How to Develop Explosive Speed

by Pat Beith

Creating a football speed program is one of the most important things a coach can do for his team.  Football is a game of speed, and I’ve seen it impact a game in more ways than I can count.  I’ve also seen a lot of coaches and athletes struggle with developing speed, so I’m going to explain some of the principles that must be understood.

An effective football speed training program should focus on teaching athletes how to move efficiently and increase the amount of force they are able to put into the ground during this movement.  Unfortunately, most coaches are still wasting a tremendous amount of their athlete’s time and energy focusing on doing drills for the sake of doing drills, without understanding how these drills are supposed to help.  They find a bunch of drills on the internet or at a camp, put them together in whatever order feels good to them, and call it a football speed training program.  Without a thorough understanding of how speed is developed, your football speed training program will never produce optimal results.  Let’s take a look at the important factors involved in an effective football speed training program.

Four Factors of an Effective Football Speed Training Program
An effective program has to take important pieces from several areas of science: physiology, neurology, biomechanics and motor learning.  Note that “drills” are one of the scientific areas we need to drawn upon.  Drills are simply a way to help develop one of these areas.  Understanding how a particular drill affects the human body is the key to drill selection and football speed training.

Biomechanics & Motor Learning – Athletes must learn how to put force into the ground in a way that will help them move more efficiently.  While not everyone needs to run, cut and accelerate the exact same way, there are certainly ways that are more effective than others.  These techniques need to be understood and taught to young athletes so they aren’t making gross errors in their movement.

Drills should be selected that teach athletes the best way to apply force into the ground.  They also need to be taught in a way that creates real movement changes.  I often see football speed programs that look like they address mechanics on the surface, but when you get right down to it, it’s all just fluff.  Things like A-skips, B-skips, ladder drills and mini-hurdle drills do nothing for most football players, yet we see them shoved down their throats all the time.

Rather than including a drill for the sake of including drills, understand what each drill teaches, and only select the ones that are pertinent.  Wall drills, for example, can be used to teach the mechanics of a forward lean, high knees and forceful backward push during acceleration.  If, however, you’re just throwing the drill into your program because you saw someone else do it, the drill is a waste of time.  It’s absolutely vital that you take the time to teach the athletes HOW to do the drills and HOW to move.

Keep in mind that motor learning is very specific to the skill you are practicing.  That means that you are only going to get better at the exact skill you are practicing, and very little transfer will take place from one movement to another.  In other words, practicing skips and ladder drills will get you better at skips and ladder drills.  Practicing sprinting and acceleration will get you better at sprinting and acceleration.  What do you want to get better at?

Of course, some movements are difficult to learn and require “lead-up” drills.  The wall or tall & fall drills are examples of drills that help athletes learn how to accelerate.  A drill may work perfectly for one athlete, but not all of them, so you need several ways of teaching the same skill.  Always keep in mind, however, that the goal is to teach athletes how to run faster, not how to perform a drill.  The drill should always be a means to an end.

Physiology – Once mechanics are addressed, we need to get athletes stronger so they can produce more force.  If the increased force is put into the ground with good mechanics, the athlete will run faster.  If the mechanics are not efficient, the force will not be used as effectively as possible and your results will be sub-par.

Most strength programs today include some version of a squat, which is a great place to start developing strength.  We’re not going to get into the details of squat technique, but correct form should always be used.  A good football speed training program should also include work on the hamstrings, groin and hips through exercises like glute/ham raises, RDL’s, hip extension, hip flexion, glute/hip bridges, leg curls, slideboard inner thigh, side lunges, 3-D lunges and the Nordic hamstring exercise.  I see these exercises omitted from way too many programs, so make sure you are addressing all of the muscles involved in football speed.  You don’t have to do every one of these exercises every day, but the hips, groin and hamstring should be taken as seriously as the squat.

Be progressive with every exercise you choose to maximize your strength gains.  Simply working hard is a great start, but carefully documenting your progress is a much more efficient way to develop strength.  Choose a system of progression that works for you, and stick to it for several weeks at a time before you change anything in your program.  The human body takes time to adapt to a stimulus like a strength program, so be patient and stick with your program to develop strength.

