Jill, a 60-year-old personal training client, wants to improve her hip flexibility. Jill is concerned about her balance and the risk of falling. Recommend two exercises she can do to improve balance.
She can perform weight shifts, which is an easy exercise for someone of her age to perform to improve their balance. She should begin with feet hip-width apart, and then shift her weight to her right side, lifting her left foot off the floor. She can maintain this position for 30 seconds, return to the starting position, and repeat for her other side. Besides weight shifts, she can focus on exercises that target auxiliary muscles in her lower back and core, which help with balance. For example, she can consider doing partial sit-ups, which strengthen abdominal muscles, or if she finds that too difficult, she can perform cat and camel, which is where she arches her back, and then lets it slowly sag toward the floor while in modified pushup position (knees on the ground).