Joy of the People

For many years, balance training was the exclusive domain of the physical therapy and rehabilitation industry. However, in the past few years, athletes of all sports have begun to realize how balance training prevents injury and enhances sport performance. Cruyff said balance was the first movement.   Before acceleration, cutting, spinning, jumping, whatever the movement, the brain must take inventory of where the body is in space, make adjustments and move to the next challenge.  The movements to rebalance and compensentory movements following--think wheeling your arms as you are losing balance on rollerbaldes--these movements are the areas balance training improves.  You don’t get better balance as it were, you get better at making the correct adjustments and avoiding over compensation,   Improving and simplyfying your movements through balance training will save energy, make you more efficient, reduce injuries and make you faster. – although you may feel as though you have good balance, the fact is – poor balance may be at the root of many of your training issues. However, there is good news.  YOU CAN improve your balance by tackling balance training – you will be amazed at the difference.

Balance training tips

Work the core. There are a number of ways to work on your balance and they all start with one common factor – your core.  The core muscles are situated in the middle part of your body – specifically the abs and the muscles attached to that area.  So, working this area will help you increase your balance. Core exercises can be done through yoga, pilates, but they can also be worked on through a series of exercises aimed at targeting that specific area of your body.

Build a stable foundation.  Start in standing position, this is the most foundational position.  Try stable platform with unstable movements,  hulla hooping, tossing a medicine ball off two feet are two examples; and and using unstable platforms such as wobble boards, deflated soccer ball and even a large balance ball (easier and safer then it looks) are just a few ways to train off two feet. This builds a tremendous foundation for agility movements.

Single leg.  Most soccer ball actions are completed on one foot so it imperative that both legs have balance training.  (If your right footed it’s more likely that your left leg balance is more advanced than your left.)  Standing on one foot stabilizes it by challenging the balance in the standing leg.  Try this: Stand on your left foot.  Right foot steps on a soccer ball, roll that ball around your standing leg without allowing the right foot to touch the ground.  How many time can you do this before that right foot touches the ground?  Make sure you switch legs. Yoga is a great way to train balance offfering lots of challeniging poses for one leg.  Nothing is better for strengthening ligaments and tendons.

Progression.  Don’t try too much too soon.  Begin with soldid ground and gradullay add unstabilty and weights to challenege the core and properiaception.

Consistancy. Balance training should be done regularly, it’s a great for recovery, so schedule it regularly and smartly.

Start early and have fun.  Gymnastic coaches know that balance comes first.   Balance training should start very early, with simple movement and standing excercises.   Try fun challenges like picking out a line on the gym floor and walking the tightrope...Blindfolded!

Posture.  Working on your balance involves working on your posture.  As you read this, consciously notice what position you are in – odds are, you were slouching or had some other type of poor posture.  Standingand sitting erect, with shoulders back and your butt tight will help your body and muscles feel better, but can also greatly help your balance. 

A popular tool used for soccer players these days is the speed ladder. It's a great for fun and technique, especially important for U8-U12 year olds.  I thought I would write about some cool ways to use it and what it teaches in a functional way. 

A couple of tips:

Keep the end in mind. The purpose of the speed ladder is to improve the technique of running.  Keep the final product in mind.  Players need to have correct technique in arm and leg drive, with acceleration, decelleration, moving in all directions in 3 dimensions, so don't just train straight ahead linear speed. But also,  the ultimate final product should incorporate a ball so use the speed ladder to build muscle memory with and without the ball as shown below.  By incorporating the correct movements you can make the athlete more efficient --and therefore, faster--with and without the ball.

Quality first. Make the focus th eperfection of the running pattern or technique, not in getting the athlete through the ladder as quick as possible.

Make it a game. Whatever pattern you pick make it fun with focus on technique first over speed ("as fast as you can, not as you can't). For fun add penalties and rewards. Move the ladder and three jumping jacks, make it through perfectly allow a celebration. Form teams and keep score with the losers carrying the winners on their back to the water break. Use your imagination and have fun with it.

Cover all the basics.  I learned this in Brazil, in whatever discipline their training, they approach it comprehensively.  While they don't normally use speed ladders, they would certainly want to cover all the running bases.

1. Running forward

2. Running Backwards--tough through a speed ladder, but very beneficial

3. Running sideways--think shuffles and carioca

4. With improvisation --this means adding something unexpected. Try with partners wheel barrowing through, try summersaults, sit down get up on signal, have fun with this one.

5. With twists--These are movements when the shoulders turn one way and the hips the other--carioca running falls into this category.

6. With spins--In Brazil they focus a lot on this with 360 spins from forward and backward starting positions. Using the speed ladder here really challenges even the most elegant athletes. This is not a power move-more like ballet! Try it.

7. With a ball AND ladder--Skip backward through the ladder hopping on one foot in and out in zig zag pattern withthe other foot on the top of a ball draggin it with you. Easier backwards but can be done forwards.

8. With ball (without ladder) The idea is to replicate the fast foot movements just learned on the speed ladder with a ball.  All you need is a line on the floor (for instance the half line on a gym floor) the idea to choose a pattern and perform it with good technique faster than top end speed with the ball moving back and forth over the line. For instance inside outside right foot cutbacks over and back the line as quickly as possible. The ball may move only a couple of inches over the line before cutting it back, that’s ok, the point is fast feet, and just as the speed ladder doesen’t look like running, this technique will look and feel different. The focus is on quick ground contacts and light feet.

Other examples are quick role overs, again faster than full pace, carioca with a role over, etc.  This can be done with just about any dribbling motion or combination, so be creative. Works best with 5-1 work/rest ratio, and work at less than ten seconds.

And as always, have fun!