Category Archives: Balance and Coordination Training

All-Around Athlete, Alicia Weber Sets 11 Physical Fitness World Records and 2 Rare Strength Feats in 33 days!

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 By:  Alicia Weber

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Whenever I wasn’t exercising as a kid, I would kick back with a book on world record setting athletes and I would get enraptured.  I knew very early on I would be a world record setting athlete.  My doctor grandfather met many of the great athletes I read about and he shared stories with me.  He was a gastroenterologist  that wrote for the American Medical Association and he also knew that I would be a world record holder one day.  He had me be strict with my eating and exercise as he prepared me for a life of discipline and dedication to my passion —sports.

I was inspired most to read about the athletes of the 1920’s – 1960’s that overcame so much to set records and achieve extraordinary athletic achievements. The athletes of those days had to overcome war times, family and personal strife, and the Great Depression.  Today, I am now a world record setting athlete in many record books including…

Believe the Unbelievable: the Ultimate Book of World Records and the People who Pursue Them

I hold over 25 world records in strength, speed, and endurance.  From February 6, 2010 – March 9, 2010, I set 11 world records and 2 rare strength feats covering all 5 areas of physical fitness.

Muscular Strength and Endurance:  I started my world record rampage by re-setting my former 1 hour pullup world record by more than 150 reps for 721 reps an hour(enroute to re-setting my 30-minute WR) on February 6, 2010.  I then re-set my 1 minute, 3 minute, and 1 hr chin up world records.  In early March I became the 1st Woman to set an endurance 1-Arm Pushup World Record by completing 105 reps in 10-minutes. See here for Official Pullup/Chinup  and Pushup World Record Results.
One Arm Pushups


Alicia’s One Arm Pushups

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Cardiovascular Strength and Endurance:  During high school an easy day would be jump rope  running around the track 25 times for 10,000 meters. I would use a light weight speed jump rope.  The jump rope endurance training prepared me to set records and compete on the National level during high school in events from 800m -10,000m runs with U.S.A Track and Field.  I started in 7th grade and my best event was the 400m( I qualified for the 1996  Junior Olympic National Championship in that event) but didn’t compete as I focused on my distance running and became a National Champion in distance running.  Today, I started with the 400m jump rope track run and set a world record using a weighted 1.5lbs jump rope on February 21, 2010.  I then set 2 more jump rope world records with the weighted 1.5lbs jump rope in single-foot rope skipping for 30-seconds and 3-minutes.  Visit Alicia’s myspace to watch jump rope videos.

Flexibility and Abdominal Strength and Endurance:
On February 17, 2010, I completed 17 consecutive reps of Ring Dips in 1-minute to set a world record.  The ring dips were done in a difficult way to add the elements of both flexibility and abdominal strength and endurance in with the exercise. I kept my legs in L-Feat position with my legs perpendicular to my torso. *The hardest type of ring dips are where the legs are held straight out and parallel to the ground – those are officially called “Ring L Dips”.
Double Screen Showing of 17 Ring Dips

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Note:  I also set an abdominal endurance world record on September 26, 2009 where I did 613 situps (legs held down, hands behind ears, elbows must touch lateral knee each time for rep to count) in 30-minutes.

 Balance and Stability:
From March 6 – 9, 2010, I did a variety of strength/balance pushups for records on 2 and 3 med balls measuring 22 cm diameter.  I did 35 reps of pushups while balancing on 3 med balls for an official world record.  I then did 2 other types of balance/strength pushups that  observers described as “rare and difficult”. These 2 other pushups were completed on 2 and 3 med balls with an elevated leg.  Due to the specialization and rare nature of these 2 types of pushups, they were not officially published in the current record books.  However, they may be entered in a future record book.  Med ball balance exercises are very common to Olympic Kayakers.  As a K-1 sprint kayaker, I need to constantly challenge my balance in order to become a better and stronger kayaker, since the sport at the highest level is about being able to balance on such a skinny, tippy boat.  Here are highlights of the 2 types of rare and difficult medicine ball pushups. 


