October 2009 Archives

This May interview with Eric Cressey on unstable-surface training (UST) planted the seed for this November article for Experience Life. The gist? If you have healthy ankles and you're still doing squats on wiggly surfaces such as wobble boards or BOSU balance trainers, you might be doing yourself a disservice.

"While there appear to be considerable injury rehabilitation and prevention benefits to UST for people dealing with existing neuromuscular shortcomings, there's little data available to support the assertion that UST can favorably impact a healthy, trained athlete's performance," says Eric Cressey, MA, CSCS, founder of Cressey Performance training center in Boston. In fact, Cressey says, doing UST can actually de-power healthy athletes.

So what can you do to improve your balance? Simply put, you need to challenge your stability while your lower body remains in contact with solid ground. This includes training techniques ranging from single-leg work and asymmetrical loading to applying destabilizing forces while attempting to remain stable.

Read the full article for exercise ideas.

(Photo credit: Kizzlexy.)

This video was forwarded to me by Sara Wiley, associate director of strength and conditioning at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She's the smartest. If you have a spare hour and twenty, you really must check it out.

Eat this. Be happy.

View recipe at Serious Eats.

(Thanks to Laura Murphy from Starvacious for sharing the link with me.)