Neurology – Increasing force through physiological changes is important to increasing football speed, but increasing the speed in which your body produces that force is just as important.  The ability to produce force quickly is often referred to as power.  In speed and agility, power is important because you need to put force into the ground as quickly as possible in order to move fast.  Strength training will help make this happen, but explosive training will make it happen more efficiently.

Explosive training is all about optimizing your nervous system so your muscles will contract quickly and in a coordinated fashion that produces maximal power.  This can be accomplished through training methods such as plyometrics, weighted sleds or resisted movement, Olympic lifting, medicine balls and high speed strength exercises.

The key to enhancing your neurology is to perform the exercises with precision, maximum speed and maximum effort.  This means that you’ll be performing relatively low reps (less than 10 reps per set) with each exercise having slightly different guidelines.  You’ll also want to perform these exercises when you’re fresh and give yourself long breaks between sets.  This allows you to give maximal effort on every rep, which will train your body more effectively.

Combining these important areas of science will help you create the most effective football speed training program possible.  Understand the purpose of each drill or exercise and apply them in the most efficient manner possible.  If you follow the guidelines outlined in this article, you’ll be on your way to developing explosive football speed.

Jim Kielbaso

To see Coach Jim Kielbaso’s speed training system for football players, go check it out here at Complete Football Speed

Top 10 Athlete's Strength and Power Training Techniques

As an athlete, you need certain strength and power training techniques to help you succeed in your sport. It is not enough to train hard. You must train smart also.

One important thing to remember about sports fitness training is that it is not a strongman contest!  Too many times there is too much emphasis placed on "maxing out" with the weights.

To continually get stronger without an increase in speed, power and athleticism will do you no good. An overall athletic training framework for you to follow is.....

1. Train your body in all 3 planes of motion. Many athletic movements happen in the transverse plane (rotations, turning, twisting, etc.) and frontal plane (side-to-side, lateral).

Machine-based training concentrates on the sagittal plane (up- down, forward-backward movements). Do miminal athletic training on machines because they limit your natural movement patterns.

2. Train on your feet because most athletic movements in games are done standing and running.

3. Stabilize and strengthen the core first and limbs (arms and legs) later.

This can be done using exercises like bridges, planks, bird dogs, cobras, supermans and back extensions. You would later progress to full speed core exercises on your feet like medicine ball chops, medicine ball slams, 2-arm and 1-arm medicine ball throws and medicine ball rotational throws.

4. The same holds true for body strength exercises. Start with dumbbells to stabilize your joints.Dumbbells also don't allow you to cheat when 1 arm or 1 leg is weaker than the other.

Also, bodyweight exercises work well to stabilize your body strength. You can get to the heavier weights once your joints and muscles are stabilized and balanced. If you can't do bodyweight squats correctly then you won't do heavyweight squats correctly.

5. Continuing with strength exercises....concentrate on compound (multi-joint) exercises like squats of all types, lunges of all types, bench press, rows, step ups, and deadlifts.

One-legged squats, step ups and lunges improve your running strength and power because about 80% of running is done on one leg. Do less single-joint exercises like bicep curls, calf raises and leg extensions because you get little benefit.

6. And, improve your muscular balance. Quadriceps shouldn't be significantly stronger than hamstrings. Likewise, the frontside of your upper body should have muscular balance with the backside of your upper body.

7. Train your muscles with all contraction types (eccentric, isometric, concentric). All muscles function eccentrically (reduces force or deceleration), isometrically (stabilizes force) and concentrically (produces force).

Eccentric contractions are able to produce the most tension development followed by isometric contractions and lastly, concentric contractions. If eccentric contractions are able to produce the greatest tension development, then more time should be devoted during training for eccentric contractions to reduce the risk of injuries such as knee ACL tears.

Also, strong eccentric contractions are critical for athletes to produce maximal power since all force production (concentric) must be preceded by force reduction (eccentric).

8. Improve your flexibility and correct postural problems in the early stages of your training to avoid injuries when you get to more intense training.

9. Progress to more intense exercises like plyometrics, speed training and full-speed sport specific exercises after you have stabilized and strengthened your core, joints and overall muscle structure.

At this stage, you will train athletic movements in your sport (transfer-of-training effect) and not just muscles.YOU MUST TRAIN FAST AND EXPLOSIVE TO GET FASTER AND MORE EXPLOSIVE.

