Many of us naturally change up our workouts as we move from one season to the next. As summer gives way to fall, I’ve turned my focus to balance training for improved performance.
It doesn’t matter what you do for fitness, balance will help you improve in your sport or activity. And face it, when you’re better at things they’re more enjoyable.
I can’t think of a single sport or workout that doesn’t require a certain amount of balance. It may be subtle, as in the swimmer poised on the diving block to impart maximum power into their dive. Or it may be much more obvious, as in sports like figure skating, gymnastics, or surfing.
How We Balance
We use several mechanisms to balance. I’ve heard it phrased as ‘eyes, ears, and feet’. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Here are the three systems we use:
- Visual
- Vestibular
- Proprioceptive
To understand the role vision plays in balance, all you need to do is close your eyes. You’ll feel the muscles in your feet working harder to keep you upright. Even more so if you stand on one foot.
Vestibular refers to the complex inner ear setup that helps us maintain our balance. We don’t usually pay much attention to this system, although it’s working constantly to help us keep our balance. Any problems with this system are best addressed by a medical professional.
Proprioception is what we’re going to focus on. It’s a network of signals coming from your skin, muscles, tendons, and joints that lets you know where your body is and how it’s moving.
Think about it. Most of the time, you don’t need to look at your feet as you’re walking. You don’t have to look at your hand to know that you’ve made a fist. And, through training, you begin to understand what correct posture feels like without looking in a mirror.
Balance Training
When we work on balance training for improved performance, we’re working to augment the proprioceptive loop with consequent muscle activation to improve our performance. This fine-tuning is instinctive and automatic.
Any time you challenge your balance, you’re asking the muscles to react and correct your position in space. And practice makes… well, if not perfect, then definitely better. The translation between balance work and improved athletic performance has been well documented in research studies.
You stand on one foot and your proprioception tells you which way you’re wobbling. You respond by activating the muscles to gain more control. You change from a plank on dry land to a plank on a paddleboard and your core kicks in harder to help you better maintain your balance. You run sideways, doing cross-overs, and your body learns to maintain balance and speed with change in direction.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be exploring these and other ways to improve athletic performance. Balance work is appropriate whether you walk, play sports, dance, hike, box, run, lift weights, surf, dance, mountain bike… the list is endless and it even includes things like simply playing with your kids.
Balance work is for everyone.
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