Strength and balance exercises: Keeping you active for longer

Strength and Balance utilises simple exercises to help adults stay active and independent while enjoying quality walks.

At Paths for All, we’re glad to see more people across the country embracing regular physical activity. However, we also want to spread awareness about the importance of strengthening muscles and improving balance for lifelong health.

So, what is strength and balance training? It’s muscle moving against an external resistance. Training is designed to increase strength over time. Why strength training? Building and maintaining muscle, bone and joint strength is crucial for physical and mental well-being at every age.

Muscle strength naturally declines with age after we hit 30, but we can slow the decline by participating in strengthening activity. Strength and Balance exercises are a great way to offset the sedentary behaviour most of us slip into during the workday. Particularly in office-based roles, we find that people have long periods of inactive sitting. Your body starts to hibernate after 45 minutes of inactivity.

Strength and Balance exercises increase your level of physical activity across the workday can:

• Boosts mood and productivity
• Helps stress management
• Improves sleep patterns
• Encourages more activity throughout the day
• Reduces the risk associated with prolonged sitting such as cardiovascular health conditions

These exercises are designed to be inclusive for everyone regardless of your current physical activity level. Many of our Health Walks now promote strength and balance exercises that can be done as a group outdoors or in your home. Strength and Balance activities help walkers stay active and meet the UK Chief Medical Officer’s Physical Activity Guidelines which recommend that adults should:

• Aim be active every day
• Reduce and break up our sitting time
• Include activities that improve muscle strength at least twice a week.
• For adults over 65, the aim is to include balance and coordination exercises twice a week.

Overall, these activities help everyone to stay active and have an independent lifestyle. At Paths for All, we think it’s a great idea to start participating in strength and balance exercises and activities to improve the quality of life and to keep everyone walking.

Here are 8 strength and balance exercises, from sit to stands to side hip strengtheners to get you started, they can all be found in the video link can be found here.

1. Sit to Stand.

2. Front Knee Strengthener.

3. Back Knee Strengthener.

4. Knee Bends

5. Heel Raises

6. Toe Raises

7. Side Hip Strengthener

8. Sideways Walking

Top Tip for Strength and Balance

• Start at Your Own Pace: Start slowly and listen to your body as you build up, you're walking and exercise pace. Gradually increasing speed and duration helps prevent injury and boosts confidence.
• Engage your arms: Try to swing your arms naturally as you walk to improve momentum, and this helps you avoid shuffling.
• Embed Strength and Balance into Daily Tasks: Using idle moments, for instance while waiting for the kettle to boil, is the perfect time to practice some toe or calf raises. For example, you can incorporate front knee or side hip strengtheners during meetings.
• Focus on Posture: Stand tall, pull in your stomach to engage your core and stay mindful of your posture as you walk. This also strengthens the muscles around your stomach and back which can improve your balance over time.
• Priorities Distance Over Speed: If you’re concerned about your balance while walking, try walking further rather than aiming to walk faster.

These exercises are easy to incorporate and can significantly improve your quality of life, helping you stay active, independent, and walking with confidence for longer.

Resources for strength and balance

You can download a printable version of the 10 Strength and Balance exercises here or follow along with individual exercises on YouTube.  

For more resources on Strength and Balance, check out our Strength and Balance Page on the Paths for All website.