Stability Ball Exercise Progressions for Building Muscle and Core Strength

After my article Stick Your Neck Out was published; I surprisingly caught some flack from the “hardcore” types just because I showed a stability ball being used in a few of the exercise applications.

Since I’m not emotionally attached to any one piece of equipment or style of training, I was not upset in the least about this. But, it did make me realize how misunderstood the Swiss ball is within the “hardcore strength” community.

So, in light of this realization, I’m stepping up to set the record straight once and for all about Swiss balls and how they should and shouldn’t be utilized in and effective strength program.

Don’t Despise the Player, Despise the Game
My friend and colleague Coach Rob Simonelli brought up an fascinating point when he and I were discussing this article and why serious weight lifters dislike Swiss balls. Rob said “What serious lifters don’t know is that it’s not so much that they dislike Swiss balls, it’s that they dislike what Swiss Balls represent”.

He was absolutely right. Hardcore weightlifters have made Swiss balls guilty by association just because there are a bunch of “functional trainers” out there doing some seriously ridiculous stuff on them.
This doesn’t mean that Swiss balls can’t be use for stuff that really has value.
To all you Swiss ball haters out there, I want you to question yourself one question; “Am I blaming the tool or the practitioner?”

I reckon you will realize that myself and Rob and are right in saying that, the Swiss ball, like everything else in the gym is just a tool. One that can be used or abused depending on whose hands it’s in. Just because there are people out there abusing a certain tool doesn’t mean we should throw it out of the tool box all together. If that were the case, we wouldn’t use any equipment at all judging by what I’ve seen done with barbells and dumbbells these days.

Now let’s get one thing clear, the title of this article is not called “Swiss Ball Exercises that You Need to Do Everyday or Else Your Will Go to Pot”. The exercises shown in this article are in no way a necessity, they are just other options to challenge your body in a positive manner and compliment your “core” lifts.

In other words, they are just tools in the tool box.

You just have to know when to use the tools you’ve got.

When Instability and Strength is Really Excellent

Recently, I got to attend one of my friend Eric Cressey’s classes on training the overhead athlete. During his workshop, Eric made a fantastic point that I feel is relevant to this article. He said that although it has been found that unstable surface training for the lower body has been found to be ineffective and in some cases even counterproductive for healthy individuals, instability training for the upper body may really be beneficial. Eric went on to clarify that it all has to do with the fact that the lower body predominantly functions in a close chained (both feet in contact with the ground) manner that does not normally involve the ground moving underneath it. But, the upper body functions in more of an open chained (no ground or solid surface contact) manner with things more likely to go and change position.
This makes a lot of sense if you reckon of a football lineman blocking a pass rusher. The lineman’s feet are dealing with a flat and stable ground while his upper body is all over place dealing with another body moving in every which way trying to get around him.
Now that I have hopefully changed your mind about the Swiss ball, I’m going to provide you a list of exercises using the Swiss ball that we have found to be beneficial to our clients, athletes and physique competitors.

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The Exercises

Y,T,W, L Shoulder Circuit w/Swiss Ball

The reason why we preffer to use the Swiss ball while performing our Y,T,W, L shoulder circuits has nothing to do with the shoulders themselves but has everything to do with the trunk. In that, when athletes perform the Y,T,W, Lcircuits on a flat surface like the floor or a bench, they usually start to extend from their lower back in a superman like position. This is normally due to the fact that they, like many athletes, lack ample shoulder flexion. Therfore, they attempt to kick in the lumbar extensors to help raise the arms.

If you reffer to my article How Not to Warm Up, you will see why this type of movement is undesirable. We all tend to slouch and sit too much, in doing so we make length and weakness in the thoracic area. So, the real goal here is to somehow make extension at the thoracic spine, not the lumbar spine. This can be successfully accomplished by performing the Y,T,W shoulder circuit on a Swiss ball.

With the swiss ball and some right positioning, the extension comes from the thoracic spine
We position our athletes so that the apex of their thoracic curve during flexion over the ball is over top the apex of the ball itself. We also have them flex at the hip joint which further decreases extension at the lumbar spine. This enables us to get more bang for our buck.
We build endurance in all the muscles invovled in extending the thoracic spine while simutaneously reaping the benefits of the Y,T,W, L shoulder circuit.

