Challenge Your Balance With These One-Sided Exercises
We talked about how to maintain balance on one leg and on the arms , but sometimes it is pleasant to perform an exercise that does not only concern balance. Lots of standard strength training can be done unilaterally, challenging your brain and body and giving you a heck of a rewarding workout.
Use one dumbbell
Take a heavy dumbbell with one hand – if you have two, place the other on the floor – and do the arm exercise of your choice. For example, you can stand up and click on it above your head. You will notice that your entire body has to adjust in order to maintain balance: the muscles on the sides of your torso have to engage, and you can also feel it in the thigh on the opposite side. You will also have to pay more attention to exactly how you move the dumbbell to make sure it is on a steady line at all times.
Find an unstable surface
Do you want to complicate the task? Press with one dumbbell, but keep your back on the exercise ball, not on the bench. The ball will swing under you (be careful and use a light weight first). The rest of your body will have to work even harder to stabilize you.
You can use unstable surfaces for any exercise: boosu squats are a classic, or you can use any pillow or cushion. Don’t get too heavy; they should not replace regular squats or regular leg exercises. They are very useful to train your body for unusual movements and give your brain a fun task.
Try lunges
Lunges and split squats may not look like a balance exercise since both feet are on the floor, but when you try them, you’ll find that your body wants to fall to the right or left. You will have to walk carefully and watch how your weight is supported by your feet.
My personal enemy in this category is the Bulgarian split squat . I love / hate it so much that it’s my habit when I get stuck in a hotel gym with a few dumbbells. You place one leg on the bench behind you, then squat down with all your strength, leaving your foot on the floor. Just a little weight is enough to make this extremely difficult movement, and you will feel it (oh, how will you feel it) from the side.