Find Your Feet On A Swiss Ball
New ways to exercise are always being invented, but there is a particularly new and exciting way of exercising that has become very popular – exercise balls. Some reasons for the explosion in popularity of these Swiss ball exercises are that it’s very portable, it is very low impact (therefore it’s particularly quiet), it can be carried out in a very small area and it is very economical.
Probably the most popular exercise ball in use at the moment is the Swiss ball. This is an inflatable ball which is usually around 65 or 75 cm diameter. Many people simply use this ball in place of their chair at work. When sitting on a Swiss ball, there is a natural tendency to make small rocking movements which obviously works the core and 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. Many of the exercises using the Swiss ball work the core primarily but all of the exercises work secondary muscles at the same time and it’s also possible to emulate the same kind of exercises that you can do on home gym equipment.
The first time I came across 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 Swiss ball exercises use similar principles – some part of the body is balanced on top of the ball and gravity tries to encourage this part of the body to dismount from the top of the ball. This might sound quite basic and you might assume that there aren’t lots of exercises that can be done in this manner. But you only have to do a search on youtube for the phrase Swiss ball exercise and very soon you will probably notice that there are literally loads of exercises that you can do on the Swiss ball.
In fact, once you try attempting these exercises and learning new ones you will usually most likely begin creating your own fresh ones before long. Returning to the press up with the feet on the Swiss ball, once you’ve tried this you will usually notice that it not only works on the core, but it adds a new dimension to the upper body labor that you do. As you will discover while doing press ups the whole of your upper body eventually starts to shake and quiver due to the forces transferred from the feet all the way down the body to the arms. This is one of the many reasons why it is so effective to use the Swiss ball for your exercises.
As mentioned, there are lots of exercises that can be carried out with the Swiss ball. But if we scoot ahead to the more advanced levels one of the hardest but most beneficial methods of using the Swiss ball is to do exercises while standing on top of it. This is not to be recommended for beginners as it can normally be very perilous. Once you are ready to attempt these advanced exercises, you should first learn to kneel on the Swiss ball. Once this has been mastered, one can then progress to standing on it.
Again, by searching youtube you will usually come across some excellent examples of exercises that you can normally 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 consider while trying to learn the skill is that when the ball throws you off the landing can be particularly painful, therefore safety mats should be used to start at all times. Obviously, the most common occurrence is for the legs to slide 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 as the fundamental 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 will be a Swiss ball master and will have amazingly strong legs and core and an amazing balance ability.
Tags: balance balls, exercise balls, gym balls, swiss balls
