Balance exercises for athletes

Balance exercises and their importance

Even though the majority of people who start to exercisefocus only on exercises that will help them either to reduce excessive weight,or to build up their muscles, the fact is that a small number of people isfamiliar with balance exercises and their importance. The number of people whoperform them is even smaller, since many find that they are not worthy the time andefforts, and thus simply ignore them. Still, these exercises are of particularimportance for athletes and there is more than one reason for that. First ofall, they help them condition their muscles and improve reflexes. Aside fromthis, they also play a part in avoiding injury and correcting the imbalance of the muscles.Depending on the sport that the person is into, the balance exercises can begeneral and specific for that particular sport.

Balance exercises that should be done

One-leg pouches is an exercise done while standing on oneleg and with 1kg hand weights. The other leg should not touch the supportingleg, and while the punches in the air and above the head are altered, thesupporting knee needs to be kept soft. Then lateral punching above the heightof the shoulder should substitute the previous punching, which should besubstituted by crossover punches above the head. Then all this should berepeated while standing on the other leg.Single leg squat and reach requires from the person who doesthe exercise to hold some object in front but as far away as possible. While standingon the right leg, the left foot should be raised off the floor and the rightknee slowly bent. Since the object is held in the right hand, the person needsto try to reach it with the left arm as well and extend the left foot afterreaching the object. After the position is held for five seconds, the personcan return to the initial position and try to do the same while standing on theother leg.Core balance is done while sitting on the exercise ball,which should not move. When the person learns to do this exercise and when itbecomes too easy to perform it, sitting upright and maintaining the balancewhile both legs are lifted off the floor should be tried.

There is a number of other exercises that can be done withthe exercise ball and that also help with balance.