Skill Board : FirstLook

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We did FirstLooks for two balance trainers (Devebor and TerraCore) when the at-home market started gaining traction. We continued using both when the pandemic hit, and they have gone a long way in keeping us from sliding into Pandemic degeneration.

The balance trainers have been really helpful in strengthening our core, and useful in upping the difficulty levels of our solo martial arts exercises. In January, based on suggestions from readers, we added a third option to the mix, the Skill Board.

The Skill Board will absolutely challenge us in ways the other two cannot. We are taking our time in carefully working up to the Skill Board, because:

1. it’s hard, and
2. you could hurt yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing and aren’t yet able to do the things you’re trying to do.

Potential ow‘s aside, we are excited to add it to our solo training rotation!

Skill Board

The Skill Board balance trainer is a large, laminated wooden board, shaped a little bit like a short, stubby surfboard. The board rides on top of a rugged inflatable ball. The design and combination of board and ball helps develop core strength and offers 360° balance challenges.

The smooth board should be used barefoot and the grip board with shoes. We got the smooth one, because grip tape can be applied later to convert the board into a grippy one.

• Skill Board dimensions: 36.5″ x 19.5” (93x50cm)
• Large ball dimensions 9″ (23cm) diameter

The ball is made of a thick tough material, has a nubby texture, and a max psi of 4. When inflated, it has the approximate size of a soccer ball.

Unlike the pumps of the other balance trainers, the Skill Board’s is a lot more sophisticated. It has a metal needle, a pressure readout gauge, and behaves like a bike tire pump when assembled.

The 1/2″ thick laminated board has curved concave ends and a smooth clear finish on both sides. It is rated strong enough to accommodate 300 lbs.

Setup

The only real step for its FirstUse is to inflate the ball. The pump supplied needed to be assembled before use, a la:

1. Attach the gauge to the block w/the needle, and
2. Attach the hose to the body of the pump.

Once assembled, the pump will display the pressure directly on the gauge during pumping.

We are excited to give the Skill Board a go! However, we can see that using the Skill Board is going to be a lot more challenging than our other balance gear. We are going to start slow and gradually increase the level of difficulties instead of our typical dive in head first and see approach…LOL.

Will have more soon!!!

Links to items mentioned:

• Skill Board Balance Board
• Devebor
• TerraCore