This is a FREE fitness and workout App for men and women at home or/and at the gym. It provides a wide range of swiss ball exercises to help you get in shape and get that sexy body you always wanted.
You know that large, often brightly colored ball you see around the gym? That’s a stability or Swiss ball. You may also hear it referred to as a therapy ball, birth ball, balance ball or body ball. The stability ball is an extremely versatile tool that is often underutilized. Including the ball in your workouts can enhance core function and test your balance.
The medicine ball is a terrific piece of workout equipment – it’s simple and versatile, it uses your muscles differently than dumbbells or kettlebells, and it’s just plain fun! How many other pieces of workout gear do you get to throw up in the air or slam down on the ground??
This workout is designed with the beginner in mind, but the exercises are challenging enough for somebody with more exercise experience, too. It really depends on the medicine ball you have at home. Heavier = more work, plain and simple.
Benefits of Using an Exercise Ball
Besides developing good overall muscle tone for your entire body, the ball provides numerous other benefits that range anywhere from rehabilitating back, hip, and knee injuries to delivering a powerful workout to improve core stability, posture, and muscle balance. You also improve your flexibility and your cardiovascular system by using a low-impact workout.
Following are a few of the most important benefits for anyone wanting to use the ball and get a little background on what exactly you're supposed to be working.
Back and spine health
The ball is great if you have back problems because it supports your lower back as you exercise and stretch. And that's exactly why physical therapists and chiropractors started using the ball for therapy. So many people suffer from back strain and injuries these days that thinking of anyone you know who hasn't is a challenge. What other object can you think of that you can simply lay your body over and feel instant relief? Not too many.
Core stability
With so much talk these days about working your "core," you may be wondering what the heck your core actually is. Well, the core is the muscles in your body that stabilize and support all your movements. Your core, or what people used to call your "midsection," is made up of the deep abdominal and back muscles that work as stabilizers for your entire body. These muscles are the "deep" muscles because, although you cannot see them, they maintain the core stability in your body.
Posture
For years, dancers were always told to press their backs "into" the floor or to have a "flat" back. Nowadays, experts have found that maintaining the slight natural curve in your spine is healthier. When using the ball, maintaining this natural curve is important to help you keep from arching your back and to protect the spine.
Muscle balance
When one muscle group is stronger than its opposing muscle group, this causes a muscle imbalance. Muscles that need to work together to perform a particular task, such as the triceps and biceps, are a good example of muscle groups that can have a muscle imbalance.
The muscles that are in the front of your body, or the anterior muscles, are naturally stronger than the muscles that lie along the back of your body, otherwise known as the posterior muscles, because you use them more frequently throughout the day. To complicate the matter further, most people tend to over-train their anterior muscles and neglect their posterior muscles, which can create bad posture and additional imbalances.
The ball offers a solution to muscle imbalances because it supports the lower back and other posterior muscles during training. To look and feel good, whether you're coming or going, you need to train your buttocks, back, and hamstrings. And maybe concentrate a little less on those biceps!
