A trend that doesn’t appear to be abating in the sports world is core stability (balance) training. In soccer the core and stability training has taken many different forms. Most popular is to do balance exercises on uneven surfaces.
The coaches and trainers who are promoting this type of training, believe that most players do not have ample strength of the hip, abdominal, and lower back muscles (which make up the body core). This additional strength is needed to stabilize the body during execution of various soccer skills, especially kicks.
There is no questioning the fact that the midsection and hip muscles should be strong not only for stability, but for movement in many different directions and many kicking actions. The problem, however, is in how the muscles are being exercised for strengthening.
One of the foremost principles of effective training is to maintain a stable position in order to execute the movement with good form and safety. The more unstable your basic position, the more prone the player becomes to injury.
The key here, is that if you want to develop greater balance, then you should do balance training. If you want to develop greater stability, then you should do exercises for greater stability, which in reality entails greater strengthening of the muscles involved.
This applies to not only strengthening the muscles to maintain you in an erect balanced position, but to stabilize the joints involved in every skill execution.
The main problem with balance training is that you develop only static strength which does not transfer to dynamic strength which is needed in gameplay. In addition, you have a short range of motion over which you gain better balance. This in turn increases your chances of injury when performing on the field.
Today they are calling core stability training functional training. In reality, this is a far-fetched idea because there is no functionality involved. If functional means execution of everyday or sports activities more effectively, the first question that should be asked is whether you are ever in an unstable position and then have to apply force.
For example, are you in an off-balance position when you execute a kick for distance or when taking a shot on goal? Are you off-balance during your running and cutting actions? Most likely you are not, especially if you have been practicing these skills for a period of time.
Understand that in the process of executing various skills, the body automatically contracts the necessary muscles in an isometric contraction to stabilize the body. This in turn allows you to execute the skill effectively.
Thus if you repeat this action a sufficient number of times and if you have been doing any strength exercises for the muscles involved, especially the legs, hip and midsection, you will be sufficiently prepared to execute the skills well. As a result, you will not have to do additional balance training.
The critical point in this discussion is that doing core stability (balance) training does not prepare you for dynamic full-range movements. As a result many soccer players who do only core stability training, experience problems when participating in games. Keep in mind that there is no correlation between static and dynamic strength!
For information on core stability training and some of the best full range of motion strength exercises that will also provide you with great balance see Biomechanics and Kinesiology of Exercise and Build a Better Athlete.