Be it physical or mental, the key to a healthy life is balance. A Balance board is a fitness tool that can help you improve your strength, balance, and coordination. The most interesting part is that a balance board benefits your entire body as well as your mind, and using balance boards for increased spatial awareness and even injury rehabilitation doesn’t feel like work. It is a fun and entertaining piece of fitness equipment that is portable and doesn’t take up a lot of space. A balance board offers other benefits by simply standing and stabilizing muscles that conventional workout equipment can’t accomplish.
Why is Balance Important?
Balance is essentially maintaining your center of gravity while you stand still and move. Balance can help prevent injuries and correct incorrect movements. If your body is not balancing correctly it’s likely that your muscles are not performing the job that they should. By adjusting these muscles correctly, you will gain more strength and balance.
Balance Board Benefits for your Entire Body
A well-designed balance board will be challenging at first but should allow you to notice significant improvements as your balance progresses. A balance board forces us to concentrate on keeping the board level. Your body will stay in continuous motion, and you will have to work on balancing your body with micro-movements, thus developing your fine motor skills.
Balance training is important for engaging your proprioception sense, the sense that allows you to know where your body is in space with your eyes closed. An article from Northwestern University explains that your brain receives signals from all your muscle spindles, along with other sensory receptors in your tendons and joints, and constructs an overall sense of the position and motion of your body. This sensory information is the foundation for building skills applicable to not only sports and athletics but also to everyday life.
Developing your Core Muscles:
Balance boards are designed to start working the hidden muscles you have been neglecting leading to poor balance or maybe you’ve forgotten about the minute you step on your board and begin balancing. Some of our major core muscles are:
- Abdominal muscles
- Lower back muscles
- Lats (the ones that give your upper body that “V” shape
- Internal and External Obliques (these run from your ribs down to your hips)
- Abductors and adductors (the muscles that run on the inside and outside of your thighs)
- Glutes (your butt)
Our abdominal muscles are made up of a number of muscles that overlap each other. They are extended from the base of our neck to all the way down our legs. Their main function is to support our torso and keep the spine upright. When these muscles are weak they can lead to chronic lower back pain. Balance board training helps you develop these core muscles quicker and more efficiently. If you are finding yourself waking up with lower back pain, it is probably a good time to start working these muscles.
Improving your Agility:
Agility is something everyone can benefit from. The ability to switch from one position to another, quickly, is a fundamental skill that benefits professional athletes or the clumsiest person walking down the street on an uneven sidewalk. Balance training will allow you to instantly switch from offense to defense, or help you catch yourself if you trip! Whether you are a football player, snowboarder, or labeled the office klutz, moving quickly on any surface in any direction is important for a healthy balanced body. A balance board will help you achieve increased agility effectively while also preventing injuries.
Strengthening & Rehabilitating your Ankle and Knee Joints:
Every athlete, particularly runners, is aware of the risk factors like ankle sprains, that are involved when they participate in sports. To become a great runner, you must know how to prevent injury to the human body and recover from it effectively. Dr. Michael Fredericson from Stanford University understands the importance of well-developed core musculature. He claims that weakness or lack of sufficient coordination in core musculature can lead to less efficient movements, compensatory movement patterns, strain, overuse, and injury. Using a balance board to improve and strengthen muscles before running will result in fewer ankle and knee injuries, also making rehabilitation time shorter. Some literature supports using neuromuscular training to prevent ACL injuries in athletes. This can also be extremely beneficial to wakeboarders who are prone to these types of knee injuries. A physical therapist can be expensive, but injury prevention with a wobble board brings affordable options to athletes wanting to get after it.
Creating Better Posture:
Anywhere you look today, you may find poor posture. There are the people commuting long distances on a train, the truck drivers who drive across the country remaining sedentary, or the office 9-5er who is hunching over his desk and keyboard all day. These types of occupations are causing the constant rounding on our backs and keeping our shoulders hunched from weak skeletal muscles. There is good news, with a wobble board like Whirly Board, you can develop good posture and keep your spine in a straight line, not slumping and curving. Balance boards help by strengthening the deep muscles in our torso that don’t normally get worked out. This eventually provides us with a strong foundation and a better taller sexy posture.