The Swiss Ball Dumbbell Chest Press

The swiss ball chest press allows us to build flexibilty in hip flexors, strength endurance in the anterior neck muscles and glutes while simultaneously building upper body pushing strength.
The swiss ball chest press is the only exercise that we use a swiss ball in combination with weights. But, because it involves an unstable surface, we only use it while performing repetitive effort lifts and never use it while performing dynamic or max effort lifts.
Many people will agrue about the instability of the ball interferring with strength output. When I meet coaches that are of that mindset, I tell them two things;

1. If the feet are positioned shoulder width or wider, the instability is pretty much canceled out.

2. We agree that instabilty interferes with max strength output. This is why we ONLY use this exercise with submaximal loads as in a hypertrophy phase or repetitive effort phase.

In my mind, if you want allot of bang for your buck the Swiss ball chest press is a fantastic choice.

Swiss Ball Perturbations

This is one of the most well loved exercises we use at Performance University amoung our high level athlets and recreational clients alike.. Swiss perturbations are a fun and very effective way to develop rock solid core stability. The goal of the person holding the ball is to maintain optimal alignment and own the position thay started in. With each diffrent strike of the ball, the torso as to make a slight adjustment to maintain control of its position. Thi is what Rehab spractioners call rythmic stabilization. We call it a damn excellent exercise.

The unpredicatable nature of this exercise makes it more functional than most other “core stabilization” exercises.

This exercise can be progressed by the partner striking the ball with slightly more force or the holder standing with the feet closer together or in a stagered stance.

Swiss Ball Roll Out

The swiss ball roll out is one of our favorite exerciss for training the anterior trunk muscles. We like it because it devloped torso strength and pelvic control without putting the spine in a flexed position as it would be in a crunch or sit up type exercise. Mike Boyle produced a fantastic article called Anterior Core Training that thoroughly desribes the theory and methodolgy behind movements like the swiss ball roll out. In that same article, Boyle also diplayed many progressions to the swiss ball roll out involving tools like the ab dolley and arko wheels. But, if you don’t have all of those tools/toys available to you, here are some simple progression strategies you can use.

The beginers version of the Swiss ball roll out starts with the elbows bent and forearms resting on the ball.

This exercise can then be progressed by raising the torso and straightening the arms. This lengthens the lever arm and increases the demand on the anterior core. Shown below.

On both of these roll out variations be sure to extend both your arms and legs while maintaining a honestly neutral spine. Only go out as far as you can without losing optimal spinal alignment.

The Reverse Ball Roll Out

As of late we have been using another variation of the roll out which we call reverse roll outs. To perform the reverse roll out, hold on to a stable object such as a weight bench. While maintaining alignment, extend your lower body until reaching a superman type position. Return to the starting position and repeat.

The height of surface your holding onto should be approx. even to the height of the ball. In the picture above, Tim is holding on to a bar that is slightly higher than the ball underneath his legs. You can see how this is causing him to sag slightly at his low back. We were in the process of moving our gym during this photo shoot and we had to work with what we had left in the gym.

Swiss Ball Toe Plank

This is another fantastic anterior core exercise. We usually perform holds for anywhere from 10-20 seconds. Proper form for this exercise is pretty much self explanatory.

Swiss Ball Knee Tucks

If you have honestly decent “core strength”, Swiss ball knee tucks aren’t really that hard. This is why we don’t use this exercise with the intention of building strength. We use this exercise to build awareness of what the rehab world calls” hip/back disassociation”.

All this really means is, how well you can go at your hips without moving at your lumbar spine. There are a lot of ways to accomplish this which are beyond the scope of this article. But, in the context of the Swiss ball knee tuck exercise, we want our athletes to be able to flex at their hip without flexing at their low back. If they can accomplish this, it shows that they posses excellent hip/back disassociation.

Athletes with poor hip back disassociation will always compensate for a lack of hip mobility by increasing mobility at the lumbar spine. Which according to the latest research is designed for stability, not mobility? My article How NOT to Warm Up covers that science in fantastic detail.
The science aside, just keep this small saying in mind, “what your hips lack can hurt your back”.

So, yeah…do your knee tucks.

1 Leg Swiss Ball Knee Tuck

This version of the knee tuck is much more hard than the previous because there is an added rotary component. Although there is no visual rotation, the athlete has to work to prevent gravity form pulling them into rotation on the side of the lifted leg. This is what my excellent friend JC Santana calls “training the invisible. This is an vital point to keep in mind anytime you go from a bi-lateral position to a unilateral position.

