Table of Contents:
How to Use a Balance Disc
Video taken from the channel: DietHealth
How to Use a Balance Disc for Core Exercises
Video taken from the channel: Vive Health
7 Balance Board Exercises Full Body Workout | Renewal Fitness Coaching
Video taken from the channel: Holly Soto
3 Crucial Stability Disc Exercises
Video taken from the channel: Dalton Brewster
TOP 10 Wobble Board Exercises for Balance & Strength
Video taken from the channel: Criticalbench
Balancing Disc Exercises: Personal Fitness & Health
Video taken from the channel: eHowFitness
Feet and Ankle Strengthening Exercises: Running High Volume and Staying Healthy
Video taken from the channel: Seth James DeMoor
Pushups: With both hands on the balance disk (or on two separate disks), perform pushups with good form. Crunches: Sit with the cushion under your buttocks and lower back, knees bent with feet on the floor. Lower your torso to the floor. Contract your abdominal muscles and bring your torso up towards your knees.Kneeling Rotations Kneel on balance disc with upper body straight (forming a 90 degree angle at the knees), toes lightly touching the floor.
Keeping your body tall and chest lifted, cross your arms in front of your chest. Rotate your torso and.Sitting on the balance disc creates active and dynamic sitting. Place the disc directly onto the chair, this provides a less stable sitting surface, which means that the body has to make continuous small movements to correct balance.
These movements strengthen the deep core stability muscles which provide postural support to the body.Put the disc on a chair or flat sitting area, and sit on it. For some people, you might have to use your hands for balance or even have someone help steady you. It is almost like a modified version of sitting on a swiss/stability ball.
Once you sit on it, you can shift back and forth side to side.Beginners are encouraged to do sitting exercises using the balance disc. You can eventually come up with several ways on how to use the balance disc while sitting on it.
Even when you are not literally exercising, you can still sit on the balance disc. You can place it on your chair, you can stand on it, even kneel.Balance Disc Crunches.
Sit on the balance disc keeping your feet off the ground and using your hands as needed for stabilization. Lean back as far as possible while extending your legs at the same time. Once the body is extended, bend your knees and waist bringing your knees into your chest.Level 1: Lie on your back with knees bent and set your feet on top of the balance disc (or use two, one under each foot) so heels are underneath knees.
Extend arms out at your sides, resting on the floor. Press up through your heels and raise hips.Sit on the floor sideways with one hand centered on the disc. Engage your core muscles, lift your hip off the floor and raise the opposite arm above you. Hold position as long as you can, then repeat with opposite side.
Lay face down with both feet centered on the disc.How to sit on a wobble cushion. Intermittently. Not constantly.
At first, most people want to sit on their new wobble cushion all day long, but the proper usage of this tool is intermittent: use it for about half an hour at a time, put it aside for a while, and then put it back on the chair.Put the disc on a chair or flat sitting area, and sit on it. For some people, you might have to use your hands for balance or even have someone help steady you. It is almost like a modified version.Balance Disc Crunches.
This is an exercise which can be performed sitting on top of your balance disc, just ensure the surface is large enough to support you comfortably. While sitting on the balance disc raise your feet off the ground only using your hands for support if needed.If you get really good at this, buy a balance disk and practice on that. Chair squats: Use a chair and practice getting up from a sitting position, 20 times with no hands. Squats help strengthen.
To target your abs more specifically, you can do scissors. Start by sitting on the disc with your feet off the floor and legs straight. Use your hands to stabilize yourself if necessary. Slowly raise one leg 6-12 inches, then switch.
The most useful and effective way to use a stability disc for improving core strength and straightening less than perfect posture, is to sit on the cushion for short periods and often during the day. Yes, it is possible to slouch, so it is important to be aware to maintain.Work your abs from the chair of your choice with a posture-improving inflatable Balance Disc.
The Balance Disc engages your core muscles while sitting and can also be used.
