Below are a few ways to train your balance both in and out of position. Try to always challenge yourself, don’t become lazy and just do the same thing as in previous sessions. You will quickly hit a plateau and stop developing. Also, balance needs to be maintained now and again to not decline. Put this kind of training into your plan in the beginning of the season or off-season. Preferably, the balance should just work when you are you are working on other parts in the technique. With a particular focus on this task you will quickly gain in performance and will later in the season just have to maintain it.
In position:
The first step is to feel your balance shift when in position. Get into position, settle down and relax. Feel how the center of gravity shifts from the toes to the heel and back again. The goal is to be aware of how it’s suppose to feel when in control. This is important for later when the training is done on a more unstable ground. The next step is to do the same but with the eyes closed. Get into position, relax and close the eyes. Try to always be relaxed (applies to everything in shooting), it is much harder being well balanced without being in a proper relaxed state at the same time so the two go hand in hand. Focus on standing as still as possible, feel the balance shifting.
After being aware of the correct feeling and how the feet controls the body sway it’s time to take it to the next level. Add an unstable ground like a wobble board. It is basically a flat board resting on a concave surface. There is really no point in having a standard wobble board where you can move in all directions since the position is only unstable side to side. A standard board will cause too much instability in unusual directions to draw attention away from the task at hand. A wobble board suited for training in position has only one direction of movement and is easy to make yourself.
Balance board. A piece of mdf resting on two wood blocks with a concave top.
Cut out a square of mdf in a size big enough for you to stand in position on. Fit two concave pieces of wood with a width of 3-4 cm and a height of 5 cm under both sides. My pretty picture to the left shows how one can look like. If done correctly, standing on it will increase the side to side movements. Instead of a bigger board you can make a smaller one for each foot. Easier to fit into the training bag and bring with you. The book “Ways of the Rifle” have an example of this.
While standing on it (or them), try to find the balance by moving your feet until you are reasonable stable. If your position has any problems with balance it will be exaggerated and this could be a way to find out and correct it. Stay relaxed and get into position. This is not as easy as it sounds, especially not the first time doing it. A training progression could look something like this: just stand on it, with a rifle in position, in position with head on cheek piece looking down, looking through the sights, shooting and finally with your eyes closed. Obviously, the difficulty can be increased by changing the radius of the concave surface. Smaller radius equals increased body sway.
In case you don’t have the possibility (or don’t want to) to make a wobble board there are other ways. The first level is to take off your shoes and stand barefooted on the floor. You can then add more instability by simply standing on two pillows, a folded blanket or just anything soft that will force you to have a better control of your balance at all times. Close your eyes and feel the balance shifting. Relax.
As in most trainings, only keep the sessions (or part of training session) short enough so you don’t loose focus and long enough to increase in performance. 15-20 minutes is usually enough.
Outside of position.
When it comes to balance training outside of shooting position, only your imagination sets the boundaries. The obvious choice here is the standard wobble board, a very useful tool. You can stand on it normally, with one leg or with your eyes closed. Doing exercises on it has become popular lately (some of them falling under the term functional training) which I am not a fan of. You will gain more from your balance training by adding more difficult exercises instead of weight. The other side is you won’t really gain anything in strength either since the weights you are using will be too light. Either way, a wobble board works well for its intended purpose. Instead you can use squats and one-legged squats. They both put a lot of stress on the ankle muscles which play a major role in maintaining an upright stance. Running in terrain is another way to both increase in strength and balance.
Another very easy way to train balance is to stand on one leg with the arms above the head. To add difficulty, just close the eyes. This is a nice one to use just before starting a training session, activates the stability muscles quickly. Walking on a bar or rope-walking puts a lot of focus on balance as well, but all ways you can think of that creates an unstable surface and force you to focus on balance will work well.
Remember to continue add difficulty when you have mastered the current level. Yes, longer training sessions have a place since a match is over 75 or 105 minutes but try to mix it up between time and increased difficulty to continue up the performance.
Summary
There are multiple ways to train the balance both in and out of shooting position. Wobble boards works well when out of position. Stand on a bar or just on one leg. Make a one-directional wobble board for training in your shooting position. Stand on some pillows, with or without the eyes closed. The possibility’s are several. When it comes to training time, keep it relatively short (15-20 min) so as to stay focused all through the session. Sometimes a longer session has its place but try keeping a balance between time and difficulty. During other training periods just add a balance session once a week to maintain the current level.
Two articles on the subject (from this website):
airrifleshooting 