Balance Training - Where to Start
Balance Training - Where to Start
Serious about keeping fit? Then it's time to find your balance. Although it's often overlooked, balance training should be a key part of your workout routine. After all, it's essential for strengthening the muscles that keep you upright, including your core and legs. Plus, by developing your posture, flexibility, and muscle coordination, it can reduce your risk of injury and improve your performance when you're working out.
Balance training is great for yoga, too. Sick of people shouting “TIMBER!” whenever you do a Tree Pose? By developing your balance, you’ll find it easier to practise poses without falling over, especially poses that require greater stability and flexibility.
Short on time? Click to jump to a section below:
Different Types of Balance Training
Balance training is split into two camps: static and dynamic.
Static Training: Static exercises test your ability to maintain your centre of gravity while in a static position and help to build your core strength. Snapping a selfie whilst standing by a swimming pool? If you have good static balance, there’s no chance of you making a splash.
Dynamic Training: Dynamic exercises test your ability to maintain your balance whilst moving about. For example, if you’re running to catch a cab after a night on the town, dynamic balance will prevent you face-planting the floor and having your photo plastered on Facebook.
Making Balance Training Fun
Balance training may sound boring, but you can always spice things up a bit by combining it with other activities. The following are great for doing whilst standing on a balance board.
- Balance on it whilst brushing your teeth. Just be careful you don’t get toothpaste down you.
- Stick on some beats and shake your booty while balancing on it. It’s a great way to give yourself a cardio workout.
- Forget about ‘Netflix and chill’. Stand on a balance board whilst binge-watching the latest boxset.
- Test your reflexes by bouncing a ball against a wall and catching it whilst holding your balance.
- Browse the latest gossip on your phone whilst balancing on a balance board. Better yet, feast your eyes on our Facebook!
- On the subject of social, why not take a photo of yourself using our balance board and post it to our Insta? We’d love to see it!
Best Equipment for Static Balance
Suffering from lower back pain? Recovering from an ankle injury? Physios are big fans of balance boards and for good reason. Standing on a balance board for as long as you can without the edges touching the floor is an excellent way to strengthen your core muscles and lower limbs without aggravating an injury further. When you’re ready to crank things up a gear, try spinning the board in a circle or tilting it without the edges touching the floor.
Wooden Balance Board
£14.99
Best Equipment for Dynamic Balance
Looking to combine balance training with a cardio workout? Then our balance pads are the way to go. The pads are made from TPE foam which makes them slightly squishy and unstable to stand on. They’re more comfortable to use than a balance board and put less strain on your joints when you’re doing a workout. As well as using a balance pad for squats, knee-lifts, and push-ups, you can place it on an exercise step to add instability to step-ups.
Large Foam Balance Pad
£14.99
Best All-Rounder
Our balance trainer gives you the best of both worlds. By placing it so the inflatable dome is facing down, you can stand on the platform and use it like a balance board. Alternatively, you can flip it over and stand on the inflatable dome to add instability to crunches, lunges, and other exercises. As an added bonus, it comes with attachable resistance bands, so you can train your balance whilst doing bicep curls and other resistance exercises.
Dome Balance Trainer
£59.99
We hope you've enjoyed our blog post. If you're interested in products to improve your stability, take a look at our range of equipment.