List of related literature:
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from Meditation For Dummies® |
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from Yoga for Warriors: Basic Training in Strength, Resilience, and Peace of Mind |
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from Pilates Anatomy |
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from Glute Lab: The Art and Science of Strength and Physique Training |
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from Dance Teaching Methods and Curriculum Design |
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from Respiratory Muscle Training E-Book: Theory and Practice |
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from Meditation As Medicine: Activate the Power of Your Natural Healing Force |
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from Interpersonal Relationships E-Book: Professional Communication Skills for Nurses |
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from Test Success: Test-Taking Techniques for Beginning Nursing Students |
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from Yoga and Scoliosis: A Journey to Health and Healing |
119 comments
Power Systems balance Stability Disc for ankle strength: https://amzn.to/2ZWCDzd
Nice video. I purchased a stability disc like 2 months ago. Most of my ankle problems disappeared after just some weeks of regular training with it. Can only recommend people to start using it.
I’ve played football my whole and all I can say is that the injury’s I’ve endured from running are a lot more frustrating.
QD: I rolled my ankle badly when i was running last winter in the dark. I was going probably too fast given the conditions. I didn’t see the uneven surface of the pavement and rolled my ankle and tore my ligaments. Cast for two weeks and total of 2 months recovery, which I felt was very fast.
Done this training today. Really helpful for the ankles. Thank you very much! Regards from Germany and keep going!:-)
Strengthens and stabilizes muscles in ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders.
DEVELOPS BALANCE AND JOINT STABILIZATION
Place on a chair for sitting to improve body alignment.
Order yours at https://amazintrends.com/products/balance-disc-pillow
My stability disc just arrived yesterday, and today this vid is available. The world works in mysterious ways
As an Ankle rolling enthusiast… trail conditions when you are near the end of a tired long-run are critical. Look out for roots/rocks of course, but don’t forget about my nemesis… the lowly acorn.
This is good-what I did while living in Portland, Oregon is even better.
I ran 7 miles barefoot in a rough grass field every morning-then 5 more quick & slightly uphill on the treadmill @ night.
I won SO many races doing this & a ton of 4:39– 4:55 mile repeats in spikes.
I credit foot strength for the success.
When I did the wall sit it slide under me and almost busted my ass
An ankle injury and stress fracture caused me to quit D1 running(I transferred to this school) after being injured for 7 months and the negligence of a training staff at a smaller D1 school
Seth, do you follow Vlad Ixel? His Instagram feed is full of running exercises with many focusing on ankle and hip stability, uses a lot bosu balls and resistance bands. Check him out, I like following along to them when I can:
https://www.instagram.com/vladixel/
Rolled my ankle a few times over the last 30 years. All were minor and I did not even have to stop running. Therefore no injury at all. I must have ankles of steel I guess.
Hi Coach Chris, great video with good exercises, thank you!
We designed a new 7-in-1 adjustable balance board called the Balance Surfer that can be adjusted from Easy to Extra Challenging, it also has a wider ergonomic deck that makes it easier to do exercises with a wider stance. Are you interested in trying it out? I would like to send you a sample. This is a video that shows how it works, thank you for your time:
https://youtu.be/kY_GqRT3co0
Had bad PF in right foot in late 2015. Kept running hard and tore the plantar fascia in March 2016. Very painful. Took until Nov 2017 to fully recover and run another marathon. On Dec 1, 2017 on first long run after marathon, I grabbed for some GU and hit some leaves on street full speed. Leaves covered 6 inch deep pot hole. Rolled the left ankle, heard the three snaps and got 3 severe grade 2 sprains. No surgery, but another two years of PT and slow recovery to get back to marathons. Just completed first marathon back two weeks ago. The things we do for the sport we love. Running for 37 years.
These are great exercises! I actually just purchased a wobble board just like that one. I have to say I love this channel! However in this particular video I’m curious to know what the background music is for these two different songs or who the artist is rather? If I could request in the future videos If you folks could please label the artist and name of the song track down below please and thank you
jump rope routines have really helped me with ankle strength and getting more power in the mid-foot push off.
