Tipping board exercises

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Tipping board exercises

Postby Hobbit » Tue Feb 10, 2004 7:55 am

Hi all,

Finally I decided to start doing the balancing drills at home daily. I got the instructions from Harald?s web site. So I went to the hardware store and they cut the plywood (3/4?? by 6?? by 12??) and 1?? dowels (14?? long) for me. Making the tipping board was easy, so I made a couple. I don?t know if it makes sense, but I think that I can simulate tipping and balance transfer while standing on two tipping boards. Also I am considering making few more tipping boards with the handrail (about 2?? diameter) instead of a 1?? dowel. I think 2?? board will be easier to work with for a beginner like me.

Just a week of balancing exercises made me much more aware of my feet. I realized (sadly) that I am usually skiing while standing mostly on the heel and balancing (or bouncing I would say) against the cuff of the boot. I think that bringing pressure to the front side of the boot would require a hill lift or boot modifications. So I guess balancing kind of ?sharpened? my foot sensibility but I don?t know if this is a common trend.

I wonder if anyone else is doing these drills and would share their experiences. In particular I am very interested in:

- How much time do you practice balance daily?
- What are objective and measurable goals in the exercise, for example balance on one foot for how many seconds, etc?
- What are the drills other than the ones mentioned on the Harald?s web site that you are doing?
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Postby Jeff Markham » Tue Feb 10, 2004 6:02 pm

I made a pair using the handrail, which has the advantage of a flat side for attachment to the board.

I haven't used them much. :-(

My intention was to work on sl-oo-wly tipping from side to side, with the desired effect of stronger ankles and more controlled weighted tipping.

Unfortunately, my feet shift around too much in street shoes for them to be of much use. Maybe if I were to either use hiking boots or my ski boots themselves...
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Postby Bluey » Tue Feb 10, 2004 7:57 pm

Hobbit,

I made one last season and found it really difficult to balance on......which surprised me as I have good alignment.

I perservered and found that my balancing skills improved but the ability to stay balanced on the board for more than 10 seconds has still alluded me. However I am getting noticably better at it and its an easy exercise to do whilst watching TV. I'm sure the breakthrough can't be too far off......kinda like juggling I guess.

I can't use it wearing regular shoes as either my feet slip around within the shoes so I've taken to standing on it in bare feet and gripping with my toes over the sides.
I'll try it using ski boots tonight and get back.

One real advantage for me was that I found it really worked on my feet, ankle and calf muscles and made then stronger. These were muscles that I couldn't seem to work on otherwise.



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Postby Bluey » Thu Feb 12, 2004 3:49 am

Hobbit,

One extra observation on this is that, in the Instructor Manual ( ref Pg Int -12 ) HH has two photos and the size of the pipe under the 2 different boards are different diameters.
One pipe is noticably wider in diameter than the other.....it would apper to me that the wider the diameter of the pipe than the easier it is to balance on the board on top.

Also, in these same 2 photos, it shows HH balancing in one photo in socks and in the other photo in, what appear to be, proper walking shoes.....therefore he should have better gripping attire using the shoes!!

I'm at a lost to undertand how HH could do it in socks.....Have you tried it in socks?

I'm obviously doing something wrong......



Anyway....it s back to the Board for me.....kinda addictive this board.......I'm gunna beat it before it beats me.....


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Postby Hobbit » Thu Feb 12, 2004 9:19 am

Hi Bluey,

I made a couple of those boards and the one I like is made with the 2?? handrail. The 1?? dowel is changing board angle very rapidly and is much harder to balance on. I am also experimenting with the board surface trying to make it less slippery. I?ll report the results later. My goal is to achieve greater tipping angles while wearing the ski boots.

Right now I am doing the exercises while wearing sneakers or ski boots. I am not sure if doing the exercise barefooted is a good idea since missing a footbed may force you to use a different move pattern. But I am no expert here. It just feels very different for me and I?d like to hear the opinions from PMTS professionals on this.

One additional exercise I started doing with the board is just standing on one foot and holding up to the wall with my arm. I just slowly rock the ankle from side to side for about 10 minutes on each leg to strengthen the muscles. This seems to help with the balance since those muscles are kind of week and are rarely exercised under normal circumstances.

Also, I believe some people consider these tipping board drills as an off-season exercise. The more I do it, the more I am convinced that you should to these drills every day and especially during a ski season.

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Postby Bluey » Thu Feb 12, 2004 7:46 pm

Hobbit,

Your right about the slippery surface.......
My board is kinda slippery.......but I've just realised that it's my fault.........I just checked page 20 of Book 2 and when I looked more closely at the photograph on that page I can see HH has some sort of special, probably non- stick, surface on the top of the board in the photograph........
I'm off to the hardware store to get something for the surface.

I've also realised the pipe under my board is not attached to the bottom of the board at exactly 90 degrees along the length of the bottom of the board .......that may explain some of my difficulties with my home-made board.

Thanks for starting this thread....it's caused me to take a fresh look at the construction of my board.....

Gotta go .....


