Ideas for Functional Fitness

Been looking at Matt Hsu's videos.  I like his banter, although probably not to everyone's taste.  First found a few of his videos related to balance.  They range from the most basic for seniors and beginners to ideas appropriate for people who are already in good shape when it comes to holding a 1-leg stand.  He suggests 30 seconds as a good baseline before moving on to more challenging approaches.

2 Ways to Improve Your Balance and Stability (And Have Fun Doing It)

10 min

Intermediate and advanced

For me, wanting to ski more was the incentive to exercise deliberately after finishing up knee rehab a decade ago.  Matt came up with an incentive that everyone could relate to for improving strength and flexibility for multiple parts of the body.  The idea is that being able to get out of a car window safely could be life-saving in the event someone is in a car stuck in rising water.

The approach is about functional fitness.  While he has pay programs, he's released a fair number of free videos in the last few years.  His motto is "think right, move right, feel right."

This Practice Physical Fitness Test could SAVE Your Life

15 min

Balance exercises to do at home

I'm always on the look out for balance exercises that are easy to do at home.  For seniors, maintaining good balance is the best way to avoid falls.  The worst case scenario after a hard fall is a broken hip.  Post-op recovery is quite difficult over 70 or 80.

The second video is a different take on how to improve balance because he is demonstrating exercises to strengthen muscles around the hips and glutes.  The exercises to work adductors and abductors look more like routines I would do, as opposed to doing crab walks with an exercise band.  Usually people mention working the small muscles around the ankle.

The reason the third video caught my eye is because the subtitle was "Proprioceptive Rehab by Dr. Doug Weise DPT."  Proprioception was an important factor that I learned about in 2012 when doing knee rehab.

How To Improve Your Balance - Home Exercises For Balance And Stability

6 min

How to Improve Balance - Seniors and Beginners
10 min

Best balance exercises, 5 min
10 Best Exercises for Balance!, 22 min

Ideas for using BOSU® Balance Pods

In 2019, BOSU came out with a new product.  They are called BOSU® Pods and they look like mini BOSUs.  I noticed them when shopping for something else and thought they might be useful during driving trips.  A regular BOSU takes up too much space.  I took it along a few times during knee rehab in 2012-13 but have only been using it at home in the last decade.

Here are a few videos using BOSU Pods.  I'm unlikely to do Kaitlin's full workouts but found her videos good for ideas of how the Pods can be used.

BOSU® Balance Pods Exercises at Home

5 min

At Home Core & Glute Workout 

| Trainer Kaitlin and the BOSU® Balance Pods

17 min

Cardio, Core and Agility Workout 

| A BOSU® Balance pods Series with Trainer Kaitlin

 14 min