I have just bought one and pumped it up a little with the pump provided.. I would like to let a little air out. Is that possible?
Hey Seth have you ever heard of Jay Dicharry’s Mobo Disk, it’s made from plywood and because of its design it offers superior propreoception and improves strength and mobility of big toes
How to avoid stress fractures when you have a very low body fat %?
One more good thing to use it is to have one in the class room for the floor and just sit on it
People watch this video to get a 1 minute tip of something you can Google? This guy’s no expert. Come on.
Weird question but how long should I leave the tea bag in? I’ve never made it before and I bought some of the stuff you drink yesterday.
I’ve rolled my ankles several times and it sucks! Once during my sophomore year of CC and I missed a month of the season. Another time I went on a trail run about 4 days before a road half marathon and rolled my ankle! Ugh, that was demoralizing. So now I have a new rule: No trail runs the week of a race (unless it’s like a local 5k or 10k that I don’t really care if I miss).
Could you please change the blue intro so it flickers slower or something? hurts my eyes everytime:(
QD: rolled ankle in 2017 and ended up having an avulsion fracture of the medial maleolus. I had to go non weight bearing for 8 weeks and was around 6 months before I was able to run again.
Nota bene on no. 4don’t forget to keep your toes parallel when abducting the leg to the side, this will ensure you’re activating glute med and not your TFL! Good stuff ankle man!
zoomI asked santa for stability disc. Wife says I am on the naughty list.
For those looking for stability disc in Europe: https://www.promobutler.be/nl/huishouden/linnen/balanceboard-of-kussen-4671477?fbclid=IwAR2bbXKRD0T-RUiPrmGV1jVz7ZWqm6MEQWDaN9jZROKyW-t-rqt6osfn6z8
Aldi has them on sale during certain periods, very cheap. Keep an eye on them!
I rolled my ankle pretty bad when I was 17 in a volleyball game. Ended up in an open plaster. Went to the physio afterwards, he removed the open plaster immediatly:-). That was the day I learned that as long as nothing is broken the quickest way to recovery is controlled excercise and NOT immobility. I actually do the jump and move into a single leg squat. Part of my warm-up in the morning:-).
Great video but please choose better music for your next video.
You may not need the disc. You can stand on your leg( single leg) with eyes closed and try to maintain balance. Thats it
You should looking for Unflexal if you’d like to get best workouts guide.
I’m recovering from an achilles injury at the moment. I will definitely try out some of these work outs to prevent this injury from occurring again.Thanks Seth!
I have been using a board for the past two years, I see now i have been using the board upside down, Thank you for showing me the correct way to use it.
Man just got my Carbon X’s and was pumped to get out there yesterday and do some 800s to break em in and right before my first interval I rolled my ankle real good. Ended up going through with the workout mostly pain free but paying for it now with a big swollen ankle. Ankle sprains are the most frustrating injury because it could seemingly have been avoided at the time. ♂️
QD: I’ve rolled my ankle but nothing serious (knock on wood). Injury prevention is on my mind every day. I had a serious injury that put me out 6 months last year. Never want that to happen again. Have a good weekend Seth!
QoD: Fortunately never rolled my ankle. But struggling with ankle pain reaching up on both lateral and medial sides… definitely plan to get a stability disk in the near future.
you can build up to the Blind exercise without a disc in fact I would recommend it for beginners.
rolled my ankle and tore the ligaments in my foot a few weeks back, the first thing I did was get a stability disc! Crucial for coming back from injuries. Keep educating us Seth!
Yay, 27th!!! Maybe I’m first on the west coast! Lol. QOD: haven’t rolled ankles too badly while on the run. Though while running on grass (crabgrass!) during a recovery jog I did roll my injured foot a little and then as I tried to catch myself rolled the other ankle! Again not too bad. Just embarrassing since I was running around a full soccer field on a Saturday morning and probably looked like I was dancing badly….
Grade 3 ankle sprain last Christmas. Still cant run. Take care of your ankles fellow runners!!!
what do you think of rope-skipping for strengthening your feet?