Working New Muscle Groups:
While training with a balance board, our small and large muscles are going to have to work together to keep ourselves stable. This will help provide you with an overall body workout. It’s a much more intense workout than you would get from lifting weights or running alone. If you want an added challenge then try doing a push-up with your hands on a balance board. The result will be phenomenal!
Balance Boards Strengthen your Mind:
It might seem strange that we can use something simple like rocker boards to help exercise our mind when it appears to only improve our physical well-being, but other aspects such as enhanced brain function for concentration and language development in children, or increased memory in older adults, can easily be achieved.
Enhance brain function:
The most exciting benefit is that these boards don’t just work out our physical bodies, but strengthens our mind’s brain function. A research study done by Dr. Ann-Kathrin Rogge from Hamburg University shows that balance training improves memory and spatial cognition. The act of syncing our neural networks to maintain our balance consists of intense levels of concentration. This allows us to increase our memory and focus. In order to continue balancing on the board, you have to concentrate and react fast. Doing this over and over again improves the way your mind responds to tasks. With time you will also find your motor skills reacting to physical challenges much more quickly. An added bonus of strengthening your mind is when finding yourself on an unstable surface you will quickly recover and prevent an injury from falling.
Improve Concentration:
Balance Board Benefits for Anyone and Everyone:
Needless to say, balance board benefits will provide anyone with an overall toned, fit, and healthy body. Whether you are a gymnast on the beam, or a hockey player trying to be quick on their feet, balance boards will help you control your body’s stability. This will put you in an advantageous position over your competition or just help you lead a happy healthy life.
Balance Board Training is a fun way to lose weight, get in shape, improve posture, and increase your core strength.
Balance Boards aren’t only for athletes; they provide excellent health benefits for anyone, young and old. Training on a balance board can help with coordination, agility, and strength.
Burn Calories & Lose Weight
Who doesn’t want to burn more calories in less time? You can torch mega calories while toning your entire body by using a balance board. Depending on your weight and the intensity of your workout, you can burn 300-444 calories an hour!
You can intensify exercises such as squats, planks, push-ups, and lunges on a balance board. This engages both small and large muscle groups to work together and burns more calories. Burning more calories leads to weight loss.
The latest craze is standing desk balance boards. A standing desk balance board can combat health ailments caused by prolonged sitting. It can increase circulation and keep your body in active mode while you are working.
Using a balance board at your standing desk can burn calories too—up to 100 calories an hour. By combining exercise and healthy eating habits, you can achieve a healthy weight.
Build Core Strength
Balance Boards build Core Strength quickly & efficiently. You will feel your core engage the moment you step on the board. Having Strong Core Strength is key to “move, support, and stabilize” your spine. The six-pack is a nice bonus.
Internal & External Obliques—These muscles run from your ribs to your pelvis
Rectus Abdominis—The muscles are the “ab” muscles in your stomach that show when defined)
Erector & Multifidus Spinae—These muscles run from the head down to the pelvis
Traverse Abdominis—These muscles are on each side of the naval
Building your core muscles can also help relieve chronic lower back pain—just another perk of Balance Board Workouts.
Increase Strength
Balance Board Workouts can increase overall strength. This is an excellent option for weight-lifters looking to pump more iron. It also adds intensity to your workouts Training on a balance board engages your stabilizer muscles. Engaging both large and small muscle groups creates a more intense workout.
By strengthening stabilizer muscles & core muscles, you can also help prevent lifting injuries. Training stabilizer muscles can make or break lifts such as bench press, squats, and more. If your stabilizer muscles are weak, you will not have enough strength to move the weight. By adding balance board training, you can increase your lifts and improve your form.
