Gym balls, also known as stability balls, physio balls and exercise balls, typically range between 35 cm and 85 cm in diameter. While rolling around on these inflated plastic spheres may seem ridiculous at first, the gym ball offers a fast-track abdominal workout because its constant instability forces your core muscles, including your abdominals, to work hard at stabilizing your body.
Size
Choosing the right size gym ball ensures that your muscles and joints are properly aligned as you work out. This is especially important for abdominal exercises, which not only involve the spine but also put you in positions where you might potentially slide or roll off the ball.
Sit down on your gym ball. If it's the right size for your body, both your hips and knees will be bent at a 90-degree angle. Note that this only works if the ball is properly inflated; a properly inflated gym ball will compress about 6 inches beneath your weight.
Types
There are three general types of ab exercises you can do on a gym ball.
Body weight exercises challenge you to control your own body weight against the ball's inherent instability. These include exercises like gym ball crunches and single-leg sits.
You can also use added equipment to make gym ball ab exercises more challenging. This type of exercise includes using weight plates for extra resistance during gym ball crunches, or using the gym ball as a base for medicine ball throws.
The final type of gym ball ab exercises is using the ball itself as resistance, as with the squat and reach or the hands-to-feet ball pass.
Considerations
Just having strong abdominal and back muscles is not enough to develop a strong core. According to the American Council on Exercise, many people have imbalance between their back and abdominals; using a gym ball works almost all the muscles of your trunk during every exercise, giving you a chance to not just strengthen your entire core but practice functional movements, shifting your body weight and position in ways you may be called upon to do during everyday activities and developing an appropriate abdominal-back balance.
Safety
You may have trouble controlling the gym ball when you first start using it for abdominal exercises. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends placing a chair to either side of the ball for extra support if necessary. You can also ask a workout partner to spot you, helping hold the ball stable until you're able to control it on your own.
Expert Insight
According to a 2001 study commissioned by the American Council on Exercise, gym ball crunches are arguably the best exercise for your rectus abdominus. While gym ball crunches were only ranked third in overall activity in the rectus abdominus, they also recruited significantly less activity in the hip flexors, making them more effective for working the abs than exercises like the bicycle maneuver and captain's chair.
Member Comments