5 Reasons Why Balance Exercises are Important for Runners

Balance exercises should be incorporated into every runner’s training regimen.

Why? Because if you were to take a snapshot of yourself running, you would notice that it essentially is a one-legged action. In other words, you are switching from standing on one leg to another. This post will address five reasons why all runners should be incorporating balance into their training routines.

**This is not medical advice. Please consult your medical provider for more information.

Running is a Single-Legged Action

Take a snapshot of anyone who is running and you will notice the same thing with everyone: running is one-legged. During the running cycle, there are two instances where the legs can be. Either both are in the air at the same time or one leg strikes the ground at a time. This means that a good way to train for running is to practice and perform exercises that involve one-legged actions. Single leg balance exercises are great for this!

Cross Training Reduces the Risk of Injury

Have you ever heard of a football player participating in dance to help with footwork? Curious as to why golfers incorporate lifting workouts? This incorporates the idea of cross training.

Cross training is a way of using various forms of exercise, skill work, training, etc. different from an athlete’s main sport in order to develop or fine tune something specific required of their main sport. In the football example above, football players may take dance lessons in the off season in order to improve their footwork come time for when they are in season.

Cross training helps reduce the risk of injury by preventing overuse injuries and by training multiple facets required of each individual sport.

Balance Exercises Improve Running Efficiency

Balance exercises improve running efficiency by helping an individual maintain their center of gravity. Without maintaining the center of gravity, we would be off balance. Each person has a slightly different center of gravity depending on their body shape and the positioning of their limbs. Simply put, running efficiency is achieved by running as quickly as you can in a straight line and balance training helps you achieve this.

Training Balance Improves Your Stability

If you step on a rock while you are running, you need to have the ability to react quickly to stabilize yourself so you don’t roll your ankle. If you switch from running on hard concrete to soft grass, your body needs to be able to adjust to the newer surface. Training balance, especially on one leg, helps improve your stability so your body can react and make these quick changes to help protect you from injury. This is the difference between rolling your ankle and keeping yourself upright and continuing running.

Better Neuromuscular Control = Better Proprioception

Our balance is acted upon by three different systems: the somatosensory system, the vestibular system, and the visual system. The somatosensory system refers to what we perceive when our bodies touch and feel different things, like our foot striking the ground. The vestibular system is the workings of the inner ear and the small crystal-like structures that help detect movement. And the visual system is straightforward – its what we see. All three of these systems work together to tell us where our body is at in space.

By training our balance and neuromuscular control, we are directly improving proprioceptive input to the body.

TL;DR

Runners should be incorporating balance exercises into their training regimen because running is a one-legged action. It takes balance, proprioception, and stability to be able to run to protect against injury and improve running efficiency. Cross training in this manner can ultimately improve your form as a runner.