Login | December 08, 2025
Balance pod workouts
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: December 8, 2025
There’s no doubt that balance is as crucial a component to everyday life endeavors as it is to fitness endeavors.
And this reality becomes ever more apparent when you’re a senior.
Yet unfortunately balance exercising is often one of the most overlooked components of a person’s workout routine.
Because let’s face it, much like stretching, balance exercising can be pretty darned boring.
Thus, my solution’s been simple: Use various pieces of balance equipment to help spice up what would otherwise be a host of monotonous balance exercises.
Yup, rather than constantly relying on month after month of the old standbys, typically one-legged balancing poses, I enhance my balance training with devices like the stability ball, the bosu ball and the swivel board.
But I have to say that as of late I’ve been tinkering with a new item that’s really making my balance work, well, dare I say…fun.
I’m talking about balance pods.
Balance pods?
Indeed, these nifty little guys are small and inexpensive and they also enable you to progress from simplistic exercises to incredibly challenging exercises.
So let me use today’s column to talk about balance pods and how they could give you a “fun” as well as a challenging balance workout.
The balance pod is a far sight smaller than both that big and expensive $150+ Bosu ball and the balance ball and swivel board.
Typically balance pods are rounded 6-inch X 4.5-inch objects, and they come in several varieties.
One variety is flat on one side/smooth and arched on the opposite side, while the other variety is flat on one side/raised bumps on the opposite side (the bumps make it grippier).
So when you stand on a balance pod, you’ll end up being approximately two inches or less off the floor - a rather safe elevation if you’re someone who has significant balance issues.
And another nice feature for newbies is that you can use one pod under each foot.
This as opposed to the Bosu ball where you’re about a half foot off the floor with feet spaced very close together.
What’s more the pods also come in various levels of compressibility, where the least compressive types are harder to balance on than the more compressive types.
Balance pods are relatively inexpensive, starting in the $7 to $10 price range for a single pod, and in the $15 to $30 price range for four or more pods of differing compressions.
Okay, and now to what really gets me jazzed about using these things - the plethora of exercise they’ll support.
So let’s start out here from the basic and then work to the more complex.
First of all, if you’re a person with serious balance challenges, then you’ll definitely want to do your pod work next to a wall or railing so you can safely stabilize yourself when teetering on and off the balls.
And as I said earlier, newbies probably want to start with the most basic balance exercise - a pod under each foot.
Once you’re stability and confidence improve you can move to single leg work.
Then, as your single-leg balance gradually improves you can begin to think about doing your balance exercises without having “security holds” within grasping distance.
And remember: Different colored pods offer different levels of difficulty.
So you can graduate from easy levels of compressibility to harder levels. The next step in your balance progression would involve moving to the more complex exercises listed below.
1. Stagger four to eight pods such that you actually walk across them like stepping stones. Say for instance you have four pods, then you’d stagger the order to complete three steps of pod walking. Then turn around after the last pod and walk three steps back. I do this twice a week for about ten minutes to help me for my outdoor hiking excursions across rocky terrain. And as I’ve said…it’s actually fun.
2. Numerous exercises can be performed while standing on balance pods - squats, curls, presses, deadlifts, dumbbell raises, lunges, etc.
3. Some stretching/yoga exercises are doable on balance pods, thereby making the poses even more challenging - birddogs, bridges and planks are good examples.
So if you’re looking to make improvements in your balance, strength, stability and proprioception - not to mention looking to have a little fun at the same time - balance pods just might be your ticket.