Balance Training
Introduction
From the 2001 Spring and November issues of Ski Research News, the role that quiet balance plays in skiing. In a nutshell, quiet balance increases your ability to:
• Balance economically – your proprioceptors trigger smaller, less frequent balance adjustments.
• Transmit power to your poles and skis - your trunk is a stronger, more stable anchor for your arms and legs to work against.
• Glide longer - your secondary stabilizers reduce the wobble in your arms and legs and reduce the workload on your trunk.
Now that you're beginning your dry land training, recommend that you integrate a few quiet-balance basics into your program. This way you can enjoy the benefits listed above in roller skiing, injury reduction, and on next season's, snow.
Harald Harb’s ideas for balance training follow. Harald is a superb alpine skier and coach. He raced for the Canadian National Team and has coached many successful racers, Tommy Moe among them. Harald is best known for revolutionizing alpine-ski instruction with his Primary Movements Teaching System, which incorporates natural biomechanics and balance skills at all levels of instruction (there is no "wedge" in PMTS). He is also a very good cross-country skier. He grew up in Quebec and learned early and skis three to four times a week throughout the winter on tracks near his house in Colorado. The four exercises selected from Harold’s work focus on strength with self-stability and they are a good fit for any off-season program. There's a dedicated test that you can use to measure progress, but two of the four exercises can also be used for testing, which increases the validity of measuring change because you'll be completely familiar with the movement patterns.
Exercise Guidelines
1. Use your core stabilizers for balancing. To do this, maintain tension in your transversus abdominus muscle that runs horizontally between your pelvic bones. You know you're successfully recruiting this important mid-layer, trunk stabilizer because your stomach and lower-abdominal area flatten and pull away from your clothing. This action does not cause your low back to flex (it's not a crunch); it simply pulls your stomach in. Once you learn how to do this and maintain constant tension with easy breathing, you'll find that your ability to stabilize from the center improves noticeably.
2. Do not use your arms for balancing. You'll note in the illustrations that the figure is using his arms to help him complete the movements. The figures are drawn to show you what most people do in the beginning of their quiet-balance strength training. As your sense of balance improves and you increase your ability to use your core stabilizers, you'll almost completely eliminate using your arms. There'll always be some contribution, but far less than you see in the illustrations.
3. Gradually reduce the size and frequency of your balancing adjustments.
As your secondary stabilizers gain strength, they'll contribute more to balancing, which reduces the number of times you'll use of your power muscles to catch yourself from falling. Be mindful of the amount of balancing work your feet are doing, if they're noisy, shift more responsibility to your core muscles. Sometimes all it takes is awareness.
4. Relax the muscles you're not using.
Scan for excess tension and relax.
5. Breathe easily. Normal, rhythmical
breathing promotes quiet balance.
6. Look forward, not down. This ensures the optimal orientation of your inner ear.
7. Gradually increase the number of repetitions that you can do each exercise with your eyes closed. This overloads your inner ear and kinesthetic receptors.
BALANCE PROGRAM
1. Block Test
For this test and the Block Circles exercise, you'll need a section of 2"
x 4" about the length of your foot. For this test, your challenge is
to determine how far to the back, to the side, and in front of the block you
can tap the floor with your free foot while keeping your balance. To increase
the distance, you'll need to bend your stance leg more, which requires more
strength and stability. As you reach with your free foot your center of gravity
changes, which progressively increases the strength-stability challenge of
the exercise. Have a friend mark the position of each tap so that you can
measure the distance from the block. Record your results for future comparisons.
Switch legs and repeat.
2. Block Circles
Using the same piece of 2" x 4" you used for the Block Test, layout a circle of rope as illustrated. Trace your free foot around the perimeter of the circle with a smooth action in both directions. Switch legs and repeat. Do 2-3 sets of 10-20 sweeps.
Progression: Increase the diameter of the circle in proportion to the increase in your balance and strength.
3. Low-Bench Test and Exercise
On a bench about 7"-9" high, lift yourself from position #1 to
#3. Pause for a couple of seconds in position #3. Repeat this cycle. Do not
push off with your free foot, only tap the floor. Switch legs and repeat.
Progression: Start with 2 sets of 8-10 repetitions moving with a smooth, controlled
pace up and down. Work your way up to 2-3 sets of 15-20 repetitions When you
can do this exercise with confidence, try it with your eyes closed for several
repetitions, increasing the number as you improve. For testing, determine
how many repetitions you can perform with your eyes closed. If this exercise
gives you difficulty, see the last exercise in the sequence, Single-Leg Squats
(Quarter Squats version).
4. High-Bench Test and Exercise
Use a bench that comes to just below your knees in height. Lift yourself from
position #1 to #3, then lower yourself tapping the floor with your free foot (don’t push off). Pause for a couple of seconds in position #3. Switch legs and repeat. If you find this exercise too difficult, use a lower platform and work your way up to this height. Progression: Start with 2 sets of 8-10 repetitions moving with a smooth, controlled pace up and down. Work your way up to 2-3 sets of 15-20 repetitions. When you can do this exercise with confidence, try it with your eyes closed for several repetitions, increasing the number as you improve. For testing, determine how many repetitions you can perform.
5. Single-Leg Squats
Start with Quarter Squats. Move with a controlled, smooth pace up and down. Do all the repetitions for one leg then switch legs and repeat. Use your fingertips for balance only, not as help up or down. Progression: Try 2 sets of 8-10 repetitions gradually reducing the use of your arm for balance. When you can do 3 sets of 10 repetitions, you re ready for Half Squats. In Half Squats, you flex you knees to roughly 90 and use the same controlled, smooth pace up and down. Use as little balance help as possible (try using your index finger only). Progression: Start with 2 sets of 8-10 repetitions working your way up to 3 sets of 10 repetitions. Your objective: 3 sets with your eyes closed.
