A BOSU - which stands for Bottom Side Up - trainer is a balance board that can be used with either side up. It looks like a half swiss ball with a flat platform. Both sides of it - the inflatable dome or the flat plastic surface - provide different challenges for your muscles. Whether you use the flat side of BOSU for squats, pushups, sit-ups and lunges or stand on the dome while using free weights for such exercises as arm curls, shoulder presses and dead-lifts, your muscles respond.
The BOSU is an effective functional balance trainer, because you have to keep yourself steady while the dome moves under you. This training carries over to your daily life, when balance is affected by motion.
Using the BOSU will force you to stabilise your muscles as you go through a routine. This will improve balance while working the core muscles throughout the entire routine. This is a great way to make workouts more challenging.
Many people find it hard to stand up while balancing on the ball. This is one of the reasons why the BOSU is also used during rehabilitation treatment. The BOSU is a great piece of rehab equipment to help those with ankle or knee injuries, post-op hip surgery, and back pain. Benefits include better balance, coordination and proprioception. Therefore the BOSU is a great strengthening tool for injury rehabilitation and prevention.
Plyometric Training
You can use the BOSU ball for explosive movement. It is a method of training that enhances athletic performance by improving muscle elastic strength and explosiveness.
For instance, standing away from the ball you can squat down and jump up onto the ball landing in the squat position. Holding this position, you can then jump back down to the floor, getting as much height to your jump as possible by using the most amount of power you have.
All or None
You improve your muscular strength when you incorporate BOSU training into your workout routines. The strength is combined with better muscular control so your muscles do not fire on an "all or none" principle. The BOSU trainer improves the contractions of your muscles and your control over these contractions.
Slow and Steady
You know you've had a good workout when you feel discomfort in muscles you didn't know you had. Not only do you strengthen your major muscles such as your quadriceps, hamstrings, biceps and pectorals with the BOSU, you also strengthen the smaller, stabilising muscles. The stabilisers keep your knees from giving out during a squat, your elbows from collapsing during a pushup and your ankles from rolling during a lunge. The unstable surface of the BOSU improves the stabilisers, which leads to overall strength improvements.
Strength Training
Because the BOSU is unstable when it is used dome-side down, users are forced to use more muscles, thereby improving overall strength. The use of this unstable platform works muscles that are usually unused during typical workouts. Routine exercises such as lunges, squats, lifts, and push ups can also be more intense when the BOSU is used. This result is more challenging workouts. along with more effective strength training.
You will find that your core strength will be challenged when performing exercises on the BOSU. For instance, when performing a squat it’s not only your legs that are used for balance. Your core muscles will be working hard to keep your whole body steady and balanced.
The challenges and added intensity to workouts while using the BOSU will make your body adapt to new stimuli and keep workouts from being repetitive. So if you are looking to strengthen your muscles while adding a little variety to your workout, give the BOSU a try today!
If you’d like any more information regarding BOSU training feel free to contact me.
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