Balancing on Foam Roller

A seated chest press won’t improve your balance, but a reverse lunge (or any single leg movement really, single leg deadlift, split squat etc) certainly will, and it has the added benefit of being something you can add load.

For older trainees or even very uncoordinated / unathletic people regular bilateral squats can be a place to start though.

Balancing on a foam roller seems a little like the current fad for balance boards. I’m sceptical of the benefits.

Well, everyone does need to have a squat pattern of some kind in their training, there's no doubt about that.

"Just squat bro" kind of implies that squatting is the optimal solution for any or all training requirements, however, and I wouldn't say that's true. I also think "just squat bro" carries the connotation of barbell squatting, whereas in this case I would specifically be recommending a normal, healthy trainee work on single leg movements in particular.

From the point of view of wanting to be evidence based in your approach, I absolutely agree that's the way to go.

There's a lot of good evidence from a variety of studies of trainees with all kinds of needs (From athletes to frail/elderly) that strength training can be an effective intervention to improve balance. It's generally accepted that whole body strength, lower limb strength and endurance all have a direct relationship to balance (and reducing fall risk, which is closely related). Although we think of studies relating to balance and falling as only relating to elderly populations, they have also been carried out on athletes, and there's some really interesting studies that show that the more tired an athlete is the worse their balance is, and the greater their fall risk. Hence an application of strength and even endurance training to balance that layers on top of what single leg exercises can also bring to the table in terms of developing coordination, ability to stabilise and even stand and move on one leg.

With older trainees or people who are doing remedial balance training following injury, what is considered best practice is a combination of appropriate strength training accompanied by activities which have an approximation to tasks required. Stair climbing is a major one.

The issue I have with standing on a foam roller, and indeed balance board training, is that I can accept it has an application for specific sports such as skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding etc. but it is different enough from the way we navigate the world on foot, whether in everyday life or in field sports, that I'm inclined to agree with Cilian that it is a poor first choice for general balance training.

I'd go as far as saying that for most trainees even if they didn't do what I'm advocating as regards strength training, there is evidence that playing a sport such as football or tennis would show positive improvements in balance over time.