Weight training is an excellent way to burn calories and enhance muscle tone for health or competition. But doesn’t it get boring after a while? The same repetitions with the same weights or on the same machines, looking at the same walls in the same setting. What if you could add a new dimension to your weight training? You can — by adding a balance board to the mix.
Using a balance board increases the intensity by adding an extra challenge to your core and different muscle groups. Weight training with an electronic balance board can help improve coordination while increasing your calorie-burning routines and enhancing your overall workout. Interested?
Getting Started With Balance Board Exercises
Basic balance board training exercises can already strengthen your core musculature as you improve coordination and control. The balance exercises challenge seldom-used muscle groups in different areas, adding a new element to your workout routines. A balance board can be used with arms, legs, back, core, and different combinations of muscles.
An electronic balance board system can provide even more benefits to up your workout. Many offer data recording and retrieval apps for your smartphone that allow you to track progress and compare with previous workouts. Some also provide various games and designed exercise workouts that provide challenges for a variety of fitness levels.
What A Balance Board Can Do For You
If you think that using a balance board in your fitness routine is for amateurs, think again! Balance is critical to your overall health and ability to function, much less to your performance. Take a fresh look at how a balance board can benefit you.
Prevent Injuries
Enhancing your natural balance and increasing strength helps you to prevent injuries. As your body becomes more fit and mobile, you are able to handle everyday tasks better. Your core back, and leg muscles are essential to maintaining your equilibrium while you sit, stand, bend, reach, and even walk.
Consider how debilitating a simple sprained ankle can be when attempting everyday tasks like getting into the shower, walking out to retrieve the mail, or standing at a stove to prepare a meal. Increasing your functional strength and balance helps to prevent falls, pulled muscles, or strained tendons and keeps you fully functional and independent.
Promote Rehabilitation
Balance training is always a critical aspect of rehabilitating from an injury. We use many of our limbs and joints to gain and maintain balance for the most simple tasks. Therapists and other specialists routinely incorporate static and dynamic balance training into rehabilitation programs for all ages.
Improve Posture
Poor posture is more than an irritating feature your grandparents chided you about all through your teen years. It contributes to serious muscle weaknesses and imbalances, excess weight, and reduced range of motion that compounds the risks of injury. And you just thought your grandmother was cranky!
Using a balance board is a great way to increase muscle strength required to maintain a healthy posture. Stretch out tight muscles and get the exercise you need while becoming healthier at the same time. Oh, and make your grandmother proud!
Reduce Back Pain
Using a balance board seriously improves your core strength, and this one of the main components to reducing back pain. A strong core helps to hold the body in the correct upright position when sitting or standing, keeping the spine in alignment. Your back muscles work less when your abs are doing their fare share of holding up the load.
Adding A Balance Board To Up Your Weight Training
A balance board primarily helps you with overall balance and coordination. Adding a balance board to your weight training is an extraordinary way to enhance almost every single benefit of strength training. Certain board exercises are excellent to assist with weight training and adding a new layer of challenge to your workout.
If you are new to using a balance board with weights, begin slow. The potential for injury exists if you get off-balance with weights. Start with simple routines where adding weights poses little or no risk until you feel strong, balanced, and confident enough to try other, more challenging routines. Your fitness trainer can likely make several helpful suggestions.
Example Exercises With Balance Board
When you are ready to add using a balance board to your weight training, there are some simple, yet excellent exercises that are good places to begin. Here are some favorites.
Squats
Squats with weights on the balance board can be quite a challenge at first, but it is an excellent way to tone your legs and improve weight loss, says nivamd.com. At first, your legs will shake and the board will wobble. Don’t fret, as this is how everyone begins until the right muscles gain the necessary strength to hold your balance. Go slowly and strive to stay balanced before you begin standing and squatting. Over time, you gain better balance and can exercise with more confidence.
Balancing On One Leg
This exercise is for more advanced users. The balance board must stay level and still to prevent losing balance and falling. Stand on one leg and repeat your squats, then change to the other leg.
Spin
In this exercise, the user kneels on the balance board and uses their abs to spin the board around, back and forth. Perform this exercise in a clockwise motion 20 times, then counterclockwise 20 times. Add hand weights for more of a challenge. Remember to go slowly to maintain balance.
Conclusion
Weight training with an electronic balance board adds an entirely new dimension to your workout routines. Adding balance training and the extra layer of challenge to weight training can be just the enhancement you need for improved performance, rehabilitation, and injury prevention.
This article is not meant to be taken as medical advice. Always consult with your physician before beginning any new exercise routines.
*collaborative post
