How To Manipulate These 3 Variables To Challenge Your Stability
Stability, it’s a pretty trendy term in the fitness world, especially when you through the work “core” in front of it. But did you know that stability is more than just core related. In fact you need to develop stability at all your joints in order to perform at your best.
Think about when you are riding on a wave or some fresh powder. From the ground up you need to be stable at your ankles, knees, hips and core. When you are paddling for a wave you need shoulder stability for paddle efficiency and if you crash land a jump when snowboarding or skiing you need stability at your should joint to preventing impact injuries.
So when it comes to your workouts, what training variables can be manipulated to enhance your stability?
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1. Base of Support
By decreasing your base of support during an exercise you are making things more unstable and hence forcing your body to compensate by working harder to stabilize. For standing exercises (eg dumbbell shoulder press) the easiest way to achieve this is to stand on one leg instead of two. Sometimes it might even be enough to move your legs closer together (for example in a swiss ball pushup) to increase the stability challenge.
For exercises where your arms form a base of support (eg front plank), you can decrease your base of support by raising one arm off the ground.
Unstable Surface Training – The other way to manipulate your base of support is through the use of unstable surfaces. By performing exercises on equipment like a swiss ball, balance board or suspension trainer you can increase the degree of instability and train your joints to stabilize more effectively.
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2. Vision
Your vision can also be used to your advantage when training stability. I’m sure you have come across times when surfing and your vision is not optimal (such as a barrel crashing over your head) or when you are snowboarding or skiing during a whiteout and can’t see properly. Well either way you need to maintain your stability during these situations. And you can train this the same way.
Close your eyes – Performing an exercise with your eyes closed is a guaranteed way to increase the challenge and improve your stability. Stand up and have a go at performing a single leg squat with your eyes closed.
Looking up – This is another cool way to manipulate your stability. Stand on one leg then look up at the ceiling and notice how your ankle and knee will start to move around a bit. You can try this from time to time with other exercise for an extra stability challenge.
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3. Movement Complexity
By increasing the movement complexity of an exercise we can also challenge stability. For example a 180 degree jump squat has a greater movement complexity than a regular jump squat and therefore you will need a greater amount of stability to land correctly and stabilize.
This can also apply to manipulating your centre of mass (or centre of gravity). For example if you perform a split squat and simultaneously lift a dumbbell up and across your body this will change your centre of mass throughout the exercise and cause your body to work harder to keep stable.
Once you are comfortable with an exercise, you can always look for new ways to add to the complexity and therefore increase the stability demands on your body.
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Hopefully you can see how these 3 variables can be manipulated to train your total body stability.
By incorporating more instability into your surf and snow workouts you can be sure that your joints will become more stable and and your performance will improve.
If you want step-by-step workouts that take the guess work out and are guaranteed to improve your stability, download them here.
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Cheers,
Clayton
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Want more functional exercises that can help you build a strong and stable body that is ready for surf or snow action all year round?
Check out the functional fitness training programs below…
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Total Surfing Fitness
12 week surf fitness training program guaranteed to help you catch more waves and surf at your best.
Learn more at www.totalsurfingfitness.com
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Total Snowboarding Fitness
Our fitness training plan for snowboarders which will help you shred harder all over the mountain this season!
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Total Skiing Fitness 2.0
Functional fitness training for skiiers which will help you build a strong skiers body so you can ski hard through the fresh powder this winter.
Learn more at www.totalskiingfitness.com
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Total Windsurfing Fitness
Our program for windsurfers program designed to build total body strength, stabililty, balance and endurance so you can take your sailing to the next level.
Learn more at www.totalwindsurfingfitness.com