In the past few weeks I’ve participated in a couple of personal trainer led group workouts in Vancouver. One workout in particular was a bit of a disaster, with a variety of very pointless (and in one case dangerous) exercises.
By far the most pointless exercise in the workout was a resistance band lateral raise (nothing wrong with that) while standing on a balance board (there’s the problem).
If you’ve never exercised on a balance board before, then congratulations, you’ve managed to avoid one of the most pointless pieces of exercise equipment ever created.
I knew the balance board exercise was going to be a complete waste of time when the trainer couldn’t even demonstrate the exercise properly. She got on the balance board and tried in vain to balance on it while demonstrating a lateral raise. Painful to watch.
You know you’re being asked to perform a goofy exercise when it’s so off the wall that your trainer can’t even demonstrate it properly.
Unless you’re a professional log roller, tightrope walker, or are training for a competition involving standing on a balance board, there’s absolutely no reason to use such a pointless piece of equipment during your workouts.
And if your personal trainer gets you standing on a balance board during your workout, it may be time to find a new (and competent) personal trainer.
Btw, the “dangerous” exercise I mentioned earlier involved setting up three BOSU’s in a row and having people do tuck jumps from one BOSU to the next. Unbelievable.
Besides being completely pointless, that’s an ankle inversion sprain waiting to happen, with the very real possibility of much more serious injuries. There are truly some incompetent personal trainers out there. Beware.
Mike,
You don’t think improving balance, strengthening core, and posture is important? I have found that myself, using these boards with a partner, who is also on his own board, and playing tug-of -war has helped me immensely in these areas.
Your thoughts,
Wil
Hi Wil,
Yes, I think core strength and good posture are important, but those two things have absolutely nothing to do with balance boards.
If you want to build functional core strength, do static and dynamic planks, and compound exercises on a stable surface.
If you want to improve your posture, perform upper body postural and multi-joint exercises on a stable surface.
If you want to improve your balance, perform dynamic leg and total-body exercises that challenge your balance in a useful and functional way.
There’s absolutely no useful benefit to exercising on a balance board unless you’re training for some type of sport that is played on a balance board (I’m not aware of any such sports).