DIY Balance Board

It's no secret that balance is important for Nordic skiers, who spend the vast majority of their workout time on only one foot. In looking for new ideas for circuit training, I had been thinking about incorporating a balance board for a while. They usually run about $80-$100 a pop (the Vew-Do type), but are really the most simple two pieces of material around. I've had one in my basement for the last few years that was little more than a piece of 2x4 resting on an old dumbbell.

So instead of breaking the team budget, I saved hundred-dollar cost (you could buy a whole ten grams of Gallium GigaSpeed wax for that!) and dug around the ski room for some building supplies.

The steps and photo's below are the process. It's pretty basic, and you don't have to do half the crap I did, like sanding, stenciling or getting grip patches...all you really need to do is saw a PVC Pipe and find a board. But I think it's cooler to fool around with some stuff...

Your basic materials...PVC (4 inch) and a strong board about 3 ft long. I sanded the board smooth, rounding the edges a little. A completely pointless step: I found some stencils in a box so I made a "SLUSKI" one. It came out pretty ugly. Whatever. While the spraypaint was drying on the stencil I biked down to the hardware store and spent the only money of the project: $3 for some stick-on sandpaper, aka griptape. Voila! Saw off the corners and call it good. What more do you need?