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Postby Jeff Markham » Thu Feb 12, 2004 8:15 pm

Home Depot has adhesive-backed non-slip material available by the foot. It comes in about 3 degrees of roughness and in a couple of colors. I chose the grippiest stuff and applied it to my boards. If I remember correctly, it's in the section with painter's masking tape.
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Postby BigE » Fri Feb 13, 2004 7:51 am

How about using a skateboard with one set of wheels mounted in the middle?
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Postby Hobbit » Fri Feb 13, 2004 7:13 pm

Jeff,

Thank you very much for the tip. I went to the Home Depot and got the non-slipping tape. The product you've mentioned (sold by foot) has been discontinued so in some stores you might still be able to get the older stuff (which is cheaper). The replacement product is the Safety Walk (TM) Outdoor Thread tape manufactured by 3M which is sold only in packaged rolls. I've bought 2 in x 5 yd roll and applied two strips symmetrically. The stuff works great and holds shoes and boots to the maximum tipping angle with no problems. Now if only I could balance as well as the board works :) .

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Postby Hobbit » Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:18 pm

Few more notes.

If you watch Harald?s demo animation at http://www.harbskisystems.com/graphics/tip4anim.gif you may notice that he has a couple of teeter boards each one of different height.

The smaller dowel radius makes the board angle change more rapidly and the board is harder to balance. The 2?? handrail board is easier to balance but only if you are barefooted. If your shoes or sneakers have significant sole thickness, the situation is different since the overall ankle elevation is much higher. So when I do exercises barefooted I use the handrail-based teeter board but for shoes / boots I use the 1?? dowel board.

Also I found a very handy info in one of the Epic threads regarding the wobble board ( http://www.fitter1.com/exercises_wb.html ). Instead of ordering one for $60 + S&H I just made a couple. I got the ? ?? plywood disks (11 ? ?? diameter) and used cedar fence ball post caps. I cut the caps so that the ball height is about 2 ? ?? and used polyurethane glue in addition to the wood screw in order to attach it to the disk. Then I put 3 layers of polyurethane (used to cover hardwood floors). The sizes mentioned above produce the board angle about 18 degrees. The whole thing cost me less than $10 and it?s a really nice toy in addition to the tipping boards. Be careful not to damage your hardwood floors or carpet with it. If you don?t want to mess with building the thing, you may still find a cheaper wobble board on eBay for around 20 bucks.

Also somewhere on the wobble board info pages I found the note that you should do the exercises either in shoes / sneakers or barefooted but never in socks. Doing the tipping board balance exercises barefooted also seem to be much easier.

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Postby tommy » Wed Feb 25, 2004 5:49 am

Hobbit,

what would you say is the differences between the wobble-board and the tipping board, in terms of balance training for skiing ?

I recently purchased a wobble board which the sales person told me was "advanced", and have found that some 5-10 min daily exercise on each leg provides a good workout for the lower leg and foot muscles. However, I didn't have too much trouble balancing on the board already from start, so I don't know how much my skiing balance will benefit from exercising on this board.

Cheers,
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Postby Hobbit » Wed Feb 25, 2004 7:21 am

Hi Tommy,

I have only seen the picture of the board you?ve mentioned. The board I?ve made uses the wooden ball, which has approximately 1.5?? radius and support height is 2 ? ??. The board diameter is close to 12??. The advanced board is 16?? in diameter and provides the angle in a similar range. Therefore the support height must be proportionally larger. Also, judging on the advanced board picture, it appears that the spherical part of the support has even bigger radius (I would guess more than 3??). The ?flatter? support would make it much easier to balance. I think that your board is made ?numb? by design since its primary purpose is not balancing but the workout.

The board I?ve made is a real challenge to balance compared to the tipping board. Right now I am using it mostly for the workout. Rotational exercise is especially good. I think that with the similar support ?sensitivity? the wobble board is the real two-dimensional balancing device compared to the one-dimensional tipping board. It challenges your alt/fore balance to a much higher degree. I think that the ability to handle the sensitive wobble board corresponds to a much higher skill level in skiing.

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Postby tommy » Wed Feb 25, 2004 9:51 am

Hi Hobbit, & thanks for the answer!

I was thinking about making a tipping board as well, but I've been hesitating because my ability as a "handy man" is *very limited; I'd probably hurt myself... ;-)

I found a (tiny) picture of my wobble board:

Image


One thing I'd like to try is to have my boots on while standing on the board, but unfortunately the surface is way too slippery for that. It would be interesting to see what it feels like balancing with ski boots on. Maybe I could attach some rubber film on the surface.

One exercise I've found very challenging is to try to "roll" the board by tilting its edge towards the floor, without letting the edge touch (if fact, the board is high enough that if the edge would touch the floor, then you can't stand on it any more). An other exercise that is very challenging is when standing with both feet on the board, and flexing the knees. Haven't been very successful with this so far.

Cheers,
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Postby -- SCSA » Thu Feb 26, 2004 8:54 am

Hobbit,

I have the dyna disc, which is the same idea. And yes, it's definitely helped. My balance is way better since I started training with the dyna disc.

Aloha,
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Dyna Disc Exercises

Postby LM » Sat Feb 28, 2004 8:46 am

SCSA, glad to see that you are still using the dyna disc! :)
Check out this site http://store.yahoo.com/exertools/dytfa.html
If you scroll down, you can download a page and see some cool exercises.
LM
 

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