3 Point Balance Drill

3 Point Balance Drill

by Tony Babarino, CPT, AKC

Kettlebell Coach & Joint Mobility Expert

The 3 Point Balance Drill is not only a simple and useful exercise to improve balance while being active, it can reveal issues with controlling balance that you didn’t know you have. Almost all training for the legs happens while both feet are in contact with the ground or while stepping immediately into a lunge. How much time do we spend improving our coordination and control to help make this kind of training more safe and effective? Very little. Probably because we take for granted our ability to move, since it is natural for us and minor active balance issues are easy to miss when you’re not looking for it. Sometimes it is the little things we do for ourselves that make a big difference in the things we put so much attention on. For example, while running or lunging, the better balance control you have while moving, the less energy you use while remaining safe, as an activity is done successfully. If your active balance were very bad, it would take an excessive amount of energy to move well, assuming you can do it all and safely.

In movement, and especially exercise, active balance is king. Without it being best and first in priority, any movement would be a mess which may result in failure to perform a skill or sport properly, leading to various injuries, particularly at the joints.

Try the 3 Point Balance drill in your training. If you can not do it well right away, then clearly, you need it! Become an expert in this simple exercise before you load your body and legs with weight. After all, if you can not perform well with nothing, how you can be better with something? Consider this: do not load the body (with weight) until you can move the body (with nothing but your own bodyweight). The 3 Point Balance drill is just what most of us need, and didn’t know it….until now!

Instructions:

1) Watch the entire video before attempting (see link below). Understand what is going on and what needs to be done. It is deceptively simple in appearance! Wait until you see what you can and can not do!

2) Perform level 1 while staying very close to a safe and secure object (such as a fence, pole, wall, or tree) just in case you need to hang on to prevent yourself from falling. Use it only when you need it. If you use it all the time, you will earn few, if any, benefits.

3) The overall goal is to able to perform each level successfully for a minimum of 30 seconds, and ideally for one full minute, with calm and consistent control before moving onto the next level. Do not move on to the next level until you are good at the one you are not good at! Each level builds on the previous level.

4) Relax and take time to do the 3 point Balance drill. This exercise creates and refines and sophisticates movement skill, nurtures joints, and improves balance. For some, it will build up some strength and endurance as well. This is not intended to be a ‘hard’ exercise. Instead, it is more of a ‘movement challenge’. Training with this exercise is playful in nature, therefore, the calmer you are, and the more you pay attention to the feeling of the exercise, the better you will be sooner!

Try this exercise almost every day, working the level you need to improve upon, either before you start training or playing tennis. Do not attempt afterwards as being fatigued or simply being very active beforehand will reduce the success rate of performing this exercise well.

Good luck in your training! Look out for more tips and ideas from Tony Babarino in the next Spearman Clubs newsletter!

Tony Babarino is a Professional Personal Training, Joint Mobility Expert, Kettlebell Coach, and a Tennis/Golf Fitness Pro. He has 25 years experience in training and education in the fitness industry. He can be reached at tony@enhancedhuman.com or 949-633-6741.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7KbRIMWGAk