As part of my post-Lochaber training strategy I am adding some strengthening and balance exercises to my routine every evening. I am using a wobble board to help strengthen my ankles – we’ve had this one for a while but I’d never really used it before.

This particular wobble board (or balance board) is made by Balanco – (www.jakobs.de). Yes – it’s great fun but does work too. It comes with different inserts that provide a range of different exercises and levels of difficulty for different requirements and different target groups. Here is the science bit….. it is designed to improve psychomotor/sensorimotor control and coordination and to enhance balance and general fitness.

Out of interest I looked it up on the internet and found it available on www.landofnod.com and described as recommended for age 3 or upwards!! (Did say it was great for parents too – I haven’t broken it yet so it’s okay I think).

It reminds me of the little games you used to get (like in Christmas crackers) where you had to get all the little balls into notches or little grooves.  Anyway, hopefully it’s doing some good while being fun (alright I’m really a big kid at heart).

Wobble boards of all types are available from numerous suppliers – (put wobble board or balance board into a search engine and you’ll get a long list of results)  including Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk.

Related:

Runners World article on ankle sprain

Runners World article on building stronger feet and ankles

Posted under diary, gadgets and gear