The seasonality of winter sports such as snowboarding makes them difficult to master. Many snowboarders, or riders, maintain their skills by practicing off-season dryland training. Strength, flexibility and endurance may enhance snowboarding performance, but skillful, athletic snowboarding requires dynamic balance, or balance in motion, power, coordination and agility. The balance board, which resembles a snowboard, offers effective snowboard conditioning.
Wobble Board Exercises
The wobble board, a type of balance board, has a circular shape, which facilitates rotational movement. Exercising on this type of board enhances fore/aft, or forward and back balance, and lateral or side-to-side balance. Aspen personal trainer Joshua Landis, in an article featured in the National Strength and Conditioning Association web site, recommends these exercises to prevent snowboard-related ankle injuries. Stand on the board with your feet parallel, and shift your weight from side to side, keeping the movement fluid and continuous. Remain on the board and shift your weight forward and backward. Once you master these movements, try to shift your weight in clockwise and counterclockwise circles. To make this exercise more snowboarding-specific, assume your usual riding stance. "Regular" riders keep their left foot slightly forward, and "goofy" riders keep their right foot forward.
Balance Board Squat
The snowboard instructors at Whistler/Blackcomb recommend the balance board squat. Assume a wide stance and stand on the board. Take your core by drawing your belly in, and take a moment to find your balance. Then, slowly bend your knees and drop your hips as if you were about to sit on a chair. Try to keep your weight evenly balanced on both sides. Straighten your legs with control. Perform 10 repetitions. Once you gain proficiency, squat down and touch different parts of the board with each hand. The balance board squat integrates strength and balance.
Squat and Ball Toss
Snowboarder slope safety requires fast reaction times and the ability to take in the surrounding environment while maintaining optimum form and technique. When performed on a balance board, the medicine ball toss and squat improves balance and agility while strengthening the upper body, lower body and core. This exercise requires a weighted medicine ball and a training partner. Partners face each other on their balance boards, with one partner holding the ball. As she tosses it to her partner, he performs a squat as he catches the ball, and straightens his legs as he throws the ball back to his partner, who in turn performs the squat. Continue this for as long as you remain focused. Add a challenge by moving the boards further apart or by tossing the ball in different directions.
Gretchen Bleiler Exercise
Professional snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler uses a balance board in her sport-specific training program. Many of her exercises impose too much of a challenge for non-professional athletes, but some are accessible with a bit of practice. Stand on the board holding one light weight in each hand. Raise both arms to the side to shoulder height. Then bend your knees and perform a squat, keeping your spine long and flat. Remain in the squat and rotate your upper torso, so that your left hand moves toward your right foot, and your right arm reaches toward the ceiling. Rotate back to center, straighten your legs and repeat the exercise in the opposite direction.
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