21 Reasons to Improve Your Balance

You can’t image the sales we do in balance products. A LOT. It made me wonder what the big deal was. I mean, I’m aware that being balanced is generally a good thing, but what are the real benefits?

My first thought was that people were buying balance products because they associate them with the ever popular quest for core strength. But when researching the balance products themselves, and after talking to some of our customers, I started seeing that better balance is actually an end goal. The perk is a dramatic improvement in your core strength (back, abs & surrounding muscles); better muscle tone; a greater range of motion; and stronger muscles, tendons and ligaments. Improved balance and a better body? They go hand in hand.

Still, I wasn't convinced that I needed to add another level of complexity and awkwardness to my workouts, so I put together a general list of balance benefits:

• Reduced joint pain
• Better posture
• Reduced back pain
• Higher confidence for sports or daily activities
• Faster balance reaction time
• Reduced risk of sudden trauma due to improved body awareness
• Reduced risk of future injuries

I felt like I was getting somewhere, but I wasn't there yet. So I drilled down further to come up with some super practical reasons to start a balance program. Finally, i discovered the motivation I needed. Reason Number 7. Ha! Made you look. But seriously, there are compelling reasons for everyone, at every age, to get started.

With Better Balance You Can:

1. Develop a killer golf swing
2. Avoid a broken hip
3. Look taller and slimmer
4. Reduce incontinence
5. Walk straighter and more gracefully
6. Ski the blue and black diamonds instead of the green
7. Improve your sex life
8. Have the guts to try something new
9. Greatly improve performance in ALL sports
10. Prevent sports injuries, especially sprains and strains
11. Hold that yoga pose as long as you need to
12. Stay on the mountain when you’re hiking
13. Avoid accidents because you’ll react faster
14. Stop wobbling
15. Pick up your kids without straining your back
16. Look cool when you’re carving on your skateboard, snowboard, long board, surf board
17. Say goodbye to chiropractic visits
18. Be agile
19. Enhance your quality of life
20. Increase your independence
21. Raise your overall level of health

How do Balance Products work?

Balance improvement products are designed with an element of instability to intentionally throw you off balance.

For example, just sitting on a FitBall improves your balance because you use so many muscles to stay seated on the dang thing. You don’t even have to “work out” on it to see results. Sit on it while you’re at your desk at work, or at the dinner table, or watching TV, or scrapbooking, or at your sewing machine. An option to the FitBall is the FitBall Seating Disc, which mimics the FitBall exercise ball, but sits on top of your chair. You can also use it as a balance disc.

Balance Discs sit on the floor, right under your feet or hands while you do squats, lunges or push-ups. They are flat on one side and round, slightly “puffed up” on the other. When you are doing your regular exercises with your hands or feet on the puffy side, you are forced to concentrate on keeping your balance.

The Power Wheel can be used with either your hands or your feet, but it basically challenges your whole body to stabilize while the 14” wheel rolls along the ground.

Balance Pads are square blocks of specialty foam (latex free, anti-fungal, non-absorbing, non-scuff, no-slip) that you stand on while exercising. They are used in mobility training, lower extremity rehab and motor skill training.

Indo Boards . These nifty gizmos are skateboard-shaped wooden boards that you stand on while balancing on top of a roller. I know… Wooohoooo! There are different sizes for different skill levels. The Original Indo Balance Board is super popular with board sport enthusiasts – skateboarders, snowboarders, wakeboarders, kiteboarders and surfers. Indo Boarding is a fun, inexpensive way to get into shape and increase your agility. Recommended for riders ages 4 and up. Totally rad. Makes a great gift.

Don’t like to work out? Well here’s one for you. Stand on a wobble board while talking on the phone. In no time you’ll have stronger ankles and better balance.

We sell a ton of foam rollers . They are cylindrical pieces of high density foam consisting of millions of tiny cells that bounce back when you press on them, or lay on them. Rollers are super popular and are used mainly for balance training, Pilates and self-massage. There are books and videos full of foam roller uses, but basically you sit or stand on them while doing a variety of exercises. They come in all shapes and sizes, including “half rounds” for starting your balance program. You can even get kits with various sizes included.

We also have Rocker Boards, a Core Board, Twist Boards, Balance Trainers, Balance Beams, Balance Domes, Rotational Flexors and Multi-Balance Boards and more in our Shop by Condition: Balance/Core Stability area of the site.

Okay, so why buy a special product to improve your balance when you could just stand on one leg with your eyes closed? Why not just walk along the backs of park benches or hop across fence posts or slide down a banister in your socks? Wellll, you could get really hurt for one thing. Okay, then, just stand on one leg with your eyes closed! Go for it. But if you invest in one or two simple balance tools, you can do a full range of exercises, have fun and get balanced at the same time.

Balance and Sports

Improving your balance and stability will directly impact all of your daily activities, especially sports. Athletes incorporate balance and agility training into their daily workouts.

Kids benefit from better balance too. Throw a few fun balance routines into your children’s daily activities and they will quickly get a leg up in their sports performance and confidence, from a very early age. For example, have them play a game of catch while balancing on one foot. Or have them close their eyes, stand on one foot and bend down to touch the ground with one finger. Or you could always get them an Indo Board.

Balance is the basic skill needed for practically every sport. Athletes often do balance training when they are recovering from injuries, but as every good coach knows, balance training is just as effective in preventing injuries.

Why is balance in sports so important? From soccer to snowboarding to tennis, changing your center of gravity to match your moves is the key to efficiency. Better balance improves agility, which allows you to move gracefully, wasting little motion. No matter what activity you are into – dancing, hiking, football, sailing, gymnastics, kayaking, skateboarding, rowing, martial arts, yoga or ballet – you are better off balanced.

Do's & Don'ts

• Don’t expect it to work overnight. Balance takes time.

• Don’t worry about looking like a dork while you’re practicing. Just have a laugh. Work out your heart and abs.

• Do lower-body exercises that increase muscle strength in your knees, thighs, hips, etc.

• Do start now. Better balance is important no matter what your age.

Will great balance make you richer? More beautiful? Happier? Perhaps it will! Will you live longer? Have faster texting times? Hey, you never know. Whatever your reason for starting a balance program, I can’t think of a single reason not to. It’s all good.