Stability Ball Exercises With Weights

According to "Optimum Performance for the Fitness Professional," stability ball exercises strengthen your core and other postural muscles to prevent low back and hip weakness and increase your body's proprioception (body awareness of its position). The unstable environment requires your body to recruit more motor units to produce strength during free-weight exercises. When you train on an unstable environment, the amount of weight you can lift on a stable environment (such as on a bench) will increase.

Dumbbell Chest Press

This exercise strengthens your pelvis and stabilizers in your spine as you do a traditional dumbbell chest press. To perform it, lie on a stability on your upper back and head with your lower back and buttocks off the ball. Your legs should be hip-distance apart. Start with your arms extended in front of you with the dumbbells over your chest. Keep your butt up and tight at all times. Then lower the weights to your chest with your elbows out to the sides. When you feel a slight stretch in your chest, push the dumbbells back up.

Stability Ball Scaption

This exercise series focuses on strengthening the areas in your shoulder blades, rotator cuffs and rhomboids (muscles between the shoulder blades), and increasing shoulder joint mobility. You should use no weights to start before adding light weights. To execute a stability ball scaption (movement where the shoulder blades pull together), lie on a stability ball on your stomach with your chest off the ball and your feet slightly apart against a wall for support. Your spine and hips should be in a straight line when viewed from the side. Next, exhale and lift both arms above your head with your thumbs pointing up. Hold for one deep breath and lower your arms down in front of you. Then lift your arms up again and reach up to make a letter Y with your body. Hold for one deep breath and lower your arms down. Finally, lift your arms up behind your body and externally rotate your arms and point your thumbs up. You should feel a stretch in your anterior shoulders. Do not extend or flex your spine throughout this series.

Squat, Curl and Press

This full-body exercise teaches good posture with the stability ball for beginners. Once you are proficient with this exercise, remove the ball and use your own body weight as support. To start, place a stability ball against the wall with your lower spine against it. Holding a dumbbell in each hand, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Next, lower your buttocks as low as you can while keeping your spine tall. Exhale and stand up, pressing the weights over your head. The ball should roll up and down as you squat.