Excellent video! Love seeing what strength and mobility exercises you are doing.
I thought this thing was kind of useless. Now i see that it is very versatile. Thank you!
QD: uhmm I never rolled my ankle ever since maybe that’s why my ankle prone to injury
I just got the urbnfit disc today. I was in a car crash and broke 18 bones on my left including having 6 screws in my back. I hope you will show how to use this for people who are recovering from surgery or whatever. I can stand on it with 2 and one foot with the help of a chair, what next? Cannot get on the floor or will not get up so easily.
Seth, I just have to add here… I bought the stability disk from your link maybe a month ago. And in addition to feet and ankles, this is really great for hip strengthening. I’ve had issues with my IT band in the past due to weakness in hips and lack of glute activation. While I balancing on this disk, I immediately feel those areas getting a workout! It’s amazing!
After destroying my ankles in the military, this video is clutch!
If you don’t have the disc, try tip toeing on one leg with a bent knee ( imagine tiptoeing halfway down a shotgun squat).
Have you ever suffered with Shin Splints? Any tips on recovery?
I do lunges on mine…will practice doing squats and the hip raises ok mine
My calf/Achilles strain has had me not running for 4 days now! Praying it gets better! I will soon invest in a stability disc!
I had to stop watching the video because of the very annoying and distracting innane ‘music’ background noise.
As a note 15 miles is closer to 24km and not 29km. Love the videos.
Might be obvious but, I think running trails strengthen your feet and ankles quite a bit but you could obviously roll an ankle easier on trails as well lol.
I love this product.
Also try with less or more pressure plus with or without shoes.
Huge difference!
I really like this video about BALANCE BOARD, here guy learned to balance board from absolute beginner, next after some hours of training he can do interesting tricks on it! https://youtu.be/GjNPdHQoJGs
FYI: Amazon has other stability discs that are cheaper, include a pump, and have much better reviews.
Love this video, you’re a great teacher . I’m putting this disc on my Christmas wish list. I’ve had particular trouble with bobbling ankles on trails lately with one particularly scary instance. Would love to have something available at home to do work on this daily since I only get to the gym about twice a week. Thanks again for all your great content!
Appreciate when americans give the stats also in kilometers and grams. Think globally
This came at the PERFECT time! Having some stability issues that caused me to slightly roll my ankle, pulling my posterior tib tendon. Love the videos by the way, albeit I may not comment on social media things often. Been watching for about a year now!
Just purchased my first wobble/balance board. Excited to start using it!
QD: Rolled an ankle playing soccer in college on a very hard and dry field. No fun.
I read an article that talked about running injuries. They said for longer distances runners, most of the injuries were lower leg injuries. Similar to your, and I’m sure others, experiences.
I was running a warming up before the 1600 at regionals and accidentally stepped off the track and my ankle touched the ground. Ran a terrible race but I healed pretty quickly
Perfect timing on this video. Having some foot issues so ordered the disc.
Great video as always.
I’m going to purchase a disc. I want to start doing strength and stability exercises on my rest days. How often do you those exercises?
Just got my disc yesterday.. it’s June 2, 2020… Came back to watch this video again
QD: I rolled my ankle about 5 weeks before my marathon last year. I was just doing a long training on the trains and just lost concentration and took a wrong step. Took a couple months for it to finally go away 100%.
How often do you wear compression socks and I bought the unived one after your suggestion which seems a bit harsh
I’ve had issues with calf strains and the rare rolled ankle, and my PT suggests a lot of this comes from having relative weakness in glutes, hamstrings and quads, forcing extra work down the chain. I heard this logic repeated re Steph Curry (NBA player) who came in to league and had terrible ankle problems which he has addressed with upper leg and core strength work (in addition to lower leg work). Great video today Seth, keep it up.
Very helpful Seth! The first thing to complain on my long trail runs? Lungs? No. Quads? No. Feet? All the time.
QOD: Rolled my ankle 2 weeks back. Have been out of running for the ankle to heal.
