Thursday, July 16, 2009

The Controvery over "Balance Training"

While in Phoenix last weekend visiting my twin brother Keats Snideman, we were able to briefly interview him about the topic of "balance training." Keats dispelled many of the myths in the fitness industry and gave some great advice on how we might improve balance and overall athleticism.

Watch and let me know your thoughts!



Keats'website is www.coachkeats.com

I am also excited that he will be attending the RKC in San Diego this August. It will be awesome to have him in the RKC family!!!


To sign up for our newsletter go to www.revolutionlajolla.com

5 comments:

Erik Blekeberg said...

Keats is smart cat. This was a weird interview. It's like you're talking to yourself.

I agree but, I am a bit like Cressy in that I see value in some of the bosu training. It is useful in establishing that proprioception for people that are rehabing from injury. Of course this is only 1 or exercises and then you challenge the system by walking barefoot.

I love that they term balance training as core training. That shows a holy misunderstanding of the purpose of the "core". The core is designed to brace during rotation and act as a counterbalance to the body. It was not designed to do crunches, sit-ups etc. Your spine should be able to go into the kyphotic flexion but, as far as "ab work" most people do it wrong. When I program ab work for my clients or athletes it is really just bracing with hip flexion. We do so much extension work with swings, cleans, snatches etc that we neglect the ability to perform flexion of the hip as well. This is the down portion of the squat. You brace the hips to help seal up the core. It's the bottom of the keg. Create a tight system to prevent energy leakage and you can produce more force.

That was more long winded than I thought it would be. Sorry.

Boris T said...

Good interview thanks for sharing.

Franz Snideman said...

Eric, yes, Keats is a smart cat....and so are you !!!

"Create a tight system to prevent energy leakage and you can produce more force."

Bang on!!!

Franz Snideman said...

Your welcome Boris!!! Thanks for watching!

Mike T Nelson said...

Hi there guys!

Very true that balance is extremely specific, and hence does not normally transfer well; not to mention it makes you weaker. Translation: excluding specific rehab times, stay the heck off the BOSU!

I like the part about the combination of visual, somatasensory and vestibular--and I agree 100%. Add in power and cognition and you have a recipe to create some extreme athletes!

Keep in mind that in some athletes, the response of the eyes and head (inner ear/vestibular function) can actually get rewired by the brain. If you don't "clear" this first, all the best training in the world will be of limited return. This is actually taught in Z-Health level 2.

Rock on!
Mike T Nelson
Extreme Human Performance