1 Arm Holds

This is another one that’s pretty self explanatory. Simply maintain optimal spinal alignment while keeping your arm locked out. We use holds ranging from 5-15sec.
This one is just plain tough!

Swiss ball Straight Leg Bridge

We always make sure to encourage our athletes to make the lift using from their hamstrings and glutes, not from their low back. Athletes with an increased lordosis (low back curve) will find this more hard and therefore tend to need more coaching on movements like this.

Yes, I know you can also do this on a bench but our athletes seem to like it better with the ball. So, as they say, “the customer is always right”.

Plus, you can’t do some of the progressions I’m about to show you on a bench.

Straight Leg Bridges (w/Long Lever)

We learned this progression from Coach JC Santana. It’s a fantastic way to integrate in the calf’s and increase the overall difficulty on your posterior muscles.

Be sure to keep the heels off the ball.

1 Leg Hip Bridges (w/straight leg)

These are not only a fantastic progression to the 2 leg bridges but they serve as a nice compliment to the 1 leg knee tucks.

These work on improving hip/back disassociation in extension. We want to see the extension coming from the hips and glutes and not from the low back. We encourage our athletes to keep the lifted knee stable during this exercise. If the knee moves, it means that the pelvis is moving and therefore stability is lost.

Swiss Ball Bent Leg Bridges

The bent leg bridges are more glute dominant bridge than the straight leg version. That said, your hamstring have to work isometrically to hold the ball in place while the hips rise and fall.
We normally just alternate straight and bent leg bridges each workout.

Swiss Ball Bent Leg Bridge (1 Leg)

The rules on the one leg version are the same as above. Just be sure to prevent any sort of pelvic rotation due to the reduced base of support.

Swiss Ball Leg Curls

Once you can successfully perform both the straight and bent leg exercises. We simply combine the two moves to make the leg curl. This you really can’t do with a bench. You can do this with a slide board if you have access to one.

Once your hips lift up, they don’t come down until the set is complete. Be sure to lift your hips higher up as the legs curl in. This will make a straight line between the knee, hip, and torso.

Aside from glute ham raises is the only exercise that allows us to train hip extension and knee flexion simultaneously. Those two motions are always coupled together during any locomotive type action.

Running involves the combined action hip extension and knee flexion of the rear leg as it prepares to pull through

1 Leg Ball Curl

This progression from the two leg curl, when done correctly, will challenge even the most advanced athlete.

Swiss Ball Complex

Once each one these exercises are mastered separately, we like to combine them into a Swiss ball complex. We use this complex as part of an active dynamic warm up, as a warm down or as active rest on recovery days.

We start with roll outs for 10-20 reps

Then to push ups for 10-20 for reps

Followed up with the Y,T,W,L shoulder circuit for 10-15reps each letter

Then go to knee tucks for 10-20 reps

We end with a toes on ball plank hold for 10-30 seconds

This entire complex is normally performed for 1-3 sets and 0-60 seconds rest between sets. Three rounds of this at 20 reps each exercise with no break is just plain tough.

This complex is very well loved with our clients and athletes because it has a smooth flow from between exercises, it’s simple to remember and it gets a lot of quality work done in small time. Aside from that, it’s kind of fun.

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Final Comments

Well, there you have it, the definitive list of Swiss ball exercises that don’t suck.
If it’s not on this list and it involves a Swiss ball then…well, you get the point.

The exercises on this list have been a part of our performance and physique programs for many years. They have been used at some point by just about everyone who has walked through our doors.

I can’t honestly tell you that these Swiss ball are solely responsible for our clients and athletes consistently getting larger stronger and quicker.
But I can tell you that they sure as hell haven’t hurt.

Aerobic dance. The background music is All Around The World by Zippers. ps I am not the maker of the footage. It was obtained from other place and I forget the original source of it. As for the music, I have tried to find but I can’t find the mp3 for it.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Why Exercise?

I wish I could tell you that I like exercising. Truthfully, I don’t. I didn’t pack on 147 excess pounds because I liked exercising. What I do like is the weight that I now maintain, the health that I feel, and the clarity in my thinking. All of these are possible because of healthy habits that lead to a more pleased, healthier life.

I’ve struggled with maintaining an exercise routine. My thinking is that for only 30 to 45 minutes a day a few days per week, I get to maintain my weight loss, feel stronger physically, mentally and emotionally. Circumstances don’t hit me and make me feel like a victim of life just waiting. My weight loss has given me that! By exercising for a few minutes out of the 24 hours per day that you are given is a very small investment for the gigantic payoff of a pleased life. If only the stock market and our economy would pay off in a huge way for such a small investment!

