Balance Training Equipment
In this short article I will explain how to improvise and make some of the simpler equipment. I hope to add more detailed photos latter (I am hoping to get a digital camera soon). One of the keys is creativity. Don't be afraid to try new things.
Balance training is an important part of my workouts. The easiest way to incorporate balance training into workouts is as a warm-up and cool down. I try to do five minutes of balance work at the start of a workout and ten minutes at the end of a workout. On non-training days, I try to spend fifteen to twenty minutes on balance work. The key to balance work is variety. Keep changing the workout. This will add variety and alleviate boredom. I won't try to explain the exercises here, but I will provide some links and recommended a video.
Balance training equipment, for the most part, is easy and cheap to make. The above photo is filled with equipment that I either made or improvised. The only balance equipment I have purchased is a balance ball and an Airex pad. I would highly recommend both of them. The most useful, almost a necessity, is the balance ball.
In the front of the picture, is a balance board. Balance boards are critical to balance training, and I consider it to be a core balance exercise. They are extremely easy to make. You just need a board and a short piece of PVC pipe. The boards size can vary. I have several that measure from twenty two to thirty six inches long and around twelve inches wide. I plan to add so narrower ones soon. I uses a wide variety of PVC pipe. I use them with and without sand added. The sand gives a little different feel, probably slightly easier. The key, again, is variety.
A long, large PVC pipe is an excellent device to practice log rolls on. Mine is a four inch diameter pipe. It is three and one half feet long. By adding and removing sand, the exercise can be made harder or easier.
Foam rolls, that are used in swimming pools, make an excellent balance tool. Simply walk, do squats, etc. I will have another article about other uses for them soon.
Cheap playground balls also make an excellent aid. I just let some of the air out of them and do various exercises on them. I recommend standing balances, pushup, etc. A board can be placed on top of them to perform a wide variety of exercises.
A popular device for balance is two twelve inch circles of wood, with one tennis ball attached to the center of each of them. They are very easy to make. Cut two board to the desired size, plus or minus a few inches to accommodate the available wood. Get two, two inch, PVC end caps. Drill two holes in them and attach them, with screws, to the board. The tennis ball will fit in. To make it stay when storing the board, add Velcro to the bottom of the PVC. The key is to find end caps that are FLAT. I had to hunt around awhile to find them. They can also be used on larger boards, in similar fashion. Tennis balls are easy to find discarded, or lost, around tennis courts. It is actually good to have some new and some used ones. As they loose pressure, the balance act will become easier. This will add variety.
I also love to use large and small wobble boards. I have several varieties, some circular and some square. My largest is thirty two by thirty six inches. It is made out of one half inch piece of plywood and one slightly smaller three quarter inch piece of plywood. I used a number of screws to hold them together. It reminds me of one of those platforms they use, for pugal sticks fights, on TV. Only I don't fall as far. On a smaller one, I attached a tennis ball as a balance point. On larger ones, I use either a partially filled playground ball or a blob (one end of a hex dumbbell).
I made a snow board simulator out of a one by ten with a two by two attached, by screws, to the center. Basically I rock back and forth on it simulating snow boarding. I don't know how well it works. I have never been snowboarding! It does add some variety to my balance work.
I'm sure there are a lot of other item I will come up with, over time. The key is variety. Keep it interesting. In my opinion the real core devices, at least for me, are the roller boards and the balance ball.
There are a variety of video available about balance training. One that I have, that also includes many other exercises, is Functional Training: Breaking the Bonds of Traditionalism. It is available from Perform Better.
Links
Equipment
Informative articles
Outside Magazine article one
Outside Magazine article two