With the holiday shopping season upon us, take a minute to consider gift ideas that encourage health, movement, balance, fun, and especially a break from digital devices. Our team of physical therapists offers the following list of ideas to keep your family and friends of all ages active, mobile and entertained. The long-term benefit of health is the gift that keeps on giving!
- The Body Blade, or its less costly “cousin”, the Reactor Aerobar – these tools provide resistance training by using rapid alternating muscle contractions to create vibration. Exercise with the blade promotes strength and endurance training at the same time as stimulating coordination and core stability. Check out this link for some videos of the Body Blade in action.
- A Theraband Set is an inexpensive home exercise essential. The elastic resistance bands can be utilized for an infinite variety of strength training activities for individual muscles or to provide resistance during more global body movements. The “Beginner” set contains three bands of varying colors indicating progressive levels of resistance. These would be appropriate for those unaccustomed to resistance training or with less muscle mass. (Everyone from age 5 to 95 could find something to do with these tools.) To make the bands even more versatile, consider this add-on Accessory Pack with handles and other attachments. For those wanting more resistance – as for heavier leg workouts, for instance, there’s an “Advanced” kit.
- A Balance Board is a good all-around tool for fairly agile folks of all ages. Balance training is an important component to a habitual exercise routine for folks of any age. In younger athletes, balance training can improve sports performance and help with injury prevention. Older athletes and non-athletes alike should also train and maintain good balance – to sustain safe exercise performance and ultimately also to reduce the risk of falls in late life. A circular base is going to provide quite a challenge, as it will “wobble” in all directions. For a bit less of a difficult stance, look for a board that has a rocker shaped like a ½-cylinder. This type of board will only wobble in one plane of motion at a time – for example, front-to-back only, or side-to-side only. Another (more costly) option for fairly advanced balance training is the Bosu Ball, which likely looks familiar to those accustomed to physical therapy and athletic gym environments. A more stable option – for those recovering from injury, unaccustomed to exercise, or in some other manner more frail, consider a Balance Pad. These tools are flat on both the top and bottom, but are constructed of foam of varying levels of density. Softer surfaces will provide a good balance challenge while still allowing the user to keep stable, predictable footing.
- Reaction Time Training Balls, like this QBall or this Champro can help to improve hand-eye coordination, agility, and reaction time. These are all important skills throughout life. Such skills can help kids with sports and also school – increasing the eyes’ ability to track & focus attention, as needed for reading. Quick reflexes are associated with safe driving, as well as reduced injury risk from random life events such as stepping on an unexpectedly slippery surface or an unlevel crack in the sidewalk. Adding a hand-eye agility training task to a cognitive (thinking) task is also thought to reduce or slow declines in memory and recall in the brain as it ages. An example of this sort of task would be to bounce and catch the ball on its irregular trajectory while also naming the letter that faces up on the ball when it is caught.
- A Slack Line offers a fun challenge that works core strength, balance, and mental focus. Beyond the exercise benefits, an added bonus associated with this gadget is that it gets users outdoors and often interacting with others. Time spent in nature and social time spent with others tends to elevate mood and promote longevity and a sense of community. For more on the benefits of a slack line, check out this article and the amazing accompanying photos.
- Spike Ball is a portable game a bit like volleyball. It’s quick and fun and promotes some of the same things as Reaction Time Training Balls – like hand-eye coordination and agility. Spike Ball also offers an added aerobic exercise challenge. This set is bound to be a hit at any gathering of family and/or friends.
- An Agility Ladder is an inexpensive, portable, versatile addition to anyone’s home exercise “kit”. Stepping patterns through the ladder can be slow or fast, as well as forwards, backwards, or sideways. Appropriate for all ages, the agility ladder can be used to increase coordination and dexterity, to promote balance, and as either a “performance”or a “rehabilitation” tool. This YouTube video demonstrates 30 different patterns for a variety of ability levels.
- A Rebounder / Pitch Back is a standing net meant for throwing and/or kicking. Balls from a variety of sports will bounce back after impacting the net, allowing for practice catching or trapping. Commonly used for baseball drills practice, this sort of net would also work for lacrosse or soccer or tennis drills, among others. Check out this link for 6 Ways to Practice Baseball in Your Driveway. Here’s a link to drills for soccer.
- Everyone could use a cushioned Exercise Mat. An accompanying Stretching Strap and Foam Roller would make a great gift package for flexibility training – another important component part of a well-rounded fitness regime.
- A Handheld Marble Maze is an example of a tried and true game that does not require aerobic fitness or strength, but does necessitate hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. It’s also an activity that can be part of shared fun amidst a group of all ages at a holiday gathering.
- Here are several Bonus Gift ideas – all classics with timeless appeal for multigenerational gatherings. Remember Twister? How about Paddle Ball? Or the ever-popular CornHole (this one is described as “tail gate sized”)? Finally, consider a lawn game or two, like Bocce Ball or Croquet.
The items listed above range from stocking stuffers to long-term investments in exercise equipment. The specific items listed here are but single examples of products available from a range of manufacturers at a range of prices and relative values. We encourage you to use these suggestions as a starting point for your own consumer research prior to making purchasing decisions. Please customize and personalize at will.
We hope that everyone has a happy Thanksgiving, as well a healthy and happy winter holidays!