10. Rate-of-force production (how fast your muscles produce force) and dynamic balance are the two best physical predictors of athletic success. Your training program (strength, power, speed, flexibility, etc.) should be pointed toward improving these 2 physical traits.

Train harder, smarter and safely!

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Do Walking Lunges for Strength, Power and Speed

Use walking lunges as part of your dynamic warm-up or as a strength exercise.....walking lunges are great for adding muscular balance and dynamic balance to your lower body because you work one leg at a time and you can't "cheat."



See my post here for a detailed discussion of hamstring flexibility and strength.


The walking lunge can be a great strength and flexibility exercise for your hamstrings. The further you "lunge out" with the lead leg, the more your hamstrings are worked.

And, if you don't "lunge out" very far, your quadriceps will get more work than your hamstrings. The quadriceps get plenty of work with other exercises like leg presses, squats and leg extensions.

You also need adequate core strength to keep your body upright during the walk. Walking lunges also improve your speed because you use the same pathways it takes to run fast.

When you do the walking lunge, don't let your front knee go past your foot and don't let your back knee touch the ground on the descent. Also, don't let the front thigh go past parallel to the ground.

Include this staple exercise in your workouts!

Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start building your body naturally and powerful!  There are 3 levels:  beginner, intermediate and advanced.  Start at your level and progress.

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Sports Fitness Hut

8 Tips for Athletes to Improve Dynamic Balance

If you want to be an elite athlete, improve your dynamic balance.



Here are 8 training tips to improve dynamic balance:

1. Incorporate many one-legged exercises such as power step ups, single leg squats, single leg good mornings, single leg medicine ball exercises, etc.

2. Include exercises with your eyes closed to improve limb position sense (proprioception).

3. Train your body in all 3 planes of motion to improve multi-planar balance. An example would be a grouping of walking lunges, side lunges and transverse lunges.

4. Train on different surfaces such as grass, sand, astro-play and soft surfaces. You will rarely play on a perfect surface anyway.

5. Do combinations of one-arm and one-leg exercises such as single leg squat-to-single arm shoulder press.

6. Jump rope every day using different variations---two feet, one foot, shuffle, etc. Jumping rope is one of the best body coordination exercises out there. And, speed jump rope is even better.

7. Better muscular balance will give you better dynamic balance. For example, your quadriceps should not be significantly stronger than your hamstrings.

8. Quickness and agility drills will improve your dynamic balance.

Balance training also improves your core strength. Balance exercises should closely mimic those actions required by your sport.

Train hard and smart!

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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7 Tips to Improve Speed Strength and Dynamic Balance

Speed strength and dynamic balance are the two best physical predictors of success in speed-based sports such as football, basketball, soccer, lacrosse and baseball. If you want to be your best version of athlete, you need high levels of both.

Speed Strength

1. Speed strength, or how fast your muscles can produce force, is the key to improving your speed and power. Just getting stronger will not continually improve your speed and power. You must train your muscles to move faster with the correct motions.

There is a point at which increasing strength will not result in an increase in power.

2. There are five purposes for sports power training:

a. Improve the excitability, sensitivity and reactivity of the neuromuscular system.

b. Improve the rate-of-force production.

c. Increase motor-unit recruitment.

d. Increase motor-unit firing frequency.

e. Increase motor-unit synchronization.

Sports power training teaches you how to activate the right muscles (prime movers and synergists) at the right time. Sports power training also provides you with optimal neuromuscular efficiency.

3. Here are some ways to train your muscles to move faster:

a. Sprinting with maximum effort and with the correct running mechanics. You have to train fast to get faster.

b. Do plyometric exercises.

c. Do weight training exercises at full speed.

d. Build muscle mass, especially bulky fast twitch muscle fibers.

e. Improve your dynamic flexibility so your body can move efficiently.

Dynamic Balance

4. Improve your dynamic balance and proprioception (limb position sense) and you will be a better athlete.

Your ability to maintain your center of gravity over a constantly changing base of support is critical to success and is the essence of dynamic balance. Dynamic core strength and control is also necessary to achieve dynamic balance.

