People are always coming up with new ways of doing exercise and physical fitness, but there is a new game in town that is all the rage – exercise balls. some reasons for the explosion in popularity of this type of exercise are that it is extremely portable, it is very low impact (therefore it is very quiet), it can be carried out in a very small area and the equipment doesn’t cost very much.
Probably the most popular exercise ball in use at the moment is the Swiss ball. It is an inflatable ball usually around 65 or 75 cm diameter. Quite a lot of folks just replace their work chair with a Swiss ball. When sitting on a Swiss ball, it feels quite natural to make small rocking movements rather than just sitting still which works the core and also provides a small amount of exercise even while just sitting there.
But when it is used in the course of normal exercise the Swiss ball is an amazingly versatile piece of kit. Many of the exercises using the Swiss ball primarily work the core but all of the exercises work the secondary muscles at the same time and it’s also possible to emulate the same kind of exercises that you can do on home gym equipment.
One day while I was working at the gym, a gym instructor showed me how to do press ups by putting my feet on top of the ball. While doing this, the feet attempt continually to roll off the top of the ball, therefore as well as the usual benefits that can be gained from doing press ups, the core is constantly working while trying to stop the feet from rolling off the sides of the ball.
Most of the Swiss ball exercises are based on similar principles – a part of the body is balanced on top of the ball and this part of the body is encouraged by gravity to roll off the side of the ball. This may sound quite basic and you might assume that there are only a handful of exercises that can be done in this way. But you simply have to do a search on youtube for the term Swiss ball exercise and very quickly you will usually find that there are literally loads of different exercises that you can normally do with a Swiss ball.
In fact, once you try attempting these exercises and trying new ones you will usually most likely begin creating your own original ones before long. Returning to the press up with your feet on top of the Swiss ball, once you have attempted this you will usually notice that it not only works on the core, but it also adds a new angle to the upper body toil that you do. As you will probably discover during press ups the whole of your upper body eventually starts to shake and quiver due to the extra forces transferred from the feet all the way down the body to the arms. This is one of the many reasons why it is so effective to use the Swiss ball for your exercises.
As mentioned, there are loads of exercises that can normally be done using the Swiss ball. But if we jump ahead to the more advanced levels one of the most difficult but most beneficial methods of using the Swiss ball is to carry out exercises while standing on it. This is not recommended for beginners as it can normally be rather hazardous. Once you are ready to attempt these advanced exercises, you should initially learn to kneel on the Swiss ball. Then once this has been mastered, you can advance to standing on top of it.
Again, by looking on youtube you will usually locate some great demonstrations of exercises that you can normally carry out while standing on top of a Swiss ball. When searching, you will find that they have a variety of names such as Swiss balls, balance balls and exercise balls. One of the most important things to consider while trying to learn the skill is that when the ball throws you off the landing can normally be very painful, therefore safety mats should be used to start at all times. Obviously, the most common occurrence is for the legs to slide down the side of the ball which is the same as your feet going from under you – just like when slipping on ice. Please consider this as the fundamental reason for exercising is to improve your health, not to damage it.
When you have mastered standing on a Swiss ball, you are a Swiss ball master and will have amazingly strong legs and core and an outstanding balance ability.