Thread: Balance issue

A skateboard! Ok ok, seriously, what type of balance issues are you talking about?

Single leg ATG squats will improve the stabilizer muscles if you work them right.

Slowly work a routine consisting of a single front kick, followed by a side kick, and then a rear (AKA a donkey kick) consecutively without returning your foot to the floor between kicks ... rinse & repeat. Hold something with the opposing hand only if you have to with the eventual goal of never holding onto anything. If you have a karate friend then have him/her show you the proper way to perform each kick. You do not need to kick at head level. Start out just kicking knee high, then work your way up as you gain progress.

Unless you have a genetic predisposition to irreparably poor balance, and some people do, this kick routine works. I've personally seen it used hundreds of times to improve kicking ability and balance. If you combine this routine with a solid leg stretching program you might just become a serious head kicking badass.

Regardless of how you do it, good luck to you!!

Here's a Kung-fu clip on balance improvement.

Single leg ATG squats will help improve the stabilizer muscles a good bit.

Slowly work a routine consisting of a single front kick, followed by a side kick, and then a rear (AKA a donkey kick) consecutively without returning your foot to the floor between kicks ... rinse & repeat. Hold something with the opposing hand only if you have to with the eventual goal of never holding onto anything. If you have a karate friend then have him/her show you the proper way to perform each kick. You do not need to kick at head level. Start out just kicking knee high, then work your way up as you gain progress.

Unless you have a genetic predisposition to irreparably poor balance, and some people do, this works. I've personally seen this used hundreds of times to improve kicking ability and balance. If you combine this routine with a solid leg stretching program you might just become a serious head kicking badass.

Regardless of how you do it, good luck to you!!

Here's a Kung-fu clip on balance improvement.

why do you have a balance problem and how did it develop?

is this a problem coming back from an injury (ankle issue, hip issue, etc)?

is this a problem due to a spinal cord injury or innner ear issue?

Or do you just feel unstable on one leg?



I start with basic single leg standing for time (stork stands). Then progress to closed eyes. THen to single leg excursion exercises and some single leg arm reaches to work on the ankle stability.

split squats are always great to start. you can progress then to split squats with the back leg elevated, then begin working on 1-leg squats...somewhere between the last two i also use walking lunges and step ups. Once split squats are learned, I begin teaching side split squats and transverse split squats as part of the warm up (prior to that, when split squats are primary exercise, we use bilateral squat patterns in the warm up to teach that) and then progress that to the full out lunge matrix.