Exercise Ball Exercises – for Wellness through Fitness and Eating Right!
The Exercise Ball is one of the best and unique fitness tools that is out there today. It is also one of the least utilized pieces of equipment. Aquilino Cosani, an Italian engineer , first manufactured the ball to be a toy back in 1963. It wasn’t until a physical therapist, Mary Quinton, utilized the ball for children with new neurological disorders. The exercise ball did not make it to the US until 1970 and it seems that the general public has become quite aware of the benefits as an exercise and fitness tool. What makes the Exercise Ball so effective is that it forces the user to use many stabilizing muscle to balance while performing exercises. This means that more muscle fibers are firing, you are burning more calories, and because of the position that you are usually in, it puts a lot of emphasis on your core (rectus abdominis, lower back, transverse abdominis, internal and external obliques). And everyone seems to want to have tight abs.
The Exercise Ball come in many different sizes and even colors to choose from…
The Exercise Ball has a surprising number of advantages over and above becoming fit and lose weight through exercising on it. The image above depicts what is called “The Bodysport 65 cm Fitness Ball”. According to the product description it can help improve and maintain your balance and can also improve posture and flexibility. This 65 cm exercise ball can be used to perform a variety of balance, core, strength, flexibility and rehabilitation exercises. It helps to strengthen hard-to-reach muscles that can often be overlooked in normal training.
When it comes to losing weight and toning up your muscles, exercise is very important. You could if you want to spend money on a gym membership but and Exercise Ball of virtually any kind can prove just as effective. Plus, this form of exercise equipment will cost you considerably less than joining a gym would.
As you will soon discover wind considering purchasing this piece of fitness equipment there are many different types to choose from. So choosing the right one for you can prove somewhat of a challenge. Easiest could be to choose the exercise ball that would fit in best with your exercise goals and regime. If you are into Pilates then the following could interest you…
….and this should work wonders as well…
… and then lastly, but by far not the least there is also the Yoga Exercise Ball!
The Yoga Exercise Ball: if you use yoga to get fit you may consider using a yoga exercise ball to help your process. In fact this piece of equipment is not only useful to those who already doing yoga regularly but for those who are only just starting to use it – you will find the yoga exercise ball will make the yoga exercises more of a challenge, but a pleasant one. This ball, as per the supplier, “is especially perfect for strengthening your core stretch and maintaining flexibility and can even be used as a desk chair or taken to the gym. Made from a high-density polymer that resists tearing and puncturing, it is designed to support up to 600 pounds of pressure”.
Safety With Exercise Balls is something to bare in mind.Exercise balls are unstable for obvious reasons. Using an exercise ball can be quite fun. The difficulty comes from the roundness of the balls, which also contribute to giving you a tremendous workout.
To hopefully motivate you to try the exercise ball the next time at the gym or to try and exercise on the stability besides crunches. That is what I meant when I previously stated that this was one of the most least utilized pieces of equipment at the gym. The exercise ball happens to be one of the most dynamic pieces of equipment that gives you a huge range of exercise options.
One example would be a basic squat. Position that the exercise ball between your lower back and the wall. Move your feet out about 8 to 12 inches. When you squat you want 390° angles. These 90° angles are at your hips, knees and ankles. Your shins and upper body is to be perpendicular and your thighs parallel with the ground.
If this sounds too easy add dumbbells for weight.
If adding dumbbell weights is too easy, extend one leg out and perform single leg squats. There are a few people that I know who have the leg strength for this exercise.
A push-up is another exercise that there are multiple options that can be performed with an exercise ball. You can perform this exercise with your hands on the exercise ball and feet on the ground. Added difficulty would be to place your feet on a bench and keeping your hands on the exercise ball. You can also place your hands on the ground and feet or knees on the exercise ball. To add difficulty you can try diamond push-ups or traveling push-ups. Traveling push-ups is where you move side to side while performing the push-up. You start by doing a normal push-up and then at the top, move the left hand to the right. The right and then goes out further to the right. You would perform another push-up and move back to the left by moving your right and to the left and then the left further to the left.
These are two small examples. There are many many more. I would like to invite you to do some further investigation on this and try a few of the exercises out. There are thousands of examples out there. The benefits will be a stronger core, possibly weaker weight loss and make your body more functional and less prone to injury.
And of cause, the other half of exercising towards wellness is eating right (for your type) to make losing weight a reality.
Enjoy!… And let me know how you doing.
Disclosures and Disclaimers:
1 – I am not a medical professional of any kind – all information shared stem from personal research on the web, books, magazines and personal experience, and should not be construed as medical or other similar professional advice of any kind. Please consult your medical doctor/applicable qualified medical professional regarding any wellness improvement actions, diets and exercise you may wish to pursue.
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