2 Rare and Difficult Strength/Balance Feats

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My current records are 6 reps for a minute of 1 elevated leg 2 med ball pushups (22 cm diameter) and 25 reps for 1 minute of 1 elevated leg 3 med ball pushups.  My World Records are also listed online with World Record Holder’s Republic and the Book of Alternative Records.  I continue to chase new world records and re-set my own.

Outside of world record setting, I compete in 10-sports as an elite athlete and I am a fitness trainer. Some of my sports include sprint kayak, triathlon, trail and mountain distance running, track and field, rowing, road racing, time trial bike racing, open water swimming, and stand up paddle boarding.  I have published a book on physical fitness and it is available online here.

*Learn more,  find Alicia on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/Awinningway
*I am also an entertainer and I do “character comedy”.  You can get a glimpse of my strength feats & comedy on youtube at ‘AliciaAndClan’


Importance of Balance Training

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I have been selected as a premiere fitness expert at yourhealthupdates.com The following article has made the most popular article list for that site. Below, I provide the article again with follow-along-video demonstrations. Thank You & Enjoy! ~Alicia Weber

One may ask, what is balance training and what are the benefits?

It can benefit a person in so many ways and it starts with the spinal cord.

The spinal cord is involved with voluntary and involuntary movement where information is carried up and down the spine by bundles of fibers in the central nervous system (CNS) where sensory and motor information signal a movement. The goal would be to build a faster reaction with technical movements. First, try dribbling a basketball and notice how little concentration is invloved. Now, try dribbling a Reaction Ball – WOW, what a difference! Concentration and level of difficulty is 10 fold and one can feel the impulses to react!

Try the Following Reaction Ball Drill

This is just the beginning of the effects of balance training…

Proprioception is the ongoing awareness of body position or joint position and it is regulated by sensory organs (i.e. eyes, ears, and specialized receptors in tendons, joints, and muscles). Proprioception gets challenged in balance training too! The visual sense gives pertinent data about external stimuli and are extremely important in skilled performances. Try a simple “eyes shut” exercise, while standing on one foot to see how your propioception is challenged in balance training. Sometimes you may feel like you want to wave your hands around to maintain equilibrium. This signals coordination involvement in balance.

Try Some Beginner to Intermediate Bodyweight Eyes Shut Drills

Coordination involves an involuntary response that results in specific motor response with that response being dependent on the type and duration of the stimulus received. So in everyday activities coordination is rarely challenged. However, try to balance on 1 foot – turn one arm clockwise, the other arm counter-clockwise, and the other leg clockwise then counter clockwise. Now, we are talking about coordination! The results of working on that exercise over time will be building stronger somatic reflexes (reflexes involving skeletal muscle contraction).

Try Some Multiple Movements in Different Directions to Advance One’s Coordination

Balance training is challenging body equilibrium and teaching nervous and sensory receptor systems to perform highly skilled movement patterns.

How can balance training help the elderly?

As I trained patients with high-level neuromuscular and neurological conditions, the best results came from combining “eyes shut” exercises with coordination exercises all while doing a light aerobic activity. Results and graduation to a new fitness level were achieved in 4-weeks. Aerobic activity alone produced no results and coordination drills with eyes open only produced minor results. So to get the most out of balance try an array of activities such as the examples above.

How can balance help kids and adults?

When in good health, a person wouldn’t even recognize their nervous system and muscles executing a simple movement, but when there is a problem their nerves and muscles can become impaired. People can easily begin reaping rewards from balance training and apply them to sports like tennis and basketball. Balance training also strengthens muscle stabilizers, so if you are apt to get ankle sprains – then regular balance training can fix that problem!

Do you have weak ankles or have trouble balancing on 1 foot? If so, you can work on turning the weakness into a strength with the video below.

Here is an easy 2-minute exercise to strengthen muscle stabilizers in your feet to improve your balance and stability.

Watch my client master a very difficult balance exercise that also works the core and quads!

Contact Alicia Weber for online personal training or in-person training in Central Florida at Awinningway@gmail.com