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Balance Exercises


Rehab1

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Even when you're not thinking about it, your body is balancing—in everyday life, when you exercise, and during your active pastimes. Riding an Electric Unicycle (EUC) is no different. I just requires additional proprioception (body awareness in space) and semotosensory fine tuning.

 Good balance and a strong core go hand in hand when riding an EUC. Plus, the better you balance the less likely you are to fall or injure yourself. If you haven't thought much about maintaining—or enhancing—your balance, now is as good a time as any to start, especially if you are beginning to ride a EUC.

   1. 
Change Your Base of Support. Balance is your ability to maintain your center of gravity over your base of support. When you're standing up, your legs are your base of support. The wider your legs are, the wider your base is and the easier it is to balance. The closer your legs are together, the narrower your base of support is and the harder it is to remain balanced. One of the easiest ways you can challenge (and therefore help improve) your balance during any standing exercise is to gradually narrow your base of support until your feet and legs are together while you perform your exercise. Bring your legs closer together while you do standing bicep curls, shoulder raises, or any other upper body movements. Be sure to keep your abs pulled in tight and make sure you're not leaning backward as you perform your exercises. 

2.Try It on One Leg. Once you've mastered doing an exercise with a narrow base of support, you're ready for the next challenge: balancing on a single leg. Instead of standing on both legs during some of the same moves above, try it on a single leg. Start by just lifting one heel (keeping your toes on the floor) while doing your upper body moves or working up to a single leg squat. As you get better, lift that foot off the ground completely. From there, you can play around with the position of your lifted leg—holding it behind you, in front of you, to the side or, for a greater challenge, moving that leg while you balance on the other leg and perform upper body movements. Just be sure to alternate legs to keep your strength and muscle tone balanced (no pun intended) between both sides of your body. Tip: You can also experiment with momentary one-leg balances. For example, on a forward lunge, lift your front or back leg for a moment each time your push up out of your lunge.

3. Close your eyes. Your sense of vision is a big part of the balance equation. It works hand in hand with the vestibular (inner ear) and proproceptive systems to maintain balance and prevent falls. By staring at a single focal point (minimizing your head and eye movement), you'll balance more easily. If you move your gaze or take vision out of the equation altogether, it's harder to balance. This option is definitely a challenge—not something for beginners and not something you can do in any given situation. You'll want to make sure you're in a controlled environment and that your body is planted (don't attempt this while walking or hiking or moving through space). You can start by just standing up tall and closing your eyes without moving. Over time, combine the narrow base of support with some one-leg balances while closing your eyes. You might be surprised how challenging it is to simply stand with your eyes closed, let alone stand on one foot or while doing a biceps curl. Just be sure to use your best judgment and listen to your body when trying this technique.


  By using these techniques and really paying attention to your body as you exercise, you should notice improvements in your balance, coordination, posture, core strength and agility when riding your ECU. This should help you to avoid spills during the learning curve and hopefully build your confidence when trying new and exciting riding techniques. Stay Safe! Daniel Cole –Rehab Specialist

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Interesting @Rehab1   I have been doing one legged balances with my eyes closed for years because I read somewhere that it helped stave off Alzheimers !  

So, you are advising these balance exercises should help with riding EUCs! 

I can ride a bicycle backwards [sitting on the handlebars] but reversing my EUC is still not a comfortable exercise after some 3 + months of practicing!!

Any other tips on fine tuning balance, riding backwards?

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For me it helps to keep in mind that balance comes from rolling+steering. That is, turning/twisting the wheel in the right direction while moving is what prevents us from stepping down (tilting helps a little bit, but only for a short time). Given that I can do this quite well rolling forward, the main issue is not my balance or perception per se. The main issue is to fine control and internalize the steering moves (small wheel twists). Also, going very slowly is notoriously difficult, but running off the wheel going backwards even at moderate speed is difficult as well, to say the least, so there seems no magic solution to this problem. 

I always mount forward and then switch to backwards (could be after 20cm forward move). Backward riding becomes more and more natural to me. I never hold on to something, just rode short distances and expanded them. I still cannot mount going immediately backwards, though it doesn't feel too difficult to get there now, I just never bothered to practice.

EDIT: forgot to mention, but the hardest part I find to constantly look back over my shoulder. For the moment I only can to it on one side reasonably comfortable.

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13 hours ago, AlanR said:

Interesting @Rehab1   I have been doing one legged balances with my eyes closed for years because I read somewhere that it helped stave off Alzheimers !  

So, you are advising these balance exercises should help with riding EUCs! 

I can ride a bicycle backwards [sitting on the handlebars] but reversing my EUC is still not a comfortable exercise after some 3 + months of practicing!!

Any other tips on fine tuning balance, riding backwards?

I hear you Alan. You possess more skills than myself and are having reverse troubles. My confidence just dropped a notch as I was hoping to become adroit riding backwards in the near future. You are correct that balancing has been noted to possibly impede Alzheimer's. Well we both might have issues learning the EUC retreat but are cortexes will hopefully remain healthy. 

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12 hours ago, Niko said:

For me it helps to keep in mind that balance comes from rolling+steering. That is, turning/twisting the wheel in the right direction while moving is what prevents us from stepping down (tilting helps a little bit, but only for a short time). Given that I can do this quite well rolling forward, the main issue is not my balance or perception per se. The main issue is to fine control and internalize the steering moves (small wheel twists). Also, going very slowly is notoriously difficult, but running off the wheel going backwards even at moderate speed is difficult as well, to say the least, so there seems no magic solution to this problem. 

I always mount forward and then switch to backwards (could be after 20cm forward move). Backward riding becomes more and more natural to me. I never hold on to something, just rode short distances and expanded them. I still cannot mount going immediately backwards, though it doesn't feel too difficult to get there now, I just never bothered to practice.

EDIT: forgot to mention, but the hardest part I find to constantly look back over my shoulder. For the moment I only can to it on one side reasonably comfortable.

That is good advice Niko. Never thought about switching to backwards almost immediately. I had a dual wheel before the NB 1 and it was a piece of cake. I will eventually get it. Right now I am having to much fun doing hand stands and 360 degree flips....in my dreams

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