A tightrope walker who performs without a net definitely has it. A CEO who works 100 hours a week certainly does not.

A cyclist who fails to maintain it often crashes.

What’s the answer to this pithy riddle?

Balance.

It’s the topic of today’s article because the title of today’s article is true. That regardless of age, it’s best to better your balance.

Now you’ve heard horror stories, I’m sure, about an elderly someone taking a fall from temporarily losing it, as well as the resultant beginning-of-the-end aftermath.

How that loss of balance leads to a fractured hip. How even after the fracture heals and months of PT that elderly someone still has not regained mobility.

How that loss of mobility means that elderly someone can no longer live at home and spends the rest of his days in an assisted-care facility.

An article found on the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention’s website suggests you’ve heard such a story more than once before by opening with this eye opener: “Every second of every day, an older adult (age 65+) suffers a fall in the U.S. - making falls the leading cause of injury and injury death in this age group.” That rate, the article explains, translates into more than 3 million emergency room visits, more than 300,000 hip fractures, and more than 32,000 deaths.

But today’s title maintains balance should be bettered regardless of age.

So what’s the rationale for doing so if you’re not well into your golden years or even approaching the ones that usher them in? What if you’re young or young at heart and still able to do - and enjoy doing - what others might see as downright dangerous?

Like performing tricks on a skateboard or stunts on a motor bike, reaching 60 miles per hour on skis, or going nearly that fast down a steep descent on a bicycle.

The answer includes more than the obvious. While better balance might just be enough to keep your bicycle upright when that steep descent contains a tighter-than-expected turn with a bit of gravel scattered across it - keeping the next ride you take from being in an ambulance - it’s just as likely to save the day during a more mundane activity.

Such as when you clean the gutters and reach a bit too far from a high rung on the ladder. Or when you carry the groceries from the car and absentmindedly stumble on that crooked porch step you always warn others about.

Since you’re probably not a big fan of many of the mundane activities that make up daily life, you’ll be pleased to know a great way to enhance your balance keeps the weightlifting you should be doing two or three times a week from becoming another one of them. Just do many of the exercises you do for your upper body while standing on one leg.

Without delving too heavily into the make-your-brain-hurt science behind the benefits of it - such as the difference between the efferent and afferent messages produced by your motor neurons and sent and received by your brain - “Why One Leg?”, an article by Mark Fisher, owner of Mark Fisher Fitness in New York City, explains why doing so is effective.

Lift one foot off the ground just before you begin your first repetition of the given exercise, Fisher explains, and you now must resist movement before you create it. A group of muscles called the lateral subsystem kicks “into gear” to do so, keeping your legs, hips, and spine in place.

In essence, you’re engaging core muscles before performing an exercise that doesn’t solely focus on strengthening your core.

But, as Fisher argues, a good strength-training workout involves as many muscles as possible, so it would “behoove” you to do some of the upper-body work you normally do on two legs while only standing on one. To prove that, I want you to stand up.

Stand up right now and do the motion used to perform a weightlifting exercise you’re sure to know, alternating dumbbell biceps curls - but without the dumbbells.

Do a few easily just to warm up and then increase the effort. Really squeeze the muscles found at the front of your upper arm.

Now lift one leg off the floor just a bit while continuing the alternating arm motion.

Immediately you’ll feel your core muscles and the leg you’re standing on working harder. That leg may even wobble for a bit, but then you’ll find what you’re looking for.

Balance.

Now that wobble is why one-legged lifts for your legs haven’t been mentioned yet. Because that wobble is sure to increase if you attempt any variation of one-legged dumbbell squats or deadlifts - though all are really effective ways to work the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes.

So if you’re really up for a challenge, give both a try. Use only your body weight at first and work inside a squat rack or have something sturdy nearby that you could hold onto to remain upright.