QD: I grew up and ran xc in upstate New York OF COURSE I’ve rolled my ankles tons of times running super technical trails in high school Never appreciate groomed single tracks until I moved back to NY from California. Also lived in Lone Tree for awhile and loved running around the Denver area! Hope you’re having a great day man!
Awesome Vlog Seth, I always enjoy you sharing your exercise & training tips
on how to improve as a Runner… keep them coming!! QD: When I played
basketball i use to roll my ankle from time to time. Would have been nice to have this stability disc.♂️
I actually rolled my ankle yesterday. I was getting out of the way of a car and the shoulder had a small drop off I didn’t see. My ankle rolled and I hit the pavement. It was scary at first but I popped up and kept running. It feels ok today.
Gonna try that moonlanding tonight maybe gonna hopefully not going to crash and burn
You have a bad habit of using the word “basically” a lot in your sentences.
I just think i got an ankel injury. Should i just don’t run until it’s gone? I thnik i happend because i went from around 20 km a week to 40 a week really fast
Hola Chris, podrías dar tus clases traducidas a español??!! Gracias!!!!
Turtle lady not fast enough again
I’m feeling like the disc under seth’s feet, turtle lady BLUE.
Nice! Could we get some tips on knee strengthening exercises next?
Very interesting band technique. I’ve not had my Balance board long. Still trying to master it. My 4yr old has fun with it too. Also have some Balance Pods that I’ve not gotten outta the box yet. I’m trying so hard to be motivated about fitness. Oh, an thanks for the towel tip. An isn’t it cheating to grab the board? An love helping my child grow. Thank you an God bless!
Nice job! I loved the creativity and the invitation for others to use their ideas. I actually build and sell 3 different types of balance boards, but I won’t spam you, just to say you inspired me to broaden my suggestions for a greater variety of exercises.
QD. I sprained my ankle last july on the second technical downhill of Dolomyths Run Sky-Italy. It was just 2 week before my family travel/holiday in USA and 1 month before Pikes Peak Marathon. I registered to the race in Colorado January 1st, as soon as they opened it and I couldn’t wait to run it .
Without the last 4 weeks training and with my left ankle still painful I ran and finished PPM. I didn’t care the pace and how fast or slow I was running but I enjoyed the race, course, mountains, runners and all that people cheering. Never give up!
I really like the squat lift very good for working on core stability! Thanks!
Thanks, Chris. This is a great way to get started and become used to the feel of the disc. It’s so important to get the basics down first, and go from there. Great job!
I’ve one stability disk like your’s, same color maybe not the same brand but it loses air when im on top of it doing my exercises. Some tips Seth?
I do the twist on mine! I also do semi squats (can’t go any lower), balance the board in all directions, use the board for pushups. Now I have a couple more to add to the routine.
Thanks for this I just got mine from amazon. It’s definitely going to help with my recovery
Hi Holly, great video, thank you for demonstrating the balance board exercises.
We designed a new 7-in-1 adjustable balance board called the Balance Surfer that can be adjusted from Easy to Extra Challenging. Are you interested in trying it out? I would like to send you a sample. This is a video that shows how it works, thank you for checking it out:
https://youtu.be/kY_GqRT3co0
How do these exercises benefit you in daily life? Will I be able to better maintain my balance when I get pushed or on an unstable surface or something?
Do you have a routine suitable for seniors who are unable to do the planking type thing due to damaged shoulders? Thank you
Rolled my ankle about 5 times last year. Worst time beeing after 5k at a 40k mountain race. Hurt like hell but the podium was possible so i just tried to run it of. Finished 3rd, but should have stopped. Good thing tho is that ive learned to recover fast from twisted ankles.:D
Dr Jay Dicharry was on Trail Runner Nation podcast ep442 a few weeks ago. They discussed these wobble discs. He says based on science and research they don’t improve foot strength and stability. What they actually do is train your body to compensate for your foot being unstable.
They also discussed upper body posture exercises to improve breathing efficiency. Some of those exercises might help with your arm carriage.
