Personal Training Answers

People are always coming up with new ways of doing exercise and physical fitness, 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 extremely portable, it’s very low impact (therefore it’s particularly quiet), it doesn’t require much space and the equipment doesn’t cost very much.

Probably the most popular exercise ball in use at the moment is the Swiss ball. This is an inflatable ball that is usually a around 65 or 75 cm diameter. Many folks 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 works the core and also provides a small amount of exercise even while just sitting there.

But when it is used in the course of normal exercise the Swiss ball is an amazingly versatile piece of kit. Many of the exercises using the Swiss ball primarily work the core but all of these 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 encountered 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. The natural tendency is for the feet to roll off to either the left or the right of the ball, therefore as well as the usual benefits that can be gained from doing press ups, the core is constantly working while trying to stop the feet from rolling off the sides of the ball.

Most of the Swiss ball exercises are based on the same principle – a part of the body is elevated on the top of the ball and gravity tries to encourage this part of the body to dismount from the top of the ball. this may not sound very technical and you might assume that there aren’t many exercises that can be done in this manner. But you only have to do a search on youtube for the term Swiss ball exercises and very quickly you will normally probably notice that there are literally tons of different exercises that you can normally do on your Swiss ball.

In fact, once you try doing these exercises and trying new ones you will normally probably start creating your own original ones before long. Returning to the press up with your feet on top of the Swiss ball, once you have attempted this you will normally probably notice not only that it works the core, but it also adds a new dimension to the upper body toil that you do. As you will discover during press ups the whole of your upper body will eventually start to shake and quiver due to the extra forces transferred from the feet all of the way down the body to the arms. This is one of the many reasons why using the Swiss ball for exercise is so effective.

As mentioned, there are literally hundreds of floor exercises that can normally be done with the Swiss ball. But if we scoot ahead to the more advanced levels one of the most difficult but most beneficial ways to use the Swiss ball is to carry out exercises while standing on it. This is not recommended for beginners as it can normally be quite perilous. Once one is ready to try these advanced exercises, you should first learn how to kneel on the Swiss ball. Once this has been mastered, one can then progress to standing on it.

Again, by looking on youtube you will normally find some great demonstrations of exercises that you can normally carry out 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 bear in mind while trying to master the skill is that when the ball throws you off the landing can normally be very painful, therefore safety mats should be used to start at all times. Obviously, the normal occurrence is for the legs to slip down the side of the ball which is the same as your feet going from under you – such as when slipping on ice. Please consider this as the main reason for exercising is to improve your health, not to damage it.

When you have mastered standing on a Swiss ball, you are a Swiss ball master and will have developed amazingly strong legs and core and an incredible ability to balance.