The Concrete Jungle is a scary place—iPod listeners bump into you on the subway, tourists come out of nowhere to form solid brick walls on the sidewalk in front of you, and you could literally get hit by a bus at any moment.

The solution? Improve your proprioception. You’ve probably never heard of it, but you need it. It’s the ability to sense the position, location, orientation and movement of the body and its parts. Put simply, it is the body’s process of maintaining balance and equilibrium. Once you master that, you can then go on to master your surroundings.

Noam Tamir, your certified virtual fitness coach and president of Flex4Fitness, shares 3 simple exercises to advance

your proprioception, lessening your chances of getting hit by a bus or a tourist:

1. Balancing on one foot

Shift your weight onto one leg. Stand on that foot and stretch the other leg out in front of you, a few inches off the floor.  Hold that one leg up for a ten count.  Slowly return your leg to the starting position.  Repeat with the other leg. Do 3 sets of 10 reps.

2. Side Leg Raise

Stand straight, directly behind table or chair, with your feet slightly apart.  Hold the table gently for balance if you need it.  Slowly lift one leg to the side, 6-12 inches off the ground.  Hold position and slowly lower your leg.  Your back and knees are straight throughout exercise.   Repeat all reps on the first leg before switching to the next. Do 3 sets of 10 reps.

3. Step Ups

Stand in front of an elevated surface about 15 inches high or lower (ie: bench, stairs, ottman).  Make sure you pick a comfortable height where you don’t compromise safety. Begin by lifting either leg and step-up as you were walking up stairs, followed by the other foot.  When coming down, the last leg to go up is the first leg to come down. Return to the starting position and then repeat.  Repeat all reps on the first leg before switching to the next.  Do 3 sets of 10 reps.

Image courtesy of Taji on Maui’s Blog

Guest contributor: Fitness Coach Noam Tamir, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and President of Flex4Fitness Inc.

Question for Noam: The spa has an enormous amount of Eastern influence: acupuncture, Ayurveda, countless massage techniques, etc. How is Eastern philosophy influencing our fitness routines?

The incorporation of energy flow or chi in the Western fitness field has created a bond between Eastern spiritualism and Western science and technology. It has been an ancient belief that energy is the link between the mind and body. Nurturing of both our mental as well as our physical well-being through exercise has provided better results than either one by itself. This union of previously competing ideologies partly explains the popularity of Eastern approaches to fitness, such as Yoga and Tai Chi. Some techniques such as Transcendental Yoga have a more meditative approach while Ashtanga Yoga is more fast-paced and physically demanding. There is a program for everyone from casual beginners to more experienced challenge-seekers in all age groups.

Yoga’s Westward journey.

Two of the more notable examples of the osmosis of Yoga from Western to Eastern cultures is the creation of Jivamukti Yoga and Moksha Hot Yoga. Jivamukti Yoga was developed by David Life and Sharon Gannon in New York City in 1989. This style blends vigorous Vinyasa (general yoga) practice with spiritual teachings, chanting, and an emphasis on how to bring yoga’s philosophy into daily life. Moksha Hot Yoga was founded in Toronto, Canada in 2004 by yoga teachers Ted Grant and Jessica Robertson. Moksha has strict “green” standards for keeping their studios environmentally friendly, including using sustainable building materials and natural cleansers. They are also committed to offering weekly low-cost classes. These two types of Yoga are at the forefront in current popularity. They are also great examples of how western culture has taken eastern philosophy and added a western twist to it.

Prevention over treatment.

Detoxification through the reversal of blood flow, massaging of organs, the harnessing of energy and the lubrication of joints, ligaments and tendons are just a few of the benefits of Eastern philosophy’s proactive approach to wellness. The increased attention to prevention over treatment has assisted in Western advancement in the field of fitness as well as medicine. Not only has the general public benefited from these preventative techniques, but athletes of all disciplines are including these styles of exercise into their cross training routines with improved results.

Fitness as a way of life.

Eastern philosophy focuses on fitness and balanced energy as a way of life, not just a part-time recreational activity. Eastern influence has added a needed element to complement the advances in Western fitness science and technology. Perhaps this synergy between Eastern and Western philosophies can eventually take two hemispheres and produce a single, healthy world with the full spectrum of wellness tools at their disposal. Separation does not breed progress, unification does. We must break down the wall, so to speak, and unite energy, spirituality, science and technology. That’s our final frontier.

Your time is precious. Especially when you have less than an hour to pick up your dry cleaning, stop for lunch, and attempt to make up for those juicy beef tacos you had topped to the max. It’s okay to turn down the drink invite. Why not turn your happy hour into an hour filled with endorphins and perspiration?

Sixty minutes is plenty of time to do a substantial routine that involves strength, endurance, stability and flexibility… but you have to know what to do.

Introducing your virtual fitness coach Noam Tamir, president of Flex4Fitness Inc. and certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA.

Noam, what’s the absolute best way to maximize 60 minutes at the gym?

1. First start with a 5 min warm up on the elliptical cross trainer or treadmill. This will start to elevate your heart rate and warm up your muscles. Bikes are okay but they mostly involve the lower part of your body and therefore don’t warm up your whole body.

Important: Don’t stop moving. The more you move the more energy you use and the more calories you burn.

2. Next, do 10 min of dynamic stretching movements. Lengthen the muscle through movements such as rolling your shoulders, crossing your arms back and forth to stretch your chest and kicking out your feet to stretch your hamstrings. You can do repetitions of 15-20 for each one. Again, this will elevate your heart rate, create blood flow and prepare your muscles to be worked.

3. The next portion of this workout consists of the 25 minutes resistance training. Most people think that weights cause you to only build muscle, but what they also do is burn fat. Not only that, but it causes you to burn calories at a higher rate for up to 36 hours after your training versus a cardiovascular training which causes your body to go back to normal after just a few hours. The resistance training should consist of high reps, little rest and stability exercises so that your core is constantly being challenged. You can begin with lower body movements such as a squat on an unstable surface such as a bosu followed by a bent over dumbbell row, into a bridge with a swiss ball, into a dumbbell chest press on a swiss ball. Using big muscle groups and alternating upper and lower body allows you to keep moving and lets certain body parts rest a little so you can keep up the intensity.

4. Last is 20 minutes of cardiovascular training–running, biking, elliptical, your pick. Why cardio at the end? The reason being is that it takes most people 10-15 minutes just to start burning fat. The first energy source the body uses is its carbohydrates. At this point the cardio you do is all fat burning and much more optimal.