Balance boards allow you to work on core strength, balance and overall body control. A balance board can be skateboard-shaped or circular. This training tool allows you to work on strengthening your legs. In hockey, you must be strong and fast while maintaining strong balance on your skates.
Significance
Balancing on a balance board can be quite difficult and requires great concentration and stability. Building your core muscles, the muscles between your knees and chest, help make you a better hockey player and it is also easier to use a balance board. Hockey players spend a lot of time on one foot and are constantly being hit. Using a balance board can make you tougher to knock off the puck and a more agile skater.
Leg Strength
Balance boards can help improve your leg strength on the ice. If your balance board allows forward and backward movement along with side to side, perform a drill where you lean forward, back and side to side to get acquainted with moving in four different directions, advises the SportsInjuryClinic website. You can use a chair if you wish to stabilize your body. When you become more advanced, you can try it without the chair. Another effective exercise is to take dumbbells and perform squats on the balance board. This exercise works best with the skateboard-shaped balance board that rocks back and forth.
Stick Handling
Work with a balance board to improve your stick handling. An opponent may knock you off balance while you have the puck and because you only have it for maybe one minute per game, you'll want to have the strength and stability to keep it. Inline Warehouse explains two components for stick handling on a balance board. The first has you handling a ball in front of you, moving the ball to your sides and trickier, more advanced moves as you get more familiar with it. The second component has a teammate flipping a ball to you, which you catch with your hand and set down in front of you. After setting the ball down, begin stick handling again until you flip it back to him, all while maintaining balance on the board.
Upper Body
The balance board push-up is a challenge for your upper body. The Fitday website advises you put your hands on the balance board with your fingers spread with about 1 foot between your hands. With your toes on the ground, go into a regular push-up position, coming down and coming back up, keeping your back straight. Another effective exercise is using a medicine ball and play catch with a partner while you stand on the balance board. Make sure to catch the ball near your chest and absorb the catch with your legs. When tossing the ball back to your partner, come most of the way out of your knee bend.
Considerations
Train with weights and improving your core strength to make balancing on the board easier. If you have difficulty at first, hang onto something until you're used to the wobbling and unpredictable movements associated with balance boards.
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