7 essential balance exercises to enhance your development
If your goal is to enhance your development and improve in any sports discipline, balance exercises in your training routine should have a big part of it. through this article, you will learn some of the best exercises to work stability, whatever your level.
What are balance exercises?
Balance exercises are those that pose a big challenge to the whole your body when it comes to maintaining the correct posture in the execution of a movement.
in the gym, if you want To work the balance we can use different instruments such as the bosu, the unstable platforms or, simply, performing the exercises to one leg we will be working on stability without the need to use any other extra material that we must use in the exercise itself.
The objective of this type of training will be to work on the proprioception of the joints and indirectly strengthen the center of our body or core,since this central area of our body must work at all times to maintain the stability of the body.
Improving stability will be beneficial both in the performance and health of any athlete, whatever the discipline in which he participates or the level of it.
The 7 essential balance exercises that you should include in your training routine
Squat to one leg or pistol from platform
The pistol squat is one of the most complex and demanding exercises you can perform with self-charge. It is a movement that will require strength and postural control to execute it the way it should.
With the pistol, you will directly work on the strength and stability of your lower train; but, involuntarily, your core will be active throughout the route, so it is a very demanding exercise whatever the level of the athlete.
To run it correctly:
- Sit on a bench or platform, the height of which is about the same as the ground up to your knee.
- Take one leg off the ground and leave it stretched.
- With the leg you have left in support try to lift your body off the platform.
- Once you are standing and upright try to sit back down controlling the desc
When you have mastered the exercise you can perform a more complex variant, which will be to perform the same exercise without having a surface to sit on.
Romanian deadlift to one leg
With this exercise you will work all the muscles of the back of your leg in a complete and eccentric way.
Your buttocks, lumbar and hamstrings will be the main muscles involved in the movement, but to balance your body you will need the help of the lumbar and abdominal muscles,which must remain active at all times to try to bring the torso in a good position and avoid injuries.
- Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell with one hand.
- The opposite leg of the hand that holds the dumbbell must be lifted from the ground.
- With a hinge movement of your hip, try to bring your lathe as horizontally as possible, while the leg points back.
- Maintain the position of your body with the natural curvature of your spine.
- Return to the starting position.
One-sided farmer's walk: one of the best balancing exercises
It is an anti-lateral flexion exercise that will improve the strength of your core, helping you to achieve good stability and balance that will be transferred in the improvement of the other exercises.
The weight of the farmer is a very powerful exercise to execute, but it requires a great concentration to prevent your abdominal muscles from losing tension and this can end up damaging your spine.
- Hold a dumbbell or heavy kettlebell with one of your hands.
- The arm that holds the weight is stretched next to your hip.
- Your abdomen should remain in tension and your spine with neutral curvature.
- Your torso must maintain balance without beating the side.
- Once you manage to maintain a good body posture you must walk without your muscles losing tension.
- At 50 meters, more or less, you must change the dumbbell sideways.
Lateral elevations of unipodal shoulders
Lateral elevations are the star exercise when it comes to working the muscles of the shoulders. With this variant, in addition to strengthening your deltoids,you will help improve the balance and stability of your body.
- Hold two dumbbells, one with each hand.
- Lift one leg off the ground and squeeze your buttocks to avoid imbalance.
- Hold in a monopodal position at all times.
- Perform an elevation of the arms until you bring the dumbbells to the horizontal, forming about 90 degrees with your shoulder.
- Once the fixed repetitions have been performed, you will have to change your leg.
Another variant of this exercise to continue working stability with him, will be to get on a bosu and try to perform the exercise while maintaining stability on top of it.
Runner pulls on pulley
This exercise enhances the strength and stability of the hip, back and general proprioception of the auxiliary muscles of your spine.
To perform this exercise, you must use a pulley or an elastic band that allows you to pull in the last phase of the movement.
- Stand in front of the base where the pulley comes out or you have the rubber hooked.
- Bring your body with your arm stretched out to the direction from which the pulley comes out.
- The same leg of the arm that grips the pulley must remain detached from the ground and raised.
- Perform a hinge movement with your arm outstretched.
- Return to the starting position by performing a traction with the arm and keeping the body upright and without losing stability.
Step down to one leg
The step down is the star exercise to stabilize and work the balance of the knee joint.
It is an exercise that helps to compensate the muscles of the buttock and work the muscles of the leg. In addition, the execution of the movement requires a good balance,so it is a fantastic exercise to work the muscles globally.
To do it correctly, you will need a step bench or platform where you can climb and that can support your weight.
- Place one foot on the side of the bench.
- Go down bending the knee and trying to touch with the heel of the foot that is suspended on the ground.
- Perform a knee extension that allows you to raise your body to the starting position.
Side plate
The side plank is one of the best-known abdominal exercises. In this case, we mention this exercise due to the effectiveness to strengthen the oblique musculature,essential if you want to achieve a good balance.
It is an isometric exercise that we can vary by performing small hip lifts to increase its intensity.
- Lie on your side on a mat.
- Rest your forearm on the ground, forming a 90-degree angle with your elbow.
- Raise your hip off the floor and leave only your feet supported.
- Maintain the position in the horizontal keeping the back stable and as straight as possible.
- Once the estimated time is completed, you will have to switch sides to repeat the same procedure.
Conclusion
In most cases, we want to improve the performance of the training,but we focus our efforts on performing analytical exercises, leaving aside the global exercises that allow us to work a greater musculature and transfer the results to the workouts.
If you want to improve and take your workouts a step further, we recommend that you include these exercises in your training sessions. Your performance will be improved.