Stability is the forgotten type of training.
So the fact you're here says something about you...
You're smarter than most.
Stability training is teaching your brain to recruit and control more of your available muscle fibers.
So let's work on controlling your legs and drastically improving your leg stability with these exercises.
This is just a sampling because balance can get more dynamic but we're going to stay away from all jumping exercises .
Lower Body Stability Exercise Breakdown
Stand On One Leg
Just because it's obvious and simple... doesn't mean it's not an amazing exercise.
I'll make a little wager with you. I bet if you try right now... you can't stand on one leg for 60 seconds following these rules:
-
Choose any leg you want
-
The other leg must have the knee raised to at least waist height... leg bent
DM me on my Insta , TikTok or YouTube channel with the results.
Focus On Your Weight Distribution
When you're standing on your foot... focus on how and where your weight is getting pushed around your foot.
Are you falling forward?
Backward?
Are you pulling your toes off the ground pressing them down?
Take some mental notes about what's happening.
Activate your arch... pull it off the ground
Flat feet are typically just underdeveloped muscles. So focus on pulling your arch off the ground for good foot posture.
Notice your ankle and knee
Pay attention to your ankle and your knee.
For your ankle... there's not much you can do. Just try to keep it quiet.
For your knee... work hard to keep if over and slightly to the outside of your foot.
Finally... it helps if you grip your toes down as if you're trying to grip the ground.
Stand On One Leg Modifications
Add in some reps of an exercise. As you would guess... this will throw off your balance causing you to work harder.
Kettlebell Rack Hold
Holding any weight will throw off how your body distributes weight... making it harder and testing you more.
Kettlebell (Dumbbell) Presses
Moving a weight... as with presses... will challenge you more because your weight is constantly being thrown off.
Bodyweight Rotations
I love rotating while keeping your balance. It's so tough but really builds your ability to recruit the right muscles.
And there is so much more you can do!
Single Leg Toe Touches
This is Dan's favorite balance exercise.
It's insanely tough to hold balance but if you practice this every week you will improve quickly.
Step 1
Stand normal to begin.
Choose a leg and lift it off the ground. For this exercise you don't have to get to a certain height or anything.
Take the opposite arm and reach it above your head actively... don't relax the arm too much.
So your on one leg and the opposite arm is up... reaching to the sky.
Step 2
While keeping your arm reaching up...
Begin hinging at your waist. You're going to bend over as far as you can with a straight spine and your arm raised up.
As you get about half way... you can reach your arm down and touch your toe.
You can bend your leg as much as you needed.
Step 3
Come back to the top but keep your arm reaching as high as possible over your head.
So as you come back up... return your arm over your head as quickly as you can.
Checkout the images for help understanding this.
These can be slow reps...
They can be faster reps...
You can hold a very light weight like a 5 pound dumbbell to make it more challenging.
How many reps in a row can you get without losing your balance?
Bodyweight Skiers With Balance Pause
This is another really tough exercise but as you get the hang of it... you'll find your balance and how to improve quickly.
Step 1
Start standing and it's best to get into the motion of this exercise by just hoping to the side...
The pictures will help because this is tough to explain with words.
For your first few reps of hoping back and forth... don't worry about the balance... just get in the flow of hoping... or skiing back and forth.
Step 2
Start to make your hops a little higher so your arch is taller.
When you land on a foot... cross your other leg behind your planted leg and hold balance on your planted leg for about one second.
Once you do that... hop up and over to the other leg finding your balance there for about one second.
What makes this exercise so hard is your momentum is moving off to the side... laterally.
You not only have to stop that momentum but find balance too.
This is why I suggest you increase the height of your jump so you can redirect some of your weight more down than to the side.
Equipment Stability Variations
Let's look at equipment you can use to really take your stability to the next level.
Most of this will be hard to find but I wanted to mention it to get your mind open.
Use a Towel
This is one everybody can do and you should play with it when you do all the exercises we mentioned above.
Take a towel... like one you would use to dry yourself off after a shower.
Fold it so it's a nice square and relatively thick.
Do your balance exercises standing on this towel.
If you're really bad at balance... I would get better on the hard ground first.
But when you add in a towel you'll be lighting up your system trying to find balance.
Balance Board
Dan and I have an Indoboard ... the surfer version.
It's actually meant to be a surfing trainer... but it's great for testing and improving your balance.
The thing about balance boards is once you get good on them... you need to consistently push yourself to test your balance.
Dan has been doing it for so long it's not hard for him at all.
Med Ball Toss
You'll need a partner for this one but I love doing this when the opportunity arises.
You can do this in a bunch of different positions... but let's just talk about standing on one leg.
Step 1
Stand on one leg, just like you were doing our first exercise of balancing on one leg.
Make sure you have a slight bend in the knee. You want to remain bouncy.
Step 2
Let's go simple first.
Have your partner lightly toss you the med ball from about 4 feet away... and straight on.
Catch the ball with your hands and do a small torso twist before you toss the ball back to your partner.
Depending on how well you're doing... have your partner toss the ball a little higher... sometimes a little lower.
Step 3
Let's go a little harder.
Now have your partner stand about 4 feet away from you to the side.
Have them toss you the ball a little in front of your body. You'll catch it and go into a slight torso twist the opposite direction.
As you come back from your twist... throw the ball back.
The side movement is much harder than straight on... but a lot of fun.
Use These Lower Body Stability Exercises
You can easily add these exercises into your current workouts.
Not only that, but you can use many of these like standing on one leg throughout the day.
When I'm using my standing desk... I stand quite a bit on one leg.
When you're ready to get trained and finally achieve strength results that last... go check out my programs .
