Get on Board!

Indo Board Balance Training featured in the Daily Telegraph Newspaper.

All things equilibrium: Madeleine Howell gets to grips with an Indo Board CREDIT: Andrew Crowley

“While you don’t need any equipment to get started, specific balance-training aids and exercise on unstable surfaces such as wobble boards can provide an extra level of challenge,” says Lyndsay Hirst.

In one study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, participants used a wobble board for balance training twice a week for 10 minutes for nine weeks and noticed dramatic progress.

With this in mind, I bought an Indo Board – a surf culture-inspired balance board – for Christmas.

After a month of use, I’ve seen a marked improvement in my ability to balance (please note that balance boards are used at your own risk; you should have someone to steady you or a professional with you. This board is best used on a thick carpeted surface, which provides more friction).

“Balance training helps you develop proprioception – the awareness of where your body is in space. That’s what gives us the impulsive responses we all need to control our movements,” says Ben Price, of Witterings Fitness in West Sussex, who includes balance training as part of a six-week fitness transformation programme (witt.fit).

“Your brain receives neurological feedback on how your body is moving while working major muscle groups.” In this way, balance training works both mind and body. It may also help to improve cognitive functions, specifically memory and spatial cognition.

Source: The Daily Telegraph article published on Saturday 19th / 02/ 2022