I was recently asked how to improve your balance. Makes sense. Some people as they get older fear falling, and possibly breaking a bone. Other people can use improved balance to play golf and tennis better (or other sports as well). Regardless of how you’re going to use your sense of balance, the training and progressions are the same. After all, balance is balance.

So before I tell you how to train balance, let’s talk about common mistakes people (even personal trainers) make when trying to improve their balance.

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Original source: here.

Balance Training Mistakes

I’ve been in a lot of gyms, and watched a lot of people. One thing I see in almost every gym is people standing on either BOSU balls, or balance boards or sitting on stability balls, trying to balance.

If you ask them why they’re doing it, their answer isn’t exactly “training for the circus”, like you’d expect. It’s frequently scientific-sounding answers, like “to work my core” or “to burn more calories” or “to work my stabilizer muscles.” And unfortunately most personal trainers reinforce these misconceptions. But that’s just what they are: misconceptions. The scientific term for these kinds of exercises is “funky nonsense.” And it’s definitely not Igor-approved.

But anyways, in the past, I’ve written a full article on why these implements don’t actually do any of these things they’re supposed to do, so I won’t go into that in this newsletter. If you want to read that article, click here.

So then, if doing funky nonsense isn’t going to improve your balance, what will? To understand that, let’s break down what balance really is.

What is Balance?

Simply put, balance is your ability to maintain equilibrium (ie to not fall). How does the body know to do that? It is the fine integration of 3 systems:

Your visual system: what your eyes tell you.
The vestibular system (the inner ear). There is a fluid inside the inner ear that basically tells your body about its position.
The nerve endings. The nerve endings have receptors for position, length and tension of muscles.

The brain then integrates these 3 systems, without your conscious control to keep you from falling.

If you think about it, there are a number of variations that can happen to challenge your balance, like:

Your eyes can be moving, while your head is still
Your head can be moving while your eyes are still
Your head could be moving as you are walking
Your head could be moving in one direction as the eyes are going in the opposite direction

And these are just scratching the surface.

So to train your balance in a “real-life” way (as opposed to something that doesn’t happen in real life… like standing on a BOSU ball), you need progressions, just as you would in strength training and endurance training.

Balance Training Progressions

Just as with anything, you want to find your “sweet spot.” You want an exercise that is not so easy that it doesn’t do anything, but not so hard that you simply can’t do it.

So here are some progressions along the way to superior balance, from easiest to hardest:

Stand in one place, with your feet apart, and just look forward for 30 seconds. This one is obviously very easy for most people.
Same exercise as above, but this time with your eyes closed. This will be more challenging for some people, and they may find themselves swaying.
Now repeat the previous 2 with your feet together. Now, you have a smaller base of support.
Now repeat the first two while standing on one leg.
Now repeat the first two while standing on one leg, with the eyes closed.
Now you can rotate your head while standing in place.
Now you can nod your head while standing in place.
Next, you can walk forward, while turning your head.
Next, you can walk backwards, while turning your head.
Next, you can walk backwards with your eyes closed while turning your head.

As you can see, we’ve progressed from easy to very difficult. And yes, there are lots of progressions in between these, that we just didn’t have time to go into in this article.

Results

What results can you expect from training your balance?

Reduce your risk of falling
Decrease tightness. Sometimes, you may not respond to stretching if your sense of balance is off. Your nervous system reflexively tightens you up as a protective mechanism.
Improve athletic performance
Fewer injuries

As with anything, balance training must be individualized to the person doing it. You have to figure out the right speed of progression, the right training frequency, the right duration of a training session, and more. If you want help with that, let me know.