It is pretty amazing how something as simple as a Snipers hockey balance board can have such a powerful impact on the people that use it regularly. The game of hockey challenges the players to be full of strength, stamina, and agility. Practicing on a balance board for a little while every day strengthens the core muscles that every player needs to be a great champion. How can this be so? Keep reading and you will soon understand.

Building Your Core

Every time that you activate your core muscles, and hold them, you build strength for them. Your core is what gives you the ability to walk right, and balance. When you do situps, you engage your core, when you do leg lifts, you engage your core, when you do pullups, you also engage your core. Although these exercises are incredibly good for you, what really strengthens the core is staying balanced when it is challenging to do so. One of the greatest rewards that a person can get from using a balance board to practice with is that it cultivates the kind of coordination that the body needs the most when it is time to be agile, and multifunctional.

Strength Building Drills

Another perk of using a balance board to improve your hockey skills is that you can perform specific drills that have been created to build endurance, strength, and agility. For instance, if you balance yourself on your board and practice some basic stickhandling exercises you will not only gain stickhandling skills, but you will add power and grace to your agility skills. As challenging as it is to stay balanced on ice skates, just imagine how much more challenging it is to stay balanced on a board, while you practice. Try a few of these core blasting stances:

  • Do a low squat
  • Squat with your arms straight out
  • Squat while balancing your stick
  • Practice hockey ball drills

Blasting Your Agility

Being light on your feet, or skates is an invaluable trait. Whether you are skating on synthetic ice or rollerblading on the concrete agility is a huge factor. The better that you can maneuver your way around the rink, the more dangerous of a player you become to the other team. With vigorous training every day you can bring your agility capabilities higher than ever before. The balance board is not a pair of skates, but it is actually harder to stay balanced on one than it skates. The extra strength that you gain from a balance board can follow you from the board to the rink and come in handy when you need it the most.

Sharpening Your Mind

As soon as you stand on a balance board and begin to feel the shift beneath your feet, you are sharpening your mind. You might not even be aware of it, but when you struggle to remain balanced your brain is in direct communication with every muscle in your body that you need in order to maintain your balance. Even if you need to move your right pinky finger a little to the left, your brain is signaling you to do so. When this is happening you need to stay focused, or you will fall. When you strengthen the focus of your mind for long periods of time, you gain sharpness and vitality in your brain that extremely valuable in hockey and everything else that you do.

Pushing Your Limits

After a time your balance board may become easier and easier for you to practice on. When this happens, crank up the heat a little bit. For each drill that you do, move a little faster, and challenge yourself to be better than before. As you develop more strength and agility because of your practice, you will become stronger and more confident in your game. Never allow yourself to become too confident to practice. The moment that you stop practicing is the moment that your competitors already beat you.