Improve Balance & Posture
Your progression in balance board training will improve your balance & posture. Some experts state that rehabilitation should include “proprioception training.” Proprioception is the body’s ability to know its position in space, meaning your body knows where it is with your eyes closed.
Weak core muscles can lead to Sway Back Posture, for example, and cause back pain. Bad posture may lead to spine and disc issues. By building your core strength, glutes, and quads, you will improve your posture too.
Boost Mood & Have Fun
If you’re feeling depressed, exercise can improve your mood. Regular exercise can reduce depression by increasing serotonin in the brain. It also increases endorphins, which lift spirits. Exercise is a great alternative to boost your mood. Studies suggest that 16-weeks of daily exercise is as effective as an anti-depressant.
A balance board is a fun yet challenging workout that can help boost your mood. It’s perfect for someone that wants to learn board sports too. Surveys state that if you enjoy your exercise, you are more likely to stick with it.
Boost Agility
Who doesn’t want to be more agile? The ability to move quicker, and easier, benefits athletes, and the average joe. You will notice a significant improvement in your reaction time. The more you practice with your balance board, the better you get.
Constant movements you perform on a balance board are the ultimate way to boost agility. Training with the Whirly Board can increase agility. It enables you to switch from offense to defense quickly.
Improve Performance
A balance board can improve performance for skaters, surfers, snowboarders, and wakeboarders. The Whirly Board is the perfect board for board sports training. Our board’s 360-degree spin design allows more tricks and progression. This keeps even the best athletes entertained and trained all year long rain or shine, improving balance for injury prevention.
Skateboarding:
Our Board is an actual Skateboard Deck-Optimal for Skaters
Practice Tricks such as Kickflips, Quick Reverts, Shuvits, and Spins
Train Everyday Rain or Shine
Surfing:
Master Board Control
Learn Weight Distribution for Advanced Moves like the Carve 360
Build Ankle & Leg Strength to Perform Basics such as the Bottom Turn
Learn the Mechanics to Start Spin Moves
Snowboarding:
3 Balance Points for 360-Degree Spins
Enhance Board Control
Practice Spins & Improve Spacial Awareness
Boost Agility
Wakeboarding:
Learn Proper Mechanics to Start Spins
Improve Quick Reverts & 180 Spins
Add Rotations to Butter Slides or Rail Slides
Improve Balance
Build Leg Strength and Improve Carving
Grab the Whirly Board Handle to Practice Handle Passes
The Whirly Board is also beneficial for:
Yoga & Pilates
Skiing
Hockey
Martial Arts
Climbing & More
You will notice improved performance as your training progresses on our balance board with simple balance exercises.
Mobile Workout
The best thing about balance boards is that you can take them anywhere. It is the size and weight of a skateboard making it easy to get your workout in no matter where you are. The Whirly Board is the perfect board to travel with for your workouts.
Beginner Balance Board Exercises for improving balance
Make your own workout routine with some of these balance board exercises that don’t require an expensive personal trainer. You can check out our Whirly Board youtube channel for whole-body workouts that will increase your overall well-being and have amazing benefits. Here are a few basic exercises to get you started. **Make sure that you are on a flat surface, as wobble boards on an unstable surface can lead to an unsafe body position that causes unwanted injuries.
- For your starting position, stand upright on your board, knees bent slightly with your feet hip distance apart.
- A rocker board only goes forward and back, but our slightly modified wobble board allows you to practice moving in a three-dimensional space. Stay upright and rock the board from side to side as well as front to back.
- Once these movements have become second nature, balance on one leg and rock in different directions.
- Balance boards force us to engage muscles differently on one foot so try to keep the board flat and slowly bend into a squat position.
Conclusion
Balance training on wobble boards allows you to:
- Burn Calories & Lose Weight
- Build Core Strength
- Improve Balance & Posture
- Boost Agility
- Improve Board Sports Performance
- Workout Anywhere
Why Should You Use a Balance Board? Because you can reap health benefits with simple balance board exercises, get in shape, and have fun. What are you waiting for…GIVE IT A WHIRL!