The Single-Leg Stand Challenge

Shebah Carfagna: [00:00:00] You call it there coach.

Nate Wilkins: [00:00:02] So it’s it’s the one leg challenge with.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:00:05] Whatever.

Nate Wilkins: [00:00:06] We’re lifting up here.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:00:07] Okay.

Peter Bowes: [00:00:09] How long can you stand on one leg? It might sound simple, but this small test can reveal a lot about your balance, coordination, and even your biological age. Hello again. Welcome to the Live Long podcast and our Move For Life series with Nate Wilkins and Shebah Cafagna, where we explore simple ways to measure and improve your ability to move.

Nate Wilkins: [00:00:49] Challenge could be five seconds. Can I stay on one leg? Five seconds? Some people, incidentally, can’t stand on one leg for two seconds. And that relates to what’s going on in the overall body. So that’s why a challenge would be good.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:01:06] I feel fabulous.

Nate Wilkins: [00:01:07] I could do this for the rest of the day.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:01:08] We’re talking about engaging the whole body. And so you’re engaging the mind that because you have to lift and flex that knee, you have to go into knee flexion, the core, posture. Your breathing is also a part of this because you have to relax and kind of focus on that. Pushing down on your foot, touching the ground and engaging, engaging your abs, which is part of your core, your glutes and everything. So in one exercise, by simply lifting your leg, whether you go to total knee flexion at 90 degrees or you drop it down a little bit, or you just get your foot, your heel off the floor as a beginning place, you’re engaging the whole body, which will improve your gait. You know, your movement and overall strength.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:01:49] Life your leg up higher man thank you.

Nate Wilkins: [00:01:52] So moving your again, moving your body in different places and finding your place in space. And then maybe 10s 15 seconds and trying to go through that whole challenge of doing things differently to make sure that you can engage your body. I think that that’s what the challenge is all about, a one leg challenge.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:02:14] Don’t touch me.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:02:17] The beautiful thing about it is you don’t have to use a weight because your body is a weight to start with your leg. Depending on how high you raise, it is also a weight with the muscles, the bones, and you’re totally engaged. And those who can balance longer reduce the opportunity for slips and falls. So you really want to focus on that one leg balancing kind of situation. And you can hold on to a wall. You can hold on to a wall and close your eyes. And the last progression would be not to hold on to a wall and close your eyes and hold your leg up for a minute, two minutes, and then it becomes an isometric hold. A lot of times you do those kind of things in a yoga class. Barr classes train you for that because the movements are very dynamic. And then they do a lot of stretching. Pilates is good for that because it trains the overall body to do that. And so if you do that one leg balance, you can take the techniques we’ve talked about in this podcast and apply them to just about any sport and any modality, and your body is prepped and ready, and all you would need to do is learn a technique and the breathing. And that’s really what the workout method is about prepping your body for life and the things that you enjoy doing, the things that make you happy, the things that make you feel good.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:03:35] You’re so competitive.

Nate Wilkins: [00:03:36] So that’s we got that done.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:03:39] See, all you have to do is talk to him.

Nate Wilkins: [00:03:42] It is more than just standing upright. So if you’re saying that you want to do a challenge, of course we want to do it on both sides of the body. What I find is that sometimes one part of my body is stronger than the other. So we need to find out if we’re finding balance on both sides of the body. I think that’s what a challenge may consist of as well.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:04:02] Right. Well typically the body is not symmetric. So let’s be clear. The body is never symmetrical. Your face is not symmetrical. You know nothing in your body. One side is always stronger than the other. And and as is, you use one hand greater than the other because you’re right with it. But I think the important thing that Nate says is that you have to challenge your body on both sides to somewhere, find that balance to make it even stronger. And again, let me go back and say, as a person who has had joint replacements in both the toe and a hip, you know that balance is critically important because the surgeries are never exact. You may need to get it done. I think they do the best that they can, but balance is then critical, especially on your feet. You know, if you have a if you have podiatry issues, foot issues, because that is the first point that touches the earth, that determines your balance, your posture.

Peter Bowes: [00:04:53] And our ability to do this, to take this challenge and to improve really is a predictor Of our future mobility and, crucially, our independence as we get older.

Nate Wilkins: [00:05:06] Oh well, that goes without saying that. You could say that again. Peter, that is that is important. And so sometimes we get our egos tied up in that stuff, right? If we if we can’t do it, you know, have one client every time we go through balance, he’s rushing through the balance exercises. And I think that we should spend more time because he’s that’s where he has his problems.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:05:28] But I think it’s about calming the mind as well, because people think that every exercise is brute force. You know, balance, on the other hand, is about calming the mind and giving focus to the mind and the body parts. You are moving and then maintaining that. Very well done in yoga, sometimes in Pilates. And most people don’t normally think of that. Lay individuals don’t think of that. And even athletes, you know, your your weekend warriors and those who go out there do not think of that of calming the mind. You can’t beat the body up all the time. You’ve got to work on things that will lengthen and calm the body, so that when you have that opportunity and you reach that plateau, you can get over the plateau. You can never you know, we all train to get to a certain point, and then we get to that plateau and then it falls off. In order to get over the plateau, you have to learn to calm the body and breathe, to then regroup and go forward, because that recovery time in between becomes shorter as you get stronger.

