (Z-Health Trainers) and learn how to activate parts of your brain that need activation.

If you've tried everything and nothing has worked, it's time to try something different!!!!
Train your eyes for better vision.  Train your brain with better visual input.

Get those eyes moving!

The Neurology of Unilateral vs. Bilateral Training

Your belly button and balance

What does your belly button have to do with your balance and what in the heck is belly button training???

One definition of balance is keeping your belly button over your feet whether you're walking or standing still (Dr. Debra Rose, Director Center for Successful Aging, Creator of FallProof).   This is because your belly button is your center of gravity and your feet are your base of support.  Belly button training is learning to keep your belly button over your feet at all times.

Balance, like aging, is different for each of us because we have all lived different lives, made different choices and face different challenges.  Also, we all have different belly buttons!

In my Brains and Balance training classes, I teach belly button training to increase people's awareness of their center of gravity and how to move in such a way to keep their belly button over their feet.  I assign evidence-based Stepping On balance training drills for homework.

The only way to improve your balance is to continuously challenge yourself.  Since everyone starts with different abilities and challenges, there are modification and progressions that everyone needs to know when trying to improve their balance.

Don't wait for an accident, enroll today so you can learn how to keep your belly button over your feet!!!