New Year’s Resolutions: we can’t help making them, even if we haven’t exactly succeeded in previous years. Yet research by Strava, the athlete social network, found that people are most likely to lose motivation and give up around the second Friday of the year. Did you make it past this date? Did you stumble?

Never fear, you can still get back to it, it’s only a fail if you stay stuck to your couch. Sometimes all you need is a change of routine, or the promise of a near-term reward to keep motivated. We called on our Balance Ambassadors - all fitness trainers who are experienced in working with older adults - to give us their lowdown on the best equipment to use to improve balance, whether you’re starting out, or an athlete who enjoys really challenging your balance.

Here are the results:

If you’re not sure how to use one of these items, get professional help - if you have access to a gym or community center with fitness classes, that’s a good place to start.

Sometimes just changing how you exercise can be motivating enough to get you past the week 3 bump in the road. Or if your bank account can manage it, you could reward yourself for keeping your resolution so far by buying one of these items to use at home, or promise it to yourself if you make it to the end of January.

Motivation comes and goes, and we all need a few tricks up our sleeves to keep going even when the couch is more inviting than our workout clothes.

Found any favorite balance exercises yet? Let us know what they are.