Nate Wilkins: [00:06:31] My legs are longer than yours.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:06:33] What does that have to so with it?

Nate Wilkins: [00:06:34] Okay. Let’s go. Are you ready?

Shebah Carfagna: [00:06:37] Yeah. You’re gonna see your toes pointed towards the camera. Your toes pointed up so you’re not really kicking into your core. You want to kick into your core, and you want to breathe and relax.

Peter Bowes: [00:06:50] And I think people watching, listening to this might be wondering at a certain age whether it’s 40, 50 or 60. Well, how long should I be able at my age to be able to stand on one leg. And will you tell me your take on this? But I would guess that. Well, if you can do it for 10s, fine. But if you can do it for 15, it’s better and that there’s no one figure that applies to any particular individual. It’s just a matter of progression in terms of improvement. And if you can do 20 grade 25, great. It’s all depends on your own body.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:07:21] Right? I think you have to set your own goals. Again, we talked about this before is the perception in fitness is that you have to have that that beach body, male or female, and that is the the barometer by which fitness is determined. I think you have to set in your mind understanding what your limitations are. Your capabilities are your time frame is if you start small and have big successes, it’s better. It’s kind of like the Joy principle. And there’s a psychologist who talks about the Joy principle getting it done. If it’s five minutes, ten minutes, seven minutes, I think you have to start where you are and come to grips with that. And that’s part of the mind body challenge, is are you able to come to grips with it? Athletes like us can never take an opportunity to relax. I go to physical therapy and they say, raise your leg. And they say, and my leg goes up here. And it really we only mean here Shebah because we want you to relax. Because we have that. I want to be the best. I want to be the goat. I want to go full capacity. And I think there’s us in that 20%, and there’s the rest of the world in that 80% that we need to encourage and bring along and give them the self-confidence to be who they are and accept that and bring them in closer to find, you know, kind of a middle ground that they just do what is good for them and not gauge it against people who are in that 20%. Relax your shoulders and then lift your leg. So initially, if you’re not very good at this, you just want to be here and make sure that your hips are aligned. See that alignment? My shoulders are down and back, my hands are here, my arms are even with my shoulders. And then as you become stronger.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:09:02] You can’t knock me over. Lean forward. Come on, man. Lean forward. Raise that back. Leg up. Why are your arms out? Don’t touch.

Nate Wilkins: [00:09:14] Some people have recommended, you know, at certain ages that you ought to be able to do, you know, balance, maybe 40, 45. You ought to be 45 minutes, 50 to 55. You ought to be 30, 35 minutes and 70 plus. You may be 10 to 15. That’s just a recommendation.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:09:37] A guide

Nate Wilkins: [00:09:38] The real thing is practice, practice, practice, practice as much as you can because everybody is different I think is what what we’re saying.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:09:47] Right. And consistency. Consistency is important.

Peter Bowes: [00:09:50] And you talked about the Joy principle. I think it’s probably also important to say that this practice can be fun. You’ve got to enjoy it. And there’s I think a certain positive element of doing this with other people, because I don’t know why. But balance and sometimes a lack of balance can be quite amusing, and you can laugh at yourselves and you’re kind of inability to balance initially.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:10:14] Well, what they show is that studies that show, actually that the social interaction is key to success of fitness programing. So whether you do it on zoom, you do it in a gym, you do it in a class, you do it with your with your significant other. Because I can balance better than he can, no doubt. And we can show that later.

Nate Wilkins: [00:10:30] We should we should do that.

Nate Wilkins: [00:10:32] This is the one leg challenge that we’re talking about anyway.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:10:35] But I think with the balance you also have to think about the technique. So balancing on one leg and tilting your whole body is a good start. But you have to think about the technique. And the technique is so important and so critical to the success of what you’re trying to achieve. The balance is that you can stand here even though that my feet okay, and you can do this, you know, you can even move that leg.

Nate Wilkins: [00:10:59] So it should be the male female challenge. As opposed.

Shebah Carfagna: [00:11:07] Oh please? Now you’re really getting behind the scenes of what happens around here, right?

Peter Bowes: [00:11:10] It’s always fun behind the scenes, but who do we think won the challenge? My thanks to Nate and Shebah for being such good sports for this episode. So the single leg stand is more than a balance test. It’s a snapshot of your stability, coordination, and core strength. Practicing it daily can reduce your risk of falling and help you age with grace, strength, and confidence. The Live Long podcast is a Healthspan Media production. I’m Peter Bowes, you can contact me through our website livelongpodcast.com, where you’ll also find show notes for this episode.