The turning and skidding of tires in the parking lot fills ears with caution. Humming car engines ominously traveling behind patrons passing through cross walks and exiting their vehicles on to the asphalt. Curbs, steps, and trash find themselves in front of fellow shoppers as they step onto uneven surfaces. Gazing forward, you observe people traveling on foot in your direction at moderate speed. Some have carts full of groceries. They might be looking down at their cell phones, oblivious of your presence. There might be a young child frolicking in front of the store. Running into you and knocking you off your balance is the least of their concern when they have only been on this earth for 5 years or so. Why should they care if they hurt themselves yet?
As you pass this gauntlet of distraction and cacophony, the sliding glass doors into your preferred store of choice awaits your arrival. If you don’t use caution and calculate the proposition of errors from the obstacles in front of the store entrance, your movement can be hindered if something randomly distracts, startles, or collides with you. You haven’t even entered the store and physical challenges are already present.
Some light needs to be shed on the deceivingly simple task of going to the grocery store. A simple visit can be a test of our coordination, balance, and ability to detect danger. The various obstacles and distractions occurring even in the parking lot on the way to our food headquarters can be a mind field for the risk of tripping, falling, and an overall stress inducing time. Unfortunately, there are cases of such scenarios occurring on a daily basis because of the hustle and bustle of our culture. Being in a rush to get to the store, electronic distractions, and too many people being in the same place at the same time can introduce potential risks of falling and injuries.
Fortunately, we can prepare ourselves to prevent risks of falling and managing random mechanisms of injury by training our balance, strength, and hand eye coordination. Here are some exercises we coach our personal training clients in Napa to help prepare the body for stressful distracting situations that can randomly occur throughout our day:
Strength: We have mentioned this before in previous articles that the plank exercise is one of the most simple and effective forms to induce just enough stress on the body for a short amount of time. The plank exercise stimulates over half the muscles in the body, which will allow the muscles worked in this exercise to become stronger and increase endurance. To perform, simply lay belly down on the ground, straighten the arms with the elbows extended, and straighten the knees out so they are not touching the ground. Hold this pose for 15-30 seconds. Ensure that the lower back does not sag, and your core muscles are tight.
Balance: Lift one leg off the ground and balance on the supporting leg for 10-20 seconds. Make sure to alternate between legs. To make this exercise a little safer, you can stand next to a wall to support yourself if you get unbalanced in the middles of the exercise.
Hand-eye coordination: Find a ball and toss it up in the air about 1-2 inches and catch it. To increase the challenge, bounce the ball against the wall and catch it. Attempt 5-10 catches each hand.
Performing these exercises at least once a week can make a significantly improvement on our ability to ensure adequate equilibrium throughout unbalanced scenarios, recover from a collision with another body, and react appropriately to unpredictable movements that occur in our path of movement.
We should have the ability to withstand the raucous activities of a supermarket parking lot. In fact, being able to pause in the middle of a grocery store and balance on one leg at any time should be attainable. If we can achieve the ability to stay balanced on a foot any moment for 10 seconds, reaction time, strength and balance are sufficient enough to help us manage obstacles that might get in our way. It’s critically important to stay balanced and alert of danger not only in the grocery store, but in our everyday lives.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.