He also designed his own board that is supposed to build big toe strength and arch stability. It would be fun if you could get one to test for the vlog. https://www.moboboard.com/
Heyo Coach Chris!! Good vid, wait…there are more than 10 exercises?? Lol…I like wobble boards n upturned bosu…need to improve my balance and I enjoy the challenge…
Thank you for watching the CriticalBench YouTube channel. Please leave us some comments or questions regarding this video or any fitness & health topics, we are happy to engage with you!!
Hi Seth, sorry to be a pedant, but I think its important to note that when you are doing these exercises, strictly speaking you aren’t strengthening your ankle. The ankle is supported by ligaments, and these have a finite inherent strength that cannot be improved by exercise. With these exercise what you are doing is improving your proprioception, i.e. your bodies ability to understand its position in space. This does reduce your tendency to injury though. You can strengthen the small muscles in the foot, but once again I think that major benefits probably relate to improved proprioception. Anyway, great work, thanks for you videos.
I have a shorter leg, but not naturally, it is caused by scoliosis so will this exercises be helpful?
Ive been rolling my ankles a lot lately and my feet hurt a lot. I’m adding the foot log, stability disc, and trigger point roller to my amazon list!
I purchased two. Looks like you can do exercises with two stability discs.
I felt so anxious when you started doing the rows with the band lol
This is a whole lot easier on a carpet. Try this on a hardwood floor.
When you going to connect with Sage!!! Love eachother by hitting a training session together and encourage one another.
I attempted squatting on it, and shook like crazy more practice needed
anything for sprint swimmers by wobble board? mostly for core stabilization
I’ve already got a stability disk on my Christmas wish list. I’ve been using it at the gym, but I’d love to do it barefoot at home…NOT CHANCING THAT AT THE Y!!!
Thank you! My chiropractor showed only one move but told me I’d benefit from getting one. I appreciate your putting this together. Is there a part 2, which shows all the moves.
Just purchased one the other day! Appreciate the helpful exercises using the disc! Never thought about using it for the stretch!
After switching 95% of my 100K per week onto rough grass-I can say categorically-My whole body all 626 muscles ( 206 bones) is 15-20% stronger.Stability is an issue on every step of the 5,000 per X’s 12K.
This developes stability way beyond some gym gizmo disk.
is it best in barefeet as I see people at classes wearing training shoes
Rolling my left ankle seems to be just part of running for me. Well, trail running. The last time I rolled it bad enough to see a doctor was this time last year. I was running a trail race in the rain and managed to roll it 3 times! And stubbornly didn’t stop. It took weeks to recover fully from it. I’ve dabbled in some ankle strength work but this may be just what I need to really get focused! I just ordered the stability disc you linked to, thanks Seth!
I can’t even balance on one leg standing on the ground with my eyes closed. LOL. Nice video and examples
Now after finally having my stress fracture healed every time I run I still have ankle issues and my left foot lands fine and can bend but my right foot still has to land flat ish and causes me pain still
QD: Near the half way point at this year’s Chicago Marathon, there were two uniformed soldiers with automatic riffles standing on the curb. They looked a little out of place. The guy running in front of me was looking at them too. Just as I looked forward, I saw his foot go into a small, but deep, pothole and his ankle twisted pretty bad. He limped off to the side. I felt sorry for him since I’m sure he couldn’t finish the race.
Please hear this. Do you know what is causing your foot problems? cushioned, supportive shoes you wear. Leave these shoes. I’ve been running regularly for 1 year and I have a problem with my right foot since I started. Three weeks ago, I bought a $ 10 shoe and I found the problem. High heel and high cushioning. I’m not as experienced as you but believe me. I live in turkey. I just found the merrel here and I’m going to switch to it this week. I hope google translation has translated well.
Seems like a good piece of equipment. Need to try this workout.
I bet Sarah makes the best martini’s with all that shakin going on…
i have one, but i don’t think it’s inflated properly. i wonder how much air it’s supposed to have inside??