The Forza Pro Stability Ball is a piece of exercise equipment designed to challenge the stabilizing muscles of the body and offer variance to traditional workouts, according to the National Academy of Sports Medicine. This ball offers twice the thickness of standard exercise balls and is made with 2 mm of foam to resist bursting open. The ball also deflates more slowly when punctured by an object. This makes the Forza Pro ball safer to utilize with various different exercises.
Physioball Y
This exercise is designed to challenge the stabilizing muscles of the shoulders and improve the strength in your rotator cuff. Lie with your hips on the ball, in a facedown position. Keep your back flat with your chest off of the ball. Spread your feet past shoulder-width apart with the balls of your feet on the floor. Raise your arms and chest up, with your thumbs facing up, by moving your shoulder blades back and toward your waist. Continue lifting up until your arms have formed a Y position, where each arm is angled 45 degrees away from the midline of the body. Your arms will extend beyond your head. Lower the arms and chest back to the floor and repeat.
Ball Cobra
This exercise targets the lower traps, rhomboids and lower back muscles. Assume a facedown position on the ball with your hips on the ball. Keep your body on a straight line with the balls of your feet flat on the floor. Your arms should be placed directly to the sides of the body with your palms facing the floor. Lift your arms up and bring your chest off of the ball. Bring your shoulder blades down and back and try and pinch them together. The shoulders should be retracted to a position higher than the back. Hold this position for two seconds, then lower the chest and relax the arms back to the starting position.
Ball Dumbbell Row
This exercise targets the rhomboid and erector spinae muscles of the back. This exercise also has a similar starting position to the Y and Ball Cobra exercises. Place your hips on the ball with your body in a straight line. The balls of your feet should be flat on the ground with legs spread just past shoulder width. Now, with dumbbells in hand, allow your arms to extend toward the floor so that a 90-degree angle is formed with the arm and back. Raise your chest off of the ball and pull the dumbbells toward the body by retracting the shoulder blades and keeping the elbows tight to the body. Lower the dumbbells and chest back toward the floor when you have raised the dumbbells to as close to the body as you can.
References
- "NASM Essentials of Personal Fitness Training"; National Academy of Sports Medicine; 2007
- "Core Performance"; Mark Verstegen; 2005
- Mayo Clinic: Core Exercises with Fitness Ball
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