Updated September 12, 2014.

Athletes generally have better balance than the non-athletes, but even a skilled athlete can fine-tune both stability and agility, improve sports performance, and reduce the risk of getting injured by practicing increasingly challenging specific balance exercises.

Balance Testing

Before beginning balance training, it’s helpful to do a quick test to check your current proficiency. This simple test can help you determine your risk for ankle sprains and give you a benchmark of your overall balance.

To pass the test, you should be able to balance on each leg, unassisted, with your eyes closed for a minimum of 10 seconds. 

Building Dynamic Balance

When it comes to improving balance, using dynamic movements is ideal. Most sports require both dynamic balance and agility, so practicing static balance positions, while helpful, isn’t as useful as practicing dynamic balance exercises.

A basic exercise to build dynamic balance is to stand on one leg while moving the body and the raised leg through a variety of changes in position. You can do mini squats, leg circles, or reaching and twisting from the torso and arms.

Another simple way to challenge dynamic balance is to stand heel to toe and continue to make the same shifts in body position as mentioned above. Lean forward and back and side to side while maintaining your center of gravity. Notice how it feels to have more body weight on the heels, the balls of the feet, the toes, and the inside and outside edge of each foot.

Proprioception

Balance can be built by training proprioception—the ability to sense where your body is in space.

One leg standing with the eyes closed is great to get an understanding of how proprioception feels. Moving your arms around without looking at them can also give you an idea of how to pay attention to your body in space. Gymnasts and aerial acrobats tend to have excellent proprioception, and this shows up in their seemingly innate ability to jump, spin, twist and flip and still land solidly on their feet.

Agility Drills

Balance is also a major factor in agility—the ability to change body position and direction quickly while in motion. Agility is required in many field and court sports, as well as any time an athlete needs to pivot, start and stop, or land a jump. Agility is often sport-specific, and determined by a fine mix of an athlete’s power, speed, coordination, balance and sports skill.

To begin practicing simple balance exercises, an athlete can assume a static balance position—standing on one foot—and begin to slowly make slight shifts in body position and the position of the raised leg. The shifts should move through all directions and including forward, back, side to side and up and down.

Improving balance requires continued progression and adding new, more challenging exercises. Increasing the time, the movement pattern and doing the exercises with the eyes closed or arms crossed and held tightly to the body is another way to add intensity.

Progressive Balance Training Exercises

 

Basic Balance Exercises
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1. Feet together – Body position shifts. This beginner balance exercise is good for those with poor balance or those recovering from lower body injuries. Simply stand firm with feet together and shift your bodyweight forward and back and side to side. Feel the weight move to different parts of your foot from the inside, outside, toes and heels. Perform 30-60 seconds
2. One-leg balance. Stand on one leg for 30 seconds. Switch to the other leg.
3. One-leg balance with eyes closed. Stand on e leg and close your eyes. Try to hold it for 20-30 seconds at a time. If you have any risk of falling or dizziness, stand near a tabletop or counter with your arms in position to catch you should you start to fall.
    

Dynamic Balance Exercises
 

1. One leg squat and reach. Build dynamic balance and core and glute strength with this basic exercise.
2. Heel-to-toe balance. Stand with one foot directly in front of the other (heel to toe). Challenge your balance by moving your body and center of gravity forward and back and side to side. Practice with each foot in the forward position for 30-60 seconds at a time.
3. Eyes closed. Perform any of the above dynamic balance exercise with eyes closed. Be mindful of your surroundings to avoid falling.
4. Arms crossed. Perform either static or dynamic balance exercises
5. Agility Drills
   1. ?Plyometric Jumping
   2. Shuttle Runs
   3. Rebounding/Tuck Jumps
6. Slackline Training - The king of all balance, agility and proprioception activates could just be slacklining. This sport is more than a simple training exercise. For those who are proficient, slacklining can even be a spiritual experience of letting go and trusting the line. Balancing on a two inch wide and twenty some foot long piece of stretched webbing is one thing, but professional slackliners perform wild, dynamic maneuvers including twists, flips and full body rebounding.
7. Yoga – Many athletes practice yoga simply because it build so many essential athletic skills: strength, balance, flexibility, deep breathing, relaxation and mindfulness. There are a variety of styles and types of yoga, so anyone interested in starting a yoga practice may want to sample a variety of classes to see which ones fit best with your overall training routine and help build the areas of fitness you most want to strengthen.
8. Tai Chi – Originally developed as a martial art, Tai Chi is being used more frequently as a flowing, moving, meditation. The practice has been linked to improved coordination, balance, flexibility, ease of movement as well as improved ability to cope with stress and reduce anxiety.