5. You should participate in exercises that progressively challenge your dynamic balance and postural control. Exercises that require use of different surfaces (firm to unstable) will work to accomplish this.

One-armed and one-legged exercises also work well. Experts don't always agree on the specific balance exercises to be performed, but research proves that changes in both sensory and motor systems influence balance performance.

6. Balance exercises should be specific to the sport in which you compete to increase the chances of success and minimize the risk of injury. For example, football and soccer players often compete with cleated shoes on grass surfaces or with flat shoes on artificial surfaces.

7. Here are some ways to improve your dynamic balance:

a. Incorporate one-legged exercises such as power step ups, single leg squats, single leg good mornings, single leg medicine ball exercises, etc.

b. Include exercises with your eyes closed to improve limb position sense.

c. Train your body in all 3 planes of motion to improve multi-planar balance. An example would be a grouping of walking lunges, side lunges and transverse lunges.

d. Train on different surfaces such as grass, sand, astro-play and soft surfaces. You will rarely play on a perfect surface anyway.

e. Quickness and agility drills will improve your dynamic balance.

f. Do combinations of one-arm and one-leg exercises such as single leg squat-to-single arm shoulder press.

g. Jump rope every day using different variations---two feet, one foot, shuffle, etc. Jumping rope is one of the best body coordination exercises out there. And, speed jump rope is even better.

h. Better muscular balance will give you better dynamic balance. For example, your quadriceps should not be significantly stronger than your hamstrings.

Train hard, smart and expect success!

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Football Players Need Dynamic Balance

One must-have for all football players is dynamic balance. In my opinion, dynamic balance along with power are the two greatest physical predictors of success in sports that require speed. Athletes began to improve their dynamic balance last week at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

Improve your dynamic balance and you will be a better football player and overall athlete.

Static balance, which can be maintained with minimal movement, should be distinguished from dynamic balance. Your ability to maintain your center of gravity over a constantly changing base of support is critical to success on the football field and is the essence of dynamic balance. The ability to "stay on your feet (under control)" and "make the play" distinguishes great football players from other football players. Postural strength and control is also necessary to achieve dynamic balance.

You should do exercises that progressively challenge your dynamic balance and postural control. Exercises that require use of different surfaces (firm to unstable) will work to accomplish this. One-armed and one-legged exercises also work well. Experts don't always agree on the specific balance exercises to be performed, but research proves that changes in both sensory and motor systems influence balance performance.

Workout hard and smart to be a better football player!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Sports Fitness Hut

Walking Lunge With Upper Body Rotation

The walking lunge with upper body rotation is a good exercise that will improve core strength, lower body strength, running speed and dynamic balance.



When you do the walking lunge with upper body rotation, keep your torso upright, don't let your front knee go past the front foot and don't let the back knee touch the ground. Also, when you lunge, the front thigh should be parallel to the ground. Rotate your upper body with the medicine ball in both hands when you lunge (see picture above).

Do this exercise as a warmup or regular workout exercise. To work your hamstrings more, lunge out further with the front leg. A shorter lunge will work the quadriceps more. Most athletes need more hamstring strength to prevent injuries.

Increase the weight of the medicine ball to increase difficulty.

Include the walking lunge with upper body rotation in your regular workouts.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Dynamic Balance and Vision Performance Wins Super Bowl

The Super Bowl winning touchdown play showed us what dynamic balance, coordination and vision performance is all about.....Santonio Holmes made the incredible touchdown catch with a combination of all three....



What you might not know is that he missed a similar pass thrown his way on the previous play....I listened to his post-game interview and he explained that he missed the pass because he was concentrating too much on getting his feet down....he thought he had lost the game for his team.....until the very next play....

According to Holmes, he never jumped on the winning pass catch...instead, he coordinated his dynamic balance, hand-eye coordination and athletic ability to haul in the pass! Game over!

Holmes practices these techniques over and over and it paid off with a Super Bowl ring for him and the team! Great catch kid (and great throw)! Go to Disneyworld!

Read my articles about dynamic balance and vision performance.....you need both to perform at a high level in your sport! And, you can practice to improve both!

