Balance exercises: How to train lower leg variability | Peter Attia, M.D.

I think everyone appreciates the importance of balance at all stages of life, but as we age, the consequences of losing your balance tip from inconvenient to devastating to potentially life-ending.

There are many ways to train for balance, ranging from walking on uneven surfaces to walking on a tightrope or zipline.

Regardless of your ambitions with respect to balance, a big piece of it, and the part that probably matters most for your healthspan, is lower leg variability, or as @bethlewisfit likes to call it, “problem solving with your feet.”

Most of us have nowhere near the variability and proprioception with our feet that we have with our hands, which makes it much harder for us to maintain balance than it should be. We must have the ability to shift weight, accelerate and decelerate our mass through different parts of the feet in order to respond and stabilize appropriately to changes in our environment.

While I love to play with a balance board, it doesn’t really help me gain the “feels” with my feet that the Black Board tool provides. I have to use my foot and lower leg to respond to how my weight shifts up top.

----

About:

The Peter Attia Drive is a weekly, ultra-deep-dive podcast focusing on maximizing health, longevity, critical thinking…and a few other things. With over 40 million episodes downloaded, it features topics including fasting, ketosis, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, mental health, and much more.

Peter is a physician focusing on the applied science of longevity. His practice deals extensively with nutritional interventions, exercise physiology, sleep physiology, emotional and mental health, and pharmacology to increase lifespan (delay the onset of chronic disease), while simultaneously improving healthspan (quality of life).

Connect with Peter on:

Subscribe to The Drive:

This is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing or other professional healthcare services, including the giving of medical advice. No doctor patient relationship is formed.

[maddogfo]

I’m 67 years old and still an avid runner. My running coach showed me a great stability exercise that’s super simple and requires no equipment. In the morning and evening while you’re brushing your teeth, while barefoot stand on on leg with your knee slightly bent. If you look at you ankle of the foot on the ground, you’ll see all the tendons firing. Do one leg in the morning and the other at night. Works great!

[joeo]

I love your show! Try this! Find around a dozen small stones of varying shapes and sizes. Put them in front of your left foot. Pick up one at a time with your right foot and place each one it in front of where your right foot was. Then reverse the drill for the other foot. You will increase your foot dexterity as well as work out the tiny muscles in the foot that has weight on it. The constantly changing movement from side to side really helps your balance. It's actually fun to do.

[dangar]

Dr. Attia, thanks for all the great informative podcasts, I'm in my mid fifties, stopped working out in my early 30s, then when I turned 50 started lifting again now I'm at the weight I was in my 20s with some muscle, I saw my dad deteriorate in his 60s, hbp, edema, and then parkinson's which ultimately led to a broken hip and 3 years nursing home, my mom also had health issues COPD, heart failure, heart valve disease, hbp, etc . She passed at 81 my dad 77, theres no guarantees but you have to make lifestyle changes, . Nutrition, exercise, cut smoking, drinking, etc. Anyways thanks for all your informative videos, God bless,

[lucindanewcomb]

That looks very helpful. As a former child competitive gymnast I'm ever astonished at how difficult balancing on one foot in a yoga class was for me when started to try more yoga classes later in life.

[darrenbrown]

Ill be 89 in a couple weeks, Parkinses, no hopes, blind, weak, deteriorating, cant breath, no lungs, lost my hips and feet, hands sweating... my dad deteriorated in his 40's, couldnt feed himself or swallow food, my mom wheelchair bound in her 50's from not running or eating well, I'm on track to be just like them.. thanks for uploading Peter, I'm on track to turn my life around. These exercises are going to be a new start for me.

[robertm]

Having shattered my heel and having it reconstructed I’m in everyday rehab mode to maintain flexibility in the foot and keep pain down. This looks like the next level up in the fight. Thanks for posting!

