The Balancing Act: The Ultimate Balance Board Workout

The latest research shows that only 23 percent of Americans currently exercise as much as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend.

Are you part of this group, or have you been struggling to get your workout in each day?

If you have a hard time exercising on a regular basis, maybe you need to rethink the way you workout.

Instead of going to the gym or running around your neighborhood, what if you stayed home and did a balance board workout in your living room?

Read on to learn about some great exercises you can do using just a balance board.

What is a Balance Board?

A balance board is a small, flat board that is attached to a partially rounded surface. Thanks to this rounded surface, when you stand on it, the board does not remain stationary. Instead, you have to do some extra work to stay balanced and avoid tipping to one side. 

Balance Board Benefits

There are lots of benefits that come with incorporating balance boards and balancing exercises into your workout routine. Some of the greatest benefits include:

• Increased proprioception (awareness of your body position in space)
• Reduced risk of balance issues and injuries like falls
• Increased core strength and stability
• Improved coordination
• Improved posture
• Improved mind-muscle connection

Balance board workouts are also easy to scale. Whether you're brand new to exercise or are a seasoned professional, you can use this tool to get more out of your workouts.

Balance Board Workout Ideas

Speaking of workouts, what does a typical balance board workout look like?

There's a lot of room for variety and personalization when you're creating a balance board workout. However, the following are some good exercises to include in your workout routine:

Stand and Balance

If you've never used a balance board before, start by working on standing upright and maintaining your balance.

This might seem easy at first. Once you get on the board and feel yourself tip to one side or the other, though, you'll realize that it takes a lot of core and lower body strength just to stay balanced.

Forward-Backward Rocks

After you've mastered the stand and balance, you'll be ready to move on to some forward-backward rocks.

These challenge your balance and require you to exercise more control over your core muscles and lower body muscles.

To do these, simply shift your weight forward and backward -- but not so much that you fall one way or the other and lose your balance!

Side-to-Side Rocks

The next progression after forward-backward rocks is side-to-side rocks. Instead of shifting your weight forward and backward, you'll shift it from left to right.

Again, you have to exercise a lot of control over your core and lower body to avoid tipping too far to one side or falling off the board.

Single-Leg Balance

When you master these exercises, you'll probably be feeling pretty confident in your balancing abilities. How well will you do when you're standing on just one leg, though?

The single-leg balance helps you correct and disparities in strength between your right and left sides.

The first time you do this, it's best to have a chair or wall handy to hold onto.

Push-ups

The above exercises are great for beginners, as well as those who might be recovering from an ankle injury and need help improving their stability. They can get a little boring, though.

If you're ready to up the ante a bit, try doing some push-ups on the balance board.

Start by placing your hands on the balance board and keep it from tilting to one side as you perform your push-ups. If that's too easy, put your feet on the balance board and perform decline push-ups instead.

Squats

Another great strength-building exercise to do on the balance board is squats.

It takes a lot of muscle control to avoid tipping to one side or falling forward or backward while squatting on a balance board.

If regular squats just aren't cutting it for you anymore, adding a balance board is a great way to shake things up.

Overhead Squats

When balance board squats get easy for you, try changing the position of your hands.

When you raise your arms up overhead, you'll challenge your balance and have to engage different muscles to perform the squat with good form.

Adding an overhead raise also helps to strengthen your shoulder muscles.

Glute Bridges

Glute bridges are already a fantastic exercise for the posterior chain. You can make a little more interesting, though, by placing your feet on a balance board while you do them.

You'll have to engage your hamstrings a lot more to keep the board stable as you lift your hips up off the floor.

If you want to challenge yourself even further, you could do single leg glute bridges instead.

Lunges

If you're looking for a different lower body exercise besides squats, give lunges a try. Place your back foot on the balance board and keep it stable while you perform a stationary lunge. If that's too easy, try placing your front foot on the board instead.

Plank

Balance boards already do a lot to strengthen your core. If you want to show it a little extra love, though, you ought to try doing a plank on it. Place your hands on the board and keep it steady while holding a plank on your knees or toes.

Buy a Balance Board Today

As you can see, you definitely don't need an expensive gym membership or lots of fancy equipment to get in a good workout.

All you need is a balance board and a little imagination.

Now that you have some ideas for a great balance board workout, are you ready to start getting active and exercising on a more consistent basis?

If you don't have a balance board already, now is the perfect time to order one.

Head to our online store to check out the different balance boards we have available and buy yours today.