Train hard and smart!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower or skinny, weaker athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Don't Laugh---Ballet Will Improve Your Sports Performance

Dynamic balance is one of the best physical predictors of athletic success. Ballet is one of the toughest activities that you can do.....don't believe me---try it seriously for 15 minutes.....fall on your face yet?!

Ballet requires incredible strength, dynamic flexibility, power (tried those jumps lately?) and dynamic balance. Guess what? Your sport requires the same qualities!



There has been more than one elite athlete who takes regular ballet classes.

Extending and stretching your body out in all the positions that ballet requires is hard work. This in turn will improve your dynamic flexibility which is critical for sports performance. It also improves your strength--try standing up straight and extending your leg behind you gracefully!

Tried a pirouette lately? A pirouette requires superior dynamic balance. Ballet also requires spinning, lifting, leaping, and twirling. There's nothing like ballet. Improve your athletic ability with regular ballet moves. Anyone with any sense at all will never call you a "sissy" for taking up ballet!

Celebrate and honor U.S. Veterans on their Day today!

Train hard and smart!

Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower or skinny, weaker athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!

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Improve Sports Performance With This Kindergarten Exercise

Ever heard this saying? Everything I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten! In many cases this is true. One favorite kindergarten game (exercise) is woefully underutilized by athletes and exercisers in general: JUMPING ROPE!

It is one of the best exercises to use for warming up because it engages the total body. Jumping rope will strengthen and condition your calves, legs, torso and arms.



Speed jump roping is performed in short intervals at up to 200 RPM (revolutions per minute). It also uses the anaerobic energy system (85% to 95% of max heart rate) and develops fast twitch muscle fibers.

This type of speed jump roping gives the athlete more speed, quickness, agility, balance, coordination, power and knee/ankle/foot strength. Jumping rope also improves the athlete's timing---a critical element needed in sports. Boxers are legendary speed jump ropers.

Jumping rope can improve your vertical leap, lateral movement and starting speed. An increased vertical jump is an indication of improved leg power which leads to improved overall speed.

Jumping rope can also be utilized to improve the athlete's aerobic capacity. Jumping rope can burn up to 800 calories an hour depending on intensity. This can be helpful for athletes who need to burn fat and lose weight.

Sport specific jump rope moves allows you the transfer-of-training-effect to game competition. Some sport specific jump rope moves are:

1) Ali Shuffle - Named after the boxer who made it famous.

2) Power Jump - Jump higher and turn the wrist quickly so the rope turns twice in one hop. Look straight ahead and keep your torso relaxed.

3) Forward-Backward Jump - Jump a few inches forward, then a few inches back. Alternate the moves between rope skips.

4) Straddle Jump - Straddle feet forward and jump.

5) Skier’s Jump - This jump rope technique looks like a skier's slalom. Jump a few inches to the right, then a few inches to the left. Alternate. Keep feet together and your torso straight.

6) Basic Jump - Jump with both feet together.

7) One Foot Jump - Jump on one foot for 1-2 minutes and alternate.

There are many other jump rope movements. Add this great exercise to your warmups and workouts. It will make you a better athlete!

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Build Lower Body Strength, Power And Balance--One Leg At A Time

Sometimes, too much focus is placed on leg exercises done with two legs. These two-legged exercises, like squats, are needed in your exercise program. But, one of the best physical indicators of athletic success is dynamic balance (rate-of-force production or power is the other).

Having dynamic balance means that the athlete is able to maintain her or his center of gravity over a constantly changing base of support. The athlete cannot have dynamic balance without muscular balance.

To achieve muscular balance in the athlete's lower body, one-legged exercises should be a big part of the athletic training program. These one-legged exercises can be performed as strengh or power (full speed) exercises.

One lower body exercise that should be in your program is one-legged step ups. This exercise is done one leg at a time to force each leg to work evenly. For example, you would do 10 repetitions with your right leg and then 10 repetitions with your left leg.



The hanging leg should not touch the bench and you should lower your body under control. This exercise can also be done without dumbbells if the weight is too heavy.

Other one-legged exercises would be one-legged squats and lunges. Add more one-legged exercises to your training regimen.

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Athletes Should Train The Transverse Plane Of Motion

Traditionally, athletes have been trained primarily in the sagittal plane of motion. The sagittal plane is an imaginary bisector that divides the body into left and right halves.

