Topic - Off-snow training:
balance - wobble boards
Date first posted on eCommunity - 29
October 2006
Of all the different aspects of fitness, balance is
one of the
hardest to train for especially if you are a new skier. There are
some very good forms of balance-based exercise around like yoga
and Pilates but they aren't ski-specific, and their benefits can
therefore take a while to work through. On the other hand, many of
the activities which are ski-related for example ice-skating,
roller-skiing and dry-slope skiing demand that you already have
pretty good balance before you can even attempt them. So it can be
hard to find a starting point.
But it's not impossible. In an earlier posting (7 May, 2006), we
looked at how mini-squats, which are normally used to promote muscle
endurance, can also be combined into a useful sequence of balance
exercises. In the present posting we look at a simple but effective
piece of balance-promoting equipment the wobble board.
Wobble-boards are mainly used by physiotherapists and sports injury
professionals, and are chiefly employed to help patients recover
from injuries to the ankle or lower leg. They are not expensive. I
recently bought one from a supplier of sports medical and
rehabilitation products: www.return2fitness.co.uk. It cost me just
over £17, including VAT and postage. It is 36cm (14 inches) in
diameter and is made of plastic. It sits on a base of bevelled
plastic that is about 11cm (4 inches) in diameter. Imagine a big
dinner-plate sitting on half a grapefruit.
BALANCE BENEFITS - BEGINNERS
If you are new to skiing, or if you are experienced but still a bit
shaky on the downhills, then it's best to stand on the wobble-board
with BOTH feet. Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart and try to
adopt the basic "alpine" stance knees slightly bent, arms a little
forward and out to your sides, body-weight equally shared between
both feet. Initially you should hold on to a chair for support. You
can then get used to the board by rocking it gently backwards and
forwards for a couple of minutes, and then from side to side for a
couple of minutes.
Then let go of the chair, and see if you can stay level for a couple
of minutes. It can be tricky: you will feel yourself pitching about
as you lose your balance, then regain it, and then lose it again.
This gets quite close to the feeling of skiing down a descending
track on which there are bumps and dips and twists and turns.
When you have gotten the hang of it, the usual progression is simply
to stay on the board for longer, trying to keep in balance. You can
do this while watching TV.
However, to make the sessions more interesting, and more
challenging, you can do other exercises while on the board. These
can be movement exercises, like raising your arms to shoulder-height, then above your head, then lowering them back to your sides.
Or you can bend your knees, drop slowly into a crouch for a few
moments, and then stand tall. Alternatively, if you already have
experience of lifting free weights, you can do some work with light
dumbbells. Forward and side raises are possible, as are bicep curls
and shoulder presses. But to avoid injury do keep the weights light for you will be out of balance when you step on and off the board.
BALANCE BENEFITS - EXPERIENCED SKIERS
Boards are also used by more experienced skiers. In particular,
racers use them when training for classic-technique events. Their
main aim is to make sure that when they are skiing they keep their
ski bases absolutely flat to the snow (rather than coming up on to
their inside edges, which will slow them down).
To achieve this aim you should stand on your wobble-board on just
ONE foot. (It is prudent to practise first on both feet, until you
get the feel of the board.) Standing one-footed on the centre of the
board, first simply try to achieve balance. Then crouch into a more
dynamic skiing position, as if you were in the glide phase of
diagonal stride. Then do what you have to do to stop wobbling! It
may be that you have to push your knee out, to bring it over your
toes. Watch yourself in a mirror. And hold on to a chair to begin
with. Work equally on both sides.
MUSCLE ENDURANCE BENEFIT
As a by-product of all these balance exercises, you'll get the bonus
of a muscle endurance benefit mainly in the calves and quadriceps
(front of thighs). You can increase this benefit, once you are sure
you've gotten your balance, by bending your knees and going into a
deep squatting position. You can make it harder still by going down
into a tuck.
Whichever way you use the board, do take it easy to begin with. You
can get tired surprisingly quickly, and that increases the risk of
falling.
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