It’s a Fine Balance workout

Posted on: December 2nd 2012

A Fine Balance is an interval workout to promote balance, stability, and agility.This workout is going to help you be light on your feet, hit harder, and be more resilient to being hit on the track. Read on for the how, the why, the dos and the don’ts.

Exercises like these test your body in an e-centric way – putting you off-balance or using one side at a time. It’s important to include these kinds of moves in your regular routines because guess what, when someone is blocking you out and you’re trying to stay in bounds, you’re using the same kinds of muscle interactions!

Equipment: Three cone-like objects Timer: stopwatch – 30s intervals repeating x 24

Workout: Four rounds of:

  1. 3-cone reach – 30s per side
  2. Turnover pushups – 60s
  3. 1-2-3 cardio cones – 60s
  4. Rest – 30s

Finish: one foot balance eyes closed, 60s each side

The three cone reach is a one foot balance exercise. Make sure you squat down for each reach, don’t just bend at the waist. Reaching away from your body while you squat and bend will push your stabilising muscles.

Turnover pushups are an amazing move that hits just about every muscle group. You want to raise your ‘outside’ foot on the pushup (the foot opposite the side that you’re going to turn towards). It’s a bit confusing but watch the video and it should become clear. Try to make a flat table-top in the middle of the turnover move. (Note: I could barely lift my arms over my head the day after I did this!!)

The 1-2-3- cardio cones will push your agility and cardio. Aim to be light on your feet, lots of quick steps. Return back to the centre position between each cone touch.

Take a 30 second breather and then repeat the series three more times.

At the very end it’s my stealth ankle & knee health move, a one foot balance with eyes closed. Watch the video for the how and why there.

What did you think? What was the hardest part of this workout for you? Post a comment below and join the conversation.

Xo Booty

PS: Share this workout with a friend or a teammate and help them become a stronger derby athlete too!

5 thoughts on “It’s a Fine Balance workout

  1. Hi Booty,
    Just wanted to share that the text on the post differs from the text in the video:

    Video:
    3-cone reach – 30s per side
    Turnover pushups – 60s
    *1-2-3 cardio cones – 30s*
    Rest – 30s
    *End: one leg balance 30s per side*

    Text:
    3-cone reach – 30s per side
    Turnover pushups – 60s
    *1-2-3 cardio cones – 60s*
    Rest – 30s
    *End: one leg balance 60s per side*

    Tonight I did the workout as listed in the text, and my timer ran out before I finished the fourth round. If you count the 30s rests, I think it needs to be 28x30s. 32×30 to include 2x60s balance.

    It was a great workout!

    1. Woah! Good catch! you are correct – it should be 60 seconds of the cardio cones, and 60 seconds per foot of balancing. I will see about editing the video! Thanks for the heads up and glad you liked the workout despite the glitch!

  2. Woweeeee! Did this as the first HIIT of PUYJ week 2 – what a way to kick off the week! You know it’s a good workout when by the end you’ve stripped off all non-essential layers of clothing. :)

    I set up two different stations of cones at opposite ends of the room, then did the push-ups in the middle, that allowed me to just get right to the intervals. Also, might I suggest a little Salt N Peppa to get through this beast? ;) Sure helped me!

  3. Yep, turnover pushups were the killer. Thanks, BQ!

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