Balance in Perspective

Yesterday I was talking to Steve Odgers, former Director of Conditioning for the White Sox, and one of my former athletes. He was relating the emphasis at the NSCA Convention on training Balance. This was something he and I instituted years ago in his training and in working with the White Sox, especially the pitchers. His feeling, one that I share, is that that there is now a misplaced emphasis on static balance. It is about balance in motion, not balance in stillness. The missing ingredient is that without the ability to reduce and produce force all the balance work in the world will be ineffective. In our programs now it is about five minutes out of a ninety minute session. It is a small part of a big picture.