Topsy turvy: get your exercise routine rolling again with the BOSU® Balance Trainer

American Fitness, May-June, 2004 by Marylin Smith Carsley

The BOSU[R] Balance Trainer is one of the latest tools to enter the fitness industry. An acronym for "both sides up," this piece of equipment offers a unique way to work on balance, core strength and aerobic conditioning. Resembling an exercise ball cut in half and attached to a flat platform, the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer can be utilized on either side. Try the ball-side-up to challenge lower body stability by doing step-ups, lunges and jogging or flip it over to target upper body strength with push-ups or tricep dips. It's effective, compact and possesses elements of play.

Overall, the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer can stimulate the entire musculature, including the "invisible" body muscles. Muscular imbalance or inadequacy of even the smallest muscles can impair the entire system.

Although the body possesses 640 skeletal muscles, athletes tend to conceptualize training, especially weightlifting, as focusing only on the large "prime mover" muscles, neglecting other muscle groups. However, this "step and ball" device strengthens all muscle groups.

The BOSU[R] Balance Trainer effectively activates the stabilizer muscles, key to balance and performance. Balance interruptions can break the chain of force production and skilled movement. Fortunately, balance is trainable at any level and when it improves you will feel a marked difference.

One of the reasons behind the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer's efficiency is it allows you to safely discover your weaker core zone and increase your capabilities from there. For those over age 40, enhancing proprioception (i.e., the awareness of your body in space) and smaller stabilizing muscle strength increases movement efficiency and combats the imbalance aging creates.

The BOSU[R] Balance Trainer has joined other balance products, such as wobble boards and fitness balls, in migrating from the physiotherapist's office to gyms. More and more sports teams are becoming aware of the importance of balance. Neuromuscular physiology, which defines human movement, supports this complete training approach. Improved balance keeps skiers tackling moguls and soccer players kicking forcefully.

However, the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer is not reserved exclusively for athletes because superior balance decreases everyone's injury risk. Some trainers have found that when the exercise ball is too challenging for their clients, the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer is an excellent alternative. Shelly McDonald, fitness trainer with the Montreal Athletic Association (MAA), uses the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer with a 75-year-old stroke victim trying to regain balance and vision perspective. McDonald predicts a promising future for the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer in cardiovascular and muscle conditioning as well as core training.

How the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer Got Rolling

Like many other inventions, the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer was born out of necessity or, in the words of inventor David Weck, "the need to be less sore." Approximately four years ago, the 34-year-old fitness trainer and former actor devised this dome-shaped gadget when exercising on a stability ball to help rehabilitate his back.

While unsteadily balancing on the ball, an epiphany transported him to the hardware store to purchase wood, glue, duct tape and staples. Cutting the ball in half, he wrapped it around a flat board, secured it with glue and tape and inflated the half ball, creating an unstable surface on a stable one.

Week believes balance is the foundation of all movement and the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer allows virtually anyone to effectively improve his or her balance. Since the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer is impossible to master, it will challenge the most gifted athletes, allowing them continual advancement.

BOSU[R] Balance Trainer prototypes were first introduced in Fall 1999 to a select group of professional and Olympic teams, including the United States National Ski team, New York Yankees and St. Louis Rams. The head trainers and strength and conditioning coaches came to the overwhelming positive consensus that the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer is a unique balance, core stability and proprioception device that will forever alter the sports and fitness industry.

Using the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer

Made of latex-free, burst-resistant material, measuring 25 inches in diameter and weighing less than 14 pounds, the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer is designed to hold people weighing up to 350 pounds. It inflates to the desired firmness through a valve inlet and two recessed handles on the platform and towards the sides make it easy to turn over and carry. Compact, it is four products in one: stability ball, balance disc, wobble board and plyo-box. Each BOSU[R] Balance Ball is shipped with a pump and instructor's manual.

Before attempting the exercises, one must familiarize oneself with the BOSU[R] Balance Trainer's dynamic surfaces. Shoes with good lateral support, such as cross trainers or basketball shoes, should be worn.

When working on the dome, feet should be equally spaced outside the top circle. Try it with one leg out to the side, contract your abs and hold for 15 seconds. Then, try this same exercise on the floor and feel the difference.