Strength is simply stress demand on the body. As basic as holding your body weight in a Straight Arm Plank (Push Up Position) or a Squat Hold Position. Or a Bicep Curl with Cable Machine or Free Weight Resistance. More advanced like Progressive Weight Loading with long pauses (Isometric Contractions) between Repetitions. If you are an athlete looking for Fast Twitch Training, Slow Eccentric Loading with Explosive Concentric Contractions will guarantee more Force Production as well as Quicker Speeds. All these are examples of Strength Training with modifications to serve each person.
Cardio tends to be very confusing. We think of doing cardio for 20 or more minutes and sweating profusely, while out of breath. This approach is great for endurance training (example: 10k, Half Marathon or more distance). If you want to lose body fat or just satisfy "Being Healthy", perform your cardio using HIIT (High Intense Interval Training) Templates (example: 30 secs Fast followed by 1 minutes Easy). That will target more per session than slow/medium pace for longer periods of time. The goal is Intensity! This is an area that draws a lot of question and confusion. Contact me and I can teach you all the different forms and which one would be suitable for you to start with and how to build upon it to keep challenging you.
This is the part that I enjoy. The body is complex. Working out should be equally complex. Try balancing on one leg. Try balancing on the same leg while looking forward. Try balancing on the same leg and reaching with the opposite hand and touching the ground (in front of the toes). Are you still keeping up? If so, Same leg try taking 1 free weight (5 or 10lbs) and perform a Bicep to Overhead Press. This is a simple template to targeting all those small stabilizing muscles that provide the full range of motion of all of the joints in the body.
Think of this like dancing. You learn the 1st Step, then the 2nd Step, 3rd Step, etc... The second step to Coordination is blending/ transitioning Step 1 to Step 2. Then doing the same with Step 1,2 & 3. You get the point. The final step is learning all the steps without thinking about it, just letting the body do what it has been practicing. And if you are still intrigued with it, you have to be fluid throughout the steps so that you look and feel effortless. That is what we witness watching Professional Sports or the Olympics.
When it comes to balance people immediately think of standing on one leg or balancing on a tight rope. Yes that is balance, but for regular people that are just wanting to be healthy and fit you need to look at balance as an older (aging) person. Next time you are walking it the store or if you have older family and friends around you, see if they need assistance standing, sitting, walking on flat ground or up and down the stairs. Simple things that younger people do each day, these are things when you age become harder and even become scary because falling can cause life threatening situations. Each day challenge yourself with a balance exercise to test yourself. That will prevent one day waking up and noticing you have poor balance, which might be too late to fix it.
There is no need to be able to reach down and touch your toes. It would be great if you could, but the main goal is to make sure each joint in your body has good range of motion. With time the shoulders become stiff and we tend to not notice it till we do some activity that involves overhead reach. Question: Can you keep your arms straight while reach your hands up to the sky? Your elbows should be touching your ears. Another example of flexibility within the joints of your body are your hips. Can you sit on the floor with your legs crossed like we all did in grade school? Do your knees have a hard time bending or do your knees have a hard time lowering down to the floor? These are all signs of Stiffness or Tightness. The great part of Flexibility is that starting a Stretching Program is easy and doing it once a day will benefit you while you are awake and while you are sleeping.