Body balance is a Les Mills brand. It is a fitness discipline that combines others; mainly yoga, pilates and tai chi. The movements are selected to strengthen the entire body and increase flexibility.
To perform body balance, you only need a mat like those used in yoga or Pilates. In addition, it is convenient to carry out the practice with comfortable clothes and without shoes.
What is body balance workout?
The development of the discipline of body balance includes a developed combination of disciplines already loaded with benefits, such as Pilates, yoga or Tai Chi.
The exercises are carried out around various musical themes, in choreography mode. This facilitates learning, helps coordinate breathing with movements, and makes the intensity of the sessions easier to control.
What activities does it combine?
The body balance discipline combines different exercises and postures from ancient and modern disciplines. However, it is not a mere fusion of movements, but a new way of approaching its execution.
One of the characteristics of body balance is that the exercises are combined as a choreography. This not only facilitates learning and performance, but also increases breath coordination and intensity control.
As in all the disciplines registered by Les Mills, the sessions include alternative exercises so that people with less physical preparation or some type of limitation can follow the classes, adapting the movements to their own possibilities.
Benefits of body balance
Yoga, Pilates, and Tai Chi are disciplines that, by themselves, have proven to be very beneficial. But are they just as flattering when done together? In fact, there are several studies that justify that the body balance is recommended as an excellent exercise by itself.
In this regard, research published in 2014 in the journal Clinical Interventions in Aging found that 12 weeks of body balance training are effective in improving certain functional and balance tasks in healthy older adults.
Previously, another study published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport in 2008 claimed that practicing 3 times a week for 12 weeks can also lead to reductions in anxiety, as well as significant increases in core strength and hip mobility.
Who can practice body balance?
The characteristics of the body balance make this discipline can be practiced by the entire healthy population. However, it requires some learning of postures and movements, as well as progressive adaptation.
A very common question has to do with the practice during pregnancy. From Les Mills they indicate that it can be excellent to help maintain central control and muscular balance.
However, they remember the importance of consulting with the doctor as well as informing the instructor about the pregnancy in progress, so that the necessary indications and modifications that are pertinent to the case can be made.
An intense exercise
The body balance is a fairly intense discipline, even though it is a non – impact exercise. Precisely, the structure of the sessions around choreographies based on exercises and movements of yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi make it complete, as well as motivating.
The contributions to health have been studied through research in different population groups. In any case, basic precautions should be considered, for example in patients with cardiovascular diseases.
However, to perform body balance and take advantage of it, it is necessary to learn the exercises well. This is essential not only to take advantage of the sessions, but also to avoid injuries.
Because of the faster pace, due to the music, there is hardly time to make corrections. And poor posture can lead to pain. In such a way that it is necessary to consult with certified instructors to function as guides in the process.
