An Italian toymaker invented the exercise ball in 1963. For the next three decades, it was primarily physical therapists who used it as a rehabilitative tool for their patients. By the early 1990s, the ball had become a fixture in most fitness facilities, taking on a number of different names and a wide variety of functions. It's an ideal training tool for beginning exercisers, elite athletes, pregnant women, seniors, yoga practitioners and bodybuilders alike.
Strength
By incorporating an exercise ball into your strength-training workout, you activate your smaller stabilizing muscles as you work your primary movers with external resistance, such as dumbbells, bands or medicine balls. Sitting, reclining or leaning on the ball while performing exercises such as bicep curls, the overhead press, lateral arm raises, the chest press and the reverse fly, substantially increases the use of core muscles to improve balance and coordination.
Flexibility
You can stretch all the major muscles of your body on the exercise ball, making it an ideal way to facilitate flexibility workouts. Because it's round, you can use it to deepen static stretches gently and extend more fully through dynamic, range-of-motion exercises. Simply holding the ball between your hands to promote a further reach can be more effective than reaching without it.
Integrative
Integrative training incorporates exercises that simultaneously work multiple joints and muscles, in addition to your nervous system. Athletes or advanced-level exercisers typically perform this type of workout. The ball is the quintessential integrative training tool because it brings an element of instability to body weight movements, such as pushups, inverted shoulder presses, pikes and the glute bridge. This instability activates your nervous system and requires you to stabilize your core as you move your arms and legs.
Progressive
Whether you're performing a strength or integrative training session on the ball, you can also make it a progressive workout. Progression comes in the form of increased weight, decreased stability or both. For example, when performing seated bicep curls, increase your external resistance by using heavier dumbbells, or increase the demands on your nervouse system by lifting one foot off the floor. Using multiple balls, such as one under each hand in a pushup, is another type of progression.
Yoga
The ball becomes a useful prop in a yoga workout. Use it to support your weight in various positions, helping you reach deep stretches you might be too weak to attain otherwise. For example, if you are in the process of developing core strength, including stronger back and abdominal muscles, use the ball as a base of support during full back bends, pikes and reverse planks, until you can support yourself without it.
Prenatal
An exercise ball also provides a base support for prenatal strength and flexibility workouts. Sitting on the ball cushions your spine and helps enhance posture as spinal alignment shifts with the weight of your growing fetus. You can more easily perform pelvic tilts and hip circles on the ball, two exercises that help alleviate lower back pain. Wall-supported ball squats are often recommended during pregnancy to maintain lower body strength.
References
- "Exercise Balls for Dummies"; LaReine Chabut; 2005
- "The Athlete's Ball: Integrative Training"; Rick Jemmett; 2004
- Perform Better; "Stability Ball Progressions"; J.C. Santana
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