Balance is a skill that is often touched upon here but only because it is so often overlooked as a component of training. There are three ways to make any exercise more difficult: more weight, more speed or less stability. One of the easiest and most functional methods of decreasing stability (without the use of pads, pillows, rollers, etc.) is simply to do exercises standing on one foot.

Check out any action shot anywhere. Most of the time, in motion, we are constantly on one foot or the other but rarely both at the same time. The ability to stabilize on one leg not only reduces the risk of injury but allows us to be more efficient at movement by decreasing the amount of energy being expended stabilizing the joints on every step.

Take a minute to simply stand on one foot. Bend your knee to about a quarter squat. Are you shaking at all at the ankle, knee or hip (or all of the above)? If you are, that means that on every step when you walk, run, shuffle, cut, etc., your joints wobble. You are probably completely unaware that this is happening because it happens so fast. What that means in practical terms is that not only are you wasting energy stabilizing but also your leg never truly locks out to apply force into the ground, thereby making you run slower. It also makes you more prone to injury, especially catastrophic ones such as ACL tears. This is because in the time it takes the muscle on one side of the joint to take over from the one letting go, there is a fraction of a second when nothing is holding it in place. It is in this time that those injuries occur.

Jaime Gamache M.Ed., CSCS, is Owner and Head Strength Coach of The Way Human Performance Institute ( www.thewayhpi.com and www.facebook.com/pages/The-Way-Human-Performance-Institute/11774282495465 ) Any questions or requests for future topics, please email jgamache@thewayhpi.com