Test and enhance your balance to avoid future injuries.
The Equinox Longevity Assessment is a nine-part series designed to provide members with evidence-based tools to measure and benchmark their fitness age, and provide training guidance to optimize performance. Developed with Michael Crandall, CSCS, a Tier X Coach at Equinox, the full program can be accessed here.
At some point in your life, you’ll likely suffer an injury that will derail your fitness goals and may even sideline you completely. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent data, more than 27 percent of Americans aged 45 to 64 report suffering from chronic pain and more than 10 percent say that pain has limited their activities on most days or every day during the previous three months. Those numbers only increase with age.
Even young people with a high fitness level are susceptible to injuries and aches. The key to avoiding injuries at any age is training stability, balance, and mobility training. Balance is about equilibrium; it’s your ability to maintain your body’s position whether moving or stationary. Stability is your body’s ability to maintain control of its movement in response to external forces, like walking on uneven terrain. And mobility is the overall range of motion you have within your body, most notably within the joints, and allows you to move efficiently.
Good stability, in particular, creates a foundation that allows you to safely train your strength and cardiovascular fitness. It’s what lets the body create the most force in the safest manner possible. Without it, force leaks into the joints or spine and injuries can occur. Training balance and stability is also one of the best ways to prevent falls, which affect more than one out of four Americans ages 65 and older each year, according to the CDC. What’s more, it helps ensure you can get back up on your feet if a fall does occur.
Being able to sit and rise from the floor is something you do reflexively when you are younger, but being able to perform this movement confidently with age is indicative of the type of life you’ll be able to lead. Many cruise lines, for instance, make passengers perform a sitting-rising test before allowing them on Zodiac boats for shore excursions. A study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology had roughly 2,000 adults aged 51 to 80 years old perform a sitting-rising test to and from the floor, which was scored zero to five, with one point being subtracted for each support used, such as a hand or knee. The median follow-up was around six years, and the authors concluded that this test was a significant predictor of mortality.
To test your mobility, stability, and balance all in one go, take the test below. Try to stand up from a sitting position on the floor without using your hands. If you need support, try just using one hand. Then, use your performance as a benchmark throughout the years.
Test 1. Balance, Mobility, and Stability: No-Hands Get Up
Tip: If getting up with no hands is too difficult, work towards getting up using one hand.
• Pass/Fail
Action Plan
In addition to performing the test exercises regularly, Michael Crandall, CSCS, a Tier X Coach at E by Equinox - Hudson Yards recommends signing up for Club classes, such as Pilates and yoga, to help improve mobility and stability.