Since the early Olympics, humans have valued athletic ability.  The strongest and most physically capable men were elevated in Roman society.  From a political perspective, the Olympics symbolize the strength of a country and in the not too distant past eastern block countries infused a phenomenal amount of money and effort into the identification and development of Olympians as a political statement on the world stage.  The best athletes are so skilled in their sport that they make success look easy to the untrained observer lea...Read more

Who will be the next generation Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky or Michael Jordan?  Ask any parent and they will tell you it could be their child with just the right amount of training, coaching and parental perseverance.  There is a certain mystique about talented athletes whether they are amateur Olympians or professionals because of their sports mastery and the skills that they display.  It is not an easy path to sports success and though many pursue the dream, few excel to the highest level.  Why focus on the identification o...Read more

Balance Integrated Rotary Strength and PowerPurpose: To develop effective rotary strength and power to initiate turns at all levels of snowboarding, initiate rotary tricks like 180, 360, 540, 720, 900, and even 1080 degrees of rotation and decelerate landings from spinning tricks and avoid over rotation while landing on snow. Partner Stick Rotations (Green Circle)- Partner “A” holds the stick with both hands with the shoulders set up, back, and down.- Partner “A” should hold the stick so that the shoulders, arms and stic...Read more

Balance Integrated Core Stability Purpose: To build core stability and be able to effectively recruit core musculature while the lower body maintains balance.BOSU® Ballast Ball Wave Shifts- Hold the BOSU® Ballast Ball by placing the hands on the two inner concentric circles on the sides of the Ball.- Set the shoulders into neutral position by bringing the scapula up, back, and down.- Drop your hips into an athletic stance and brace the core and think about locking your hips to your rib cage.- Move the ball in a circular motion so that y...Read more

Balance Integrated StrengthPurpose: To learn how to sequentially fire the body’s muscles in a Linked System fashion, to produce a desired movement in order to teach the body to move fluidly on the mountain.BOSU® Squat to 2-arm Shoulder Press (Green Circle)- Position two BOSU® Balance Trainers side by side with the rims touching.- Stand atop the BOSU® Balance Trainer in an athletic stance with a set of dumbbells in each hand positioned slightly above the shoulders and roughly in line with your ears.- Lower into a squat position...Read more

Balance Integrated Movement SkillsPurpose: To improve triggering of the hips, and enhance rotary movement on an unstable surface.  Also, learn how to effectively land and decelerate agile rotary movements and find balance point as quickly as possible.  These skills are necessary to manipulate the board on the snow or in the air for all levels of riders.BOSU Hip Twisters - Stick each Landing (Green Circle)- Stand atop the BOSU in an athletic ready stance as described above and adjust your feet and hips so that your hips are perpendicul...Read more

Balance for Activation and Warm UpPurpose: To enable athletes to shift their C of G over their base of support and find their balance point as quickly and as fluidly as possible when transferring weight from front to back and side to side.  Just like any snowboarder would when controlling their board.Balance Board Squats (Green Circle)- Set up the balance board so it is tilted to one side - Place booth feet on the Balance Board with your feet about shoulder width apart and lower into a “tilted” athletic stance by triple flexing...Read more

In this blog we will discuss about how and where you can integrate balance into your preseason preparatory training and in-season maintenance.  We have outlined five parts of a training program where balance can be integrated, and have given you three variations of the same exercise so you can practice one of them and then prescribe it to your athlete or client.  The three variations are rated the same way a run on a ski hill would be rated Easy, More Difficult, and Most Difficult.  No double blacks in this article!  The fir...Read more