Fast Fitness - Balance Contest!

Here is Friday Fast Fitness - another contest! Do you know what constitutes ability in balance as a lifestyle? Tell us!

On the urging of reader Mr. Georges Nakhlé, I started the Academy of Functional Exercise Medicine (AFEM) to train people in healthier, functional, more common-sense exercise and lifestyle. We teach classes, certify top students, and are creating better methods of instruction.

One of our courses is Balance. Mr. Nakhlé, who runs the AFEM office in Lebanon asked me, "Which test tells whether a person has good balance or not?"

1. Write your ideas for different needed levels of balance
2. Write specific balance skills or training drills
3. Give examples that are needed for real daily life - functional balance testing, rather than isolated clinical measures.

Standardized tests exist, but don't predict how someone can function (move doing real things) in real life without falls, sprains, and other injuries of poor balance. A single test, such as the standard, "Can you stand on one foot for 5 seconds" may give a low basic measure, but a single test doesn't cover range needed throughout real life. That means we need several simple tests to rank ability.

Examples:
 

Basic low level balance needed for safe healthy life:

• "Can you step over a pile of clothes and toys on the floor, without spilling a cup of water"
• "Can you descend narrow basement stairs holding a laundry basket in both hands without holding the railing?"
• "Can you put on hosiery and shoes standing up?"
• "Can you rise from your chair and the floor without using your hands?"

Average:

• "Can you leap over a puddle or hole in the street and land lightly on the other foot?"
• "Can you safely climb a stepladder without hands and change an overhead light bulb without holding on?"

High:

• "Can you walk though a rushing rocky stream and rescue a child on a rock?"
• Your ideas here…

 

Last contest time running out - How well do you know human movement?

• Only a little time left to give your best answers to last week's Fast Fitness - Contest: What Does It Take To Sit Upright?

More about AFEM - the Academy of Functional Exercise Medicine (renamed from the Academy of Functional Fitness Medicine):

• How we began - New International Academy Using Jolie Bookspan's Methods
• First Winner - International Academy of Functional Sports Medicine Logo Design
• Academy web site - www.DrBookspan.com/Academy
• See our certified students and teachers - www.drbookspan.com/AcademyStudents.html

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• Fast Fitness - Dynamic Partner Balance Challenge
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• Fast Fitness - Balance, Strength, Stretch, and Socks
• Better Balance by Christmas

Random Fitness Fixer:

• Fast Fitness - Figuring Heart Rate Training Range