Summary
Strength coach Joel Youngkins challenges the common belief that training on unstable surfaces improves athletic balance. Drawing from his experience coaching at Youngstown State and working with motocross racers, he explains why standing on stability balls, Bosu balls, and balance boards actually limits force production and strength gains without meaningfully transferring to sport-specific balance. Youngkins presents three key principles for developing real-world balance: training on stable surfaces to maximize strength, building joint stability and spatial awareness through proper strength training, and recognizing that sport-specific skills (like riding a dirt bike) are the best balance training for that sport. He argues that the unstable surface exercises popular in fitness are essentially "circus tricks" -- specific skills that don't carry over to athletic performance.
Key Points
- Training on unstable surfaces reduces force production and limits strength gains
- Your body shuts down force output on unstable surfaces as a protective mechanism
- Joint stability is the real foundation of balance, like a house needs a solid foundation
- Spatial awareness (understanding where your body is in space) is more valuable than Bosu ball work
- Sport-specific practice is the best balance training for your sport
- Unstable surface exercises are "circus tricks" that don't transfer to athletic performance
- Focus on stabilizing ankles, hips, spine, and shoulders through strength training
- Physical therapy is the appropriate context for unstable surface training, not athletic development
Key Moments
Unstable surfaces reduce force production and limit strength
Youngkins explains that training on unstable surfaces actually makes athletes weaker because the body needs stability to produce force, comparing it to trying to jump on ice where the body shuts down force output for protection.
"you need to realize as an athlete when you're getting stronger that you actually need stability to get stronger and that when you're training on something unstable it's actually going to make you weaker as an athlete"
Joint stability is the real foundation of balance
Rather than training on unstable surfaces, Youngkins recommends focusing on joint stability and spatial awareness, comparing joint stability to a house foundation that keeps the structure balanced.
"If you can have good joint stability, your balance will be improved through the roof. This even happens in some of my older population clients that are just, you know, working professionals."
Sport-specific practice is the best balance training
Youngkins argues that for athletes, the best balance training is practicing their actual sport rather than performing gym-based balance exercises, citing champion motocross racers who excelled through riding skill rather than Bosu ball training.
"In reality, is it or is, you know, is just becoming a better racer helping you process things on the racetrack? So it doesn't just because you think something's hard or you're getting good at something does not always mean it's correlating to your skill set on the track. And and then to be honest, just like I said, like how you're building specific skills, you can't forget that riding the bike is really all the balance training you need as far as your sport goes."
