Learn To Balance On A Gym Ball

People are always coming up with new ways of doing exercise and physical fitness, there is a particularly new and exciting way of exercising that has become very popular - gym balls. some reasons for the popularity of these exercises are that it’s extremely portable, it’s low impact (therefore it’s particularly quiet), it doesn’t require much space and it is very economical.

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. Many folks simply use this ball in place of their chair at work. When sitting on a Swiss ball, it feels quite natural to make small rocking movements rather than just sitting still which obviously works the core and also provides a small amount of exercise even while just sitting around.

But when it is used in the course of normal exercise the Swiss ball is an amazingly versatile piece of exercise equipment. Most of the exercises using the Swiss ball work the core primarily but all of these exercises work secondary muscles at the same time and you can also emulate the same kind of exercises that you can do on home gym equipment.

The first time I encountered a Swiss ball was at the gym where the instructor showed me how to do press ups with my feet balanced on the 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 of 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 the same principle - some part of the body is elevated on top of the Swiss ball and this part of the body is encouraged by gravity to dismount from the top of the ball. This may sound quite basic and you might assume that there aren’t many exercises that can be done in this manner. But you only have to do a quick search on youtube for the term Swiss ball exercise and very soon you will usually find that there are absolutely loads of different exercises that you can usually do on a Swiss ball.

In fact, once you try attempting these exercises and trying new ones you will usually probably start inventing your own novel ones before long. Going back to the press up with your feet on the Swiss ball, once you attempt this you will usually notice that it not only works on the core, but it adds a new angle to the upper body work that you do. As you will discover while doing press ups the whole of your upper body eventually starts to quiver and shake 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 using the Swiss ball for exercise is so effective.

As mentioned, there are lots of exercises that can usually be done with the Swiss ball. But if we scoot ahead to the advanced level one of the hardest but most advantageous methods of using the Swiss ball is to do exercises while standing on top of it. This is not recommended for beginners as it can usually be very perilous. Once one is ready to attempt these more difficult exercises, you should first learn to kneel on the Swiss ball. Then once this has been mastered, you can progress to standing on top of it.

Again, by searching youtube you will usually locate some excellent examples of exercises that you can usually do while standing on 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 bear in mind while attempting to master the skill is that when the ball throws you off the landing can usually be particularly painful, therefore safety mats should be used to start at all times. Obviously, the most common occurrence is for the legs to slip off the side of the ball which is the equivalent of your feet going from under you - such as when slipping on ice. Please consider this because the main reason for exercising in the first place is to improve your health, not to damage it.

Once you have conquered standing up on a Swiss ball, you are a Swiss ball master and will have incredibly strong core and legs and an incredible ability to balance.