Balance

Did you know a squirrel uses its tail for balance?  I watched a squirrel scamper along a wire the other day.  It ran quickly along 100 feet of wire without a misstep.  The squirrels tail twitched back and forth keeping the squirrel in the center of the wire as it ran along 40 feet above the ground.  I know, I'm obsessing on squirrels.  Athletes need strength, endurance, flexibility and balance.  Balance is probably the skill we work on the least.

I often give a concussion test to the women at MBC.  The test is called the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS).  Every time I test an athlete she says, "My balance is terrible."  If an athlete knows this, why doesn't she do something about it.  Good balance can help you avoid injury.  How can one get the balance of the high wire squirrel?

You can do some very easy exercises to start.  Stand on your right foot for 15 seconds and then switch feet.  Do this for 3 or 4 minutes, switching feet every 15 seconds.  When you can accomplish this without losing your balance, extend the time to 30 seconds and then 1 minute on each leg.   When you can hold 1 minute on each leg for 10 minutes total you are ready to try some thing harder.  Go back to the 15 second exercise, only this time do the exercise with your eyes closed.  Taking away your visual cues will make you rely on your nervous system.  Input from you nerves to your brain and your brain to your muscles is the only balancing mechanism.  This is difficult, but you will get better with practice.

If you don't have much time, try this little exercise while brushing your teeth.  Stand on your left foot and brush your uppers.  Stand on your right foot to brush your lowers.  The simple movement of brushing will throw off your balance.  Please be sure you are standing close to the sink so that if you do lose your balance you can grab on to something.  I don't want you to end up on the floor with a toothbrush coming out the back of your skull.

If you have been to the PAC, you may have seen those blue dome looking things in the dance studio or in the weight room.  The blue dome looking things are BOSUs.  BOSU stands for BOth Sides Up.  You can perform the exercises above on the BOSU. (Please don't brush your teeth on the BOSU).  The BOSU adds a little more instability to the exercise.  If you are working out in the PAC, stand on the BOSU while you do shoulder exercises with dumbbells.  Again be safe.  Until you get the hang of the BOSU stand inside the squat rack so you can grab onto something if you lose your balance.

Squirrels also use their tails as a parachute.  They can survive a fall of up to 100 feet by using their bushy tail.  If you fall your tail may still save you, but it's going to hurt.  March on squirrels.