Improve Your Balance with Pilates

We use our balance every single day, though it seems that we only start to pay attention to our balance as we start to “lose it” with age. Perhaps you now sit down to put on your shoes, or you avoid balancing on a log while hiking and take the long way around instead. If so, it may be time to improve your balance with Pilates. 

You may not be aware of how much you balance on one leg during your day! Even walking requires some form of balance, as you must lift one foot off the ground with each step. Just ask any toddler how hard balancing really is! More than that, reaching up onto your tiptoes takes balance, reaching out for something, and taking the stairs. 

Before you start avoiding movements that take balance, or worse – become afraid of doing certain things, you can take action now to improve your balance with Pilates. No matter where you are starting from, Pilates can help you find your balance from the ground-up! 

Build your Balance From the Beginning

You may see a theme in my methodology, and it’s that I like to start (and re-start) from the beginning in Pilates and even fitness training. That is because we can often slip into bad habits. By revisiting the fundamentals of any movement, you can correct form issues to get the most out of your workout. 

Despite what social media may look like, you don’t start out doing single-leg squats on an apparatus. Rather, we start as low to the ground as possible on the mat and work our way up to both feet. Then one foot… and we add in the apparatus when it is time. 

Learning the work on the mat and connecting to our center first is what will help you to find your balance. You will get stronger and more confident by practicing the fundamentals, then you can move into the intermediate exercises and more advanced balance work. 

Try Mat Pilates for Beginners from home

It can be frustrating when you try a new exercise and can’t find your balance; it still happens to me! But the pride you will get from finally nailing any balance exercise is so worth it; especially intimidating moves like Russian squats on the reformer. 

Another way to work on your balance is to do single-leg work in your strength training; we often do this type of exercise in the Sweat With Melissa app and in personal training sessions. Single-leg work is important because it strengthens your core and other stabilizing muscles to improve balance. Also, single-leg work helps strengthen your weaker side. If you do a squat for example, the stronger leg helps the weaker one. By working on the weaker leg, you will improve your overall strength and balance. 

Seeing the Benefits of Better Balance in Everyday Life

As you begin to improve your balance with Pilates, you will soon see and feel the benefits in your everyday life. One of my clients is the perfect example. She had been in a couple of very serious accidents and was suffering with a lot of pain. Pilates was doing a great job of helping her to move better, and she was able to reduce the amount of physiotherapy and massage therapy that she needed. (Note: Pilates didn’t replace the therapies; they all worked together.)

Due to her mobility, flexibility and weakness issues, she had troubles with her balance. But after working together for a while, she told me some great news. She had noticed that she was now able to step in and out of the tub without clipping her back foot on the tub as she stepped in. 

Woohoo! I love this! This seemingly simple change shows how everything is connected. She could stand on one foot for longer because she had gained strength and was able to stabilize herself. Plus, with improved mobility and flexibility she could pick her back leg up higher than before. 

This type of change may look small on the outside, but it means a whole lot of GOOD is happening on the inside. Now, my client is experiencing a safer, less painful life thanks to the work she puts in with Pilates and her other therapies. 

It is easy to improve your balance with Pilates when you work out from home using the app, or visit the studio for a more personalized approach.