What Are The Benefits Of Excercise Ball Workouts?
Exercise ball workouts are one of those unique forms of exercise that focus more on balance, form and movement rather than furious activity. It isn't as intense as yoga or pilates, for example, but the focus is the same. Pilates, yoga and exercise ball workouts were designed for body awareness and balance rather than intense muscle development such as weight lifting. To begin, with finding your balance during exercise ball workouts is difficult enough without having to think of performing the routine movements. The challenge to the beginner is being able to find his/her proper balance or center of gravity in relation to its position to the exercise ball. Here, you will have the opportunity to do just that with these relatively easy exercise ball workouts. For one of your first exercise ball workouts, lie yourself down on the exercise ball so that you are facing upwards while the ball supports your lower back and hips. You can have your knees slightly bent to help you with your balance. Position your hands behind your head. Push yourself towards your feet so that the ball rolls up your back. Keep your upper body as straight as possible. Do it slowly so you don't fall off. When the ball is just about to touch the back of your neck, roll back down to the original position. Of course, balancing on the exercise ball means that you have to do it facing up, down or sideways. So even if you find your balance doing face up exercises, you'll also have to find your balance while facing in another direction. Try it facing downwards this time. Facing towards the floor, rest your body on the ball just below your stomach. Plant your hands firmly on the floor and lift up your legs keeping them straight. If you imagine looking at yourself from the side, your legs and back should form a straight line. It's pretty easy so far since you have your arms and hands to support you. Lift one of those arms straight out to the side. Put it down and lift the other arm. If you feel that you've mastered this already, you can lift both arms at once. The easiest exercise ball workouts are those done in the sitting position. Sit on the ball with proper seating posture. Use your feet as an anchor then start the ball moving forward and backward with your hips. Do this also going side to side and then finally in circles. As you can see from these examples of exercise ball workouts, it's not really a routine where you tire yourself out lifting weights or riding an exercise bicycle. As I mentioned above, exercise ball workouts are geared more towards achieving a sense of balance. Another name for the exercise ball is stability ball. This name exactly reflects what exercise ball workouts are all about. The muscles that really benefit people doing exercise ball workouts are the core muscles or those muscles in the lower half of the torso. Doing exercise ball workouts will give you a strong lower back and well toned abs. By the way, the exercise ball is so versatile that it is used by other workout disciplines. Sometimes, the exercise ball is called a pilates ball too. |
