Health Network News

Unless you’ve been asleep at the wheel, you’ve no doubt seen exercise balls around… In stores, on TV, at the gym or personal trainer’s or at a friend’s house. They’re very popular these days and are, arguably, the best single piece of fitness equipment available for getting into shape. They’re inexpensive to buy, easy and fun to use and amazingly effective at helping you to reduce fat and tone your core muscles, thereby giving you awesome abs. Exercise ball workouts are varied and specific to particular muscle groups.

First off, if you don’t yet have an exercise ball (also sometimes called a fitness ball or stability ball) you’ll need to go out and get one. Some are available for less than twenty dollars while others may be as much as fifty or more. Most are about the same — a big, rubber inflatable ball designed to hold weight of up to nearly a thousand pounds — but some come with extras such as how-to videos.

It’s important to make sure you get the right size ball. This will be dictated by your height. If you sit on the ball and place your feet flat on the floor in front of you, your knees should form a right angle. If this isn’t the case, you’ve gotten the wrong size. You will need to replace it with the correct size.

Once you’ve acquired your fitness ball you’re ready to go. Some may elect to enroll in a class at the gym to learn technique or use a personal trainer, but this isn’t necessary. There are plenty of sites online that explain not only the benefits of the exercise ball but exactly how to use it. The good sites have very clear and descriptive pictures and videos that you can look at and then mimic. If your ball came with a video that may be all you’ll need to get going.

The secret of the effectiveness of the exercise ball is its ability to work your core. This includes the muscles of abdomen, the back, the shoulders and some muscles of the neck. These are the muscles chiefly utilized in originating all body movement. Working them will benefit your entire structure and also make other exercises you do more effective and easier to accomplish.

Sitting on a fitness ball is not as easy as it may seem if you’re a beginner. Because it’s round and rolls, the tendency is to roll off or fall over. In order to prevent this, your core muscles are called into immediate action in order for you to maintain balance. They will automatically contract and flex, thereby exercising these important muscles. But this is just the beginning. There are dozens and dozens of exercises that can be performed with the use of this device.

It’s also nice to have specific exercises that target specific areas. Trunk extension works the back. Crunches target the abs. Bent knee bridge helps the hamstrings and buttocks. Superman works the upper, lower and middle back.

The best advice? Go online and type in the keywords ‘exercise ball workouts’. You’ll find numerous websites that explain all the hows and whys of using this awesome fitness device. There’s even one on there put up by the Mayo Clinic and you know those guys must be experts. There are great pictures and videos detailing exact movements to do. With an exercise ball, some desire and determination, you can’t go wrong.