Balance in Baseball

StrongBoard Balance Board Baseball

The baseball season is now underway, and now is a great time to highlight how StrongBoard and baseball go together. Balance, coordination, and core stability are vital to success in baseball.

Balance affects fielding, hitting, and base running. Practice swinging the bat while on StrongBoard, and becoming as balanced as you can before swinging. The squat is a great exercise to do on StrongBoard to improve balance while fielding the ball, as players are moving toward the ball, then have to stop, find balance, and make an accurate throw to first base. You can also throw to a friend while on StrongBoard, trying to maintain balance and effectively move your energy in the right direction. For base running, try transferring all your energy from one leg to the other, as base stealers do when they begin taking off toward second base. Doing all these exercises will assist in strengthening your core.

Doing exercises which strength the core (which StrongBoard does constantly) will go a long way in core stabilization. Core muscles assist in spine stabilization, which supports better balance and improved overall performance. Trying to balance on StrongBoard will improve your coordination on the field, as it takes a greater effort to stay coordinated on StrongBoard.

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A Well Balanced Life: Change the way you think about exercise

StrongBoard-Balance-Board-Workout-Hacks
Make Your StrongBoard Workout Rewarding With These Tricks!

Cornell University recently released a study that examined the post-exercise behaviors of people based on their beliefs about their workout. Study participants were instructed to take a walk- some “for fun” with music and some “to work out”. After the walk both groups were put in a room with snacks provided by the study. The study concluded that people who believed that they had just “had a hard workout” consumed more snack foods provided by the study than those who “had had a fun walk”. Researchers believed this points out a key element of failure of weight loss from exercise- those who believe that they had just worked out would compensate by consuming more junk, sweet foods. The study concluded that the exercise group felt that because they had just “worked out hard” they deserved a reward for their effort, even though they had most likely created the same calorie burn as those doing it “for fun”.

What can we take away from this study?

Well, now that it’s New Year’s Resolution time- we don’t want to overcompensate our efforts in the gym, especially when we are doing new things that make us sore! Find the FUN in your workout. Here are some mental hacks to increase the likelihood of your success in 2015:

1) Make it a Date

Spend time with your honey or friends in the gym. You’ll get quality time with the people you love and you will likely look forward to having time with them instead of dreading the gym.

2) Do Something FUN

Find something you love that moves you! Take walks, hike, ski, swim, dance, sign up for an after-work sport with your coworkers.

3) Trick Yourself

Don’t want to go for a “hard run”? Go for “an easy jog”. Avoiding Hot Yoga? Tell yourself you’re going only for savasana! Too exhausted to “max out” on the weights? Tell yourself you’re going to pick stuff up and put it down. Most likely, once you get started, you’ll start enjoying yourself and be glad you did it, and you’ll be thoroughly convinced you don’t deserve a treat after.

Consider classes like Zumba or StrongBoard Burn!. They both have the same cardiovascular benefits of running, cycling, and interval training, but they seem easier. You can easily tell yourself, I’m going to dance around or jump on a trampoline for an hour versus; I have to run on the treadmill for an hour. Which do you think is going to get you in the gym when you’re exhausted from a long day? So when you’re feeling sluggish, stressed out, or just plumb lazy, try changing the way you think about your workout. It will 1) make you more likely to do it, 2) be more enjoyable, 3) leave you less likely to reach for a donut for “working so hard” and 4) bring you back!

Stay balanced.

 

For more details on this study, please visit:

http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/blog/exercise-or-have-fun/

How Balance Can Take Your Game to the Next Level

StrongBoard Balance Board BaseballBalance is something we all take for granted, until we lose it. Then we find ourselves on the ground with scraped knees and bruised egos, and we realize balance is an integral aspect of our daily lives. Balance is also integral to the sports we play, and improving your balance can help you take your game to the next level.

The following is a list of some of the most popular sports and ways balance plays a role in each:

Baseball – Hitting a baseball is all about balance. There’s primarily two different times when balance comes into play during an at-bat. The first is when you take your stance. Having good balance allows you to move in all directions while keeping your feet in place and staying steady. The second time balance comes into play is after the swing when the body needs to remain upright and steady during the follow-through. A lack of balance in any direction directly impacts your power, ability to make contact, direction of the ball, and speed down the first base line.

Soccer – You’re never standing on both feet at the same time when you run, and soccer is a game of running. Balance is pivotal to being able to quickly change directions when running, whether you juke left or right. Players with good balance can fake out defenders and recover quickly when someone tries to put a move on them. Those without good balance are left on the grass.

Football – Throwing a football requires similar balance to hitting a baseball (mentioned above), however, unlike hitting, football quarterbacks are rarely standing still when they pass. The motion has to be accomplished on the run from some very large people trying to tackle you, and the slightest bit of imbalance can mean the difference between a completion and an interception. It can also mean a major injury when the big guys finally make contact.

When playing any sport, the athletes who are able to move about the field and perform the mechanics needed for the task at hand with the least amount of unnecessary movements are going to rise above the rest. Fluidity comes from balance, while a lack of balance creates the need for additional effort, exhaustion, and a breakdown of form.

While you may not always be aware of the need for balance, it requires just as much attention and conditioning as any other aspect of your game in order to succeed.