Balance Basics

What is fitness? Is it functionality or aesthetics? Is it strength or speed? Is it low cholesterol or low resting heart rate? Well, it is obviously all of those and much more.

Wading through the endless books, magazines and journals can be exhausting and many times ideas, theories and disciplines are contradictory. Why? Because fitness is not an absolute science. Fitness takes science and develops it to best suit an individual or team.

Fitness is comprised of, but not limited to, cardiovascular strength, endurance, muscular strength and power, core training, flexibility and range of motion, balance and proprioception, speed and reaction time and body composition.

So what’s a novice or, for that matter, an experienced athlete to do? Listen to your body, use common sense and incorporate the fundamentals below. This is the final of four columns that will address four major aspects of fitness: Cardiovascular Basics, Weight Training Basics, Flexibility and Balance Training.

Balance Training Basics:

• Train core, without a solid core, balance training will be difficult and less effectice
• As applicable, do lunging and its progressions
• Do “eyes closed” training
• Utilize disks, boards, foam and other balance devices
• Use Stability ball for training
• Do one-leg training
• Consider plyometric training
• Do line walking and its progressions
• Use medicine balls work
• Combine various forms of balance work