Movements in the sagittal plane include forward-backward and up-down movements relative to the body and/or joint. Examples would be walking, running, bicep curls, leg curls and seated back rows.

Traditional training techniques (such as training with machine weights) have focused on the sagittal plane of motion. This is not an effective training technique if the other planes of motion are ignored during training.

Training in the transverse plane of motion is critical for athletes. The transverse plane is an imaginary bisector that divides the body into top and bottom halves.

Movements in the transverse plane are primarily rotational. Obviously, this will be a dominate plane of motion for many athletes. Baseball players (swinging, turning, pivoting, etc.), football defensive backs (hip rotations, quick turns, etc.) are just two examples.

An athlete also needs adequate training in the frontal plane of motion. The frontal plane is an imaginary bisector that divides the body into equal front and back halves. Frontal plane movements primarily involve abduction and adduction (side-to-side motions).

Abduction takes a limb away from the midline of the body and adduction takes the limb closer to the midline of the body. Some frontal plane movements would be side shuffles, side lunges and lateral bounces/bounding. Quickness and agility movements made by athletes require adequate frontal plane stability, strength, power, flexibility and balance.

Sport-specific training should focus on training athletic movements and not just muscles! The games are played with quick, powerful athletic movements.

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Good Hamstring Stretch--Single Leg Good Mornings

The Single Leg Good Morning stretch is a good hamstring stretch that you may not be doing. The hamstrings are often a nagging problem area for athletes. Prevention of hamstring injuries is best.



1. Start by placing a bar or stick handle across your shoulders.

2. Standing on one leg, bend forward keeping your back flat and your leg on the ground straight. This should be a controlled, smooth movement (no bouncing).

3. Maintaining your balance, return to the starting position and repeat for the desired repetitions.

4. Repeat with the other leg.

You can also strengthen your hamstrings with this exercise by increasing the weight on the bar.

Try this stretch/strength exercise the next time you workout!

Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!  There are 3 levels:  beginner, intermediate and advanced.  Start at your level and progress.

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Dynamic Balance and Proprioception

In my opinion, athletic balance (dynamic balance) and rate-of-force production (power) are the two greatest physical predictors of athletic success.

The best running backs, tennis players, basketball players, shortstops, etc. all have great dynamic balance. Having great dynamic balance means that the athlete is able to maintain her or his center of gravity over a constantly changing base of support.

Thus, quickness and agility drills help the athlete to improve dynamic balance while not wasting motion. As with all training, balance can be improved by creating challenging training environments.

Kinesthetic awareness, or the ability to know where your body parts are in 3-dimensional space, is required for all movement. This is especially true for athletes.

Athletes can be trained to improve proprioception (joint and limb position sense) without using all of the fancy gadgets on the market today. Better proprioception brings about better balance and reduced risk of injuries for the athlete. Balance training also improves the athlete’s core strength. Balance exercises should closely mimic those actions required by the athlete’s sport.

Good balance exercises are one-legged exercises, exercises performed on different surfaces, exercises performed with eyes closed and a host of sports agility drills.

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Dynamic Balance For Sports

Dynamic balance is one of the greatest physical predictors of athletic success (athletic power would be the other). Static balance, which can be maintained with minimal movement, should be distinguished from dynamic balance.

Your ability to maintain a center of gravity over a constantly changing base of support is critical to success and is the essence of dynamic balance. Postural strength and control is also necessary to achieve dynamic balance.

You should participate in exercises that progressively challenge her or his dynamic balance and postural control. Exercises that require use of different surfaces (firm to unstable) will work to accomplish this. One-armed and one-legged exercises also work well. Experts don't always agree on the specific balance exercises to be performed, but research proves that changes in both sensory and motor systems influence balance performance.

Balance exercises should be specific to the sport in which the athlete competes to increase the chances of success and minimize the risk of injury. For example, football and soccer players often compete with cleated shoes on grass surfaces or with flat shoes on artificial surfaces.

Gymnasts must perform with moves that incorporate tumbling and leaping. Those same gymnasts must also perform many moves demonstrating high levels of static balance. A balance training program should incorporate dynamic and static exercises where appropriate. The athlete's sport movements should also be trained as much as possible.

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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