[robertpepin-jung]

Awesome change. Bring more active content from time to time like this. 👍

[kbkesq]

Stand up paddle boarding is really good for so many of the things Peter promotes. You can do it on a lake or in the ocean or in a river. But the point is you build your feet your hips and your core while also getting a shoulder workout. There’s few things that are is good for stability as paddle boarding.

[lafamillecarrington]

That gizmo looks so easy to make!
I was impressed with how easy you made it look to use the balance board.

[loriecasbourne]

Will ad this to my tool kit for balance! Merci

[jeffreythompson]

I've started doing single leg variations of lifts - Bulgarian split squat, single leg roman deadlift, and ATG squat (check out knees over toes guy). This seems like an ideal start - first no weights then slowly ramp up holding dumbbells. Hits all the bases: flexibility, strength, and balance (both left right muscle wise and the skill).

[Bunyipp]

I'm in my 60's and do a lot to improve my balance after getting chronic labarynthitis a few years ago. In the uk there is a company 'Coolboard' that makes balance boards with balls underneath rather than a roller so you balance is always off in 3 dimensions and takes way longer than 40mins to master! I also do yoga type single leg balance exercises and paddle board in rough uk waters!

[mslinklater]

I'm 52 and have been practicing TaeKwonDo for 8 years. There are lots of single leg stances in TKD which require good balance.. along with the need to have balanced and controlled posture while performing the kicks and patterns etc... anyway, my balance is so much better than before I started TKD. I can out-balance the younger kids in class... for me, martial arts (TKD in my case) has been a complete game-changer in regard to general broad scope fitness and ability. Balance, strength, control, cardio, speed... TKD has it all. And it's really social, which is nice. Highly recommended if you want to stay sharp as you age.

[craighoover]

"Bongo Board" is what we called that big one back in the early 1970's. We used it to train for downhill skiing. There are tricks you can learn to do on it too. Rotating while balanced, twist your way around in a circle: variations on that by holding the barrel under one side and pushing around on the other side. Really fries your leg on the weighted side. Jumping up and down: once balanced jump up and land: variation is to reverse the way you face 180 degrees.

[skiplauderbaugh]

Peter I enjoy your health information on all your podcasts. Another similar balancing device that I find useful is the Slack Block - worth checking out if you haven’t tried it .

[sparkscommunication]

I purchased the Slackblock after listening to Jim Klopman on the Kelly Staret podcast talking about all the benefits. I also have a slackline in my backyard & my daughter’s use it daily. A cheaper way to go is to use an airmax pad, those you put under the knees & start there. Balance is power!

[rdyer]

I'll be 70 in a couple weeks. My sport of choice is Standup Paddling. I work on balance a lot. I have some small items similar to what you showed that I use, but to me they're largely to develop the neuro-musculature of the lower leg to support the actual physical work of keeping my balance. Instead of a balance board, I have something called a Strongboard. It's a platform attached to the base by 4 coil springs. It works well for me. You mentioned closing your eyes. THAT is the secret for me. When I can do 10 squats on my Strongboard with my eyes closed, I know I'm ready for my season. I don't want to depend upon my eyes to keep my balance. I want my balance to be rooted in what I believe is called the Gamma Nervous System. I want my body to balance itself without the benefit of eyesight. Anybody else with similar thoughts?

[MichaelLoweAttorney]

Peter is slowly turning into a marathon runner. This is great for runner’s ankle strength. It’s surprising how little some of these muscles and connective tissues get turned on doing regular barbell lifting compared to running.

[jeremywofford]

I love my balance boards. I also make a lot of my clients learn to juggle. Then, of course, combine them!

[boblulich]

Thank you Dr Attia. At 6ft 8in, up until age 25, pretty uncoordinated. Started to notice 4 years ago at age 64, started to be uncoordinated again. I had gotten a Bosu ball (stand on the flat side) as a balancing device but "got it" relatively quickly. This seems cool. I've done resistance training my whole life and feel that keeping the legs strong (for the sports I like to do) gives me some advantage in the balance department but this will help much more.