To continue exercising, I need motivation. Through coaching, I was able to come to the realization that 30 to 45 minutes per day a few days a week gives me a more pleased, healthier life for the 23-1/2 hours in the rest of my day. Now, that’s a major payoff. That’s my motivation. Through coaching, you can find yours too.

Motivation is generated or dismissed in your head. So, here’s some ways to convince your head to get fit, stay fit, and invest in yourself through exercise:

1. Exercise out of the gym. All activity and movement equals exercise. Exercise is a mindset. Rather than drive around for 10 minutes looking for the closest parking space, park in the last row where there are virtually no other cars and walk to your store. You’ll get there quicker, burn less gas and burn more calories. While others are mindlessly standing on the escalator or wasting minutes waiting for the elevator, climb the stairs. Again, you’ll be there while the others are wasting their time and hanging on to calories they could have burned. Look for opportunities to be active. Exercise doesn’t count as exercise if it is within the walls of a gym. Reckon of exercise as all ways that you go your body.

2. Set an exercise goal. Choose that you’d like to participate in a walk/run event, train for a long distance walk, work with a personal trainer, increase your frequency or duration by a certain time. Give yourself rewards for reaching your exercise goals.

3. Ban boredom. Who wants to exercise if you are bored? Mix it up. One of the most well loved television shows is celebrities that are learning ballroom dancing. Many of them have toned and lost impressive amounts of weight. Take dancing lessons to have fun and count as exercise. Other fun forms of exercise can include bowling, snowboarding, Zumba, swimming, water aerobics, walking your dog, or even laser tag. Rather than reckon of exercise, reckon about exercise combined with fun. Actual physical activity isn’t dull at all. How you do it though can be. Reframe exercise as exercise combined with fun.

4. Exercise Multi-Tasking. While you’re exercising, watch your favorite recorded television shows or dvd. Listen to audiobooks only while you’re exercising. Load up your iPod or MP3 player with your favorite motivational songs. Listen to those tunes only while you’re exercising. There are video games that you can dance to that certainly work up your heart rate as exercise. You’ll forget your movement counts as exercise because you’ll be having so much fun.

5. The more the merrier – bring a friend. Exercise with a friend, coach or personal trainer. Anyone to make it fun, share the companionship of exercising together plus the bonus of accountability.

6. Turn challenges into successes. Does your vacation give you an excuse to place your exercise routine on hold? Do projects at work derail your workout time? Does weather place the freeze on your regular activity? Deepen your commitment to yourself and exercise routine by looking for opportunities to go. Look for ways to incorporate activity into your vacation, set limits for your work projects, bring your exercise and activities indoors. You’ll strengthen your commitment and exercise muscle into a no-give dedication to your health.

7. Exercise Stars. After you’ve worked out and felt fantastic, write it down. Start a journal or log with your thoughts after a work out. Use images of past successful exercise experiences to remind yourself how fantastic you feel. When motivation is questionable, pull out your notes of past exercise sessions to remind you of those powerful positive feelings.

I can’t say that I’m in like with exercise. I’ve made friends with it and I like it. What I am in like with is my life following weight loss, maintaining my weight, feeling more pleased, stronger and healthier than ever before in my life. All of that for a mere 30-45 minutes per day? Now, that’s an investment and dividend payoff that gives and gives the other 23-1/2 hours in your day. Exercise is the investment that keeps on giving all through your day. An investment in yourself is the best one of all.

Diabetes – Exercise Questions Answered

Q. What are the benefits of exercise?
A. For people with diabetes, the benefits of exercise are blood glucose level improvements, stress reduction, increased energy, weight control, and for those who participate in regular physical activity, which includes moderate aerobic exercise, there will be a reduction in cardiovascular disease risk.

Q. How do I start an exercise program?
A. Schedule a physical exam with your physician before beginning your exercise activities. This is especially vital if you have not been active recently. An EKG or ECG test (electrocardiogram) may be recommended by your doctor along with a graded exercise test to evaluate how exercise may effect your heart. Question your doctor what types of exercise are best for you.

For any recommended exercise program, remember to start slowly and safely, and gradually increase your physical activity level over time.

Q. What is an exercise goal?
A. Remember to discuss with your doctor how often to exercise, and what level of intensity at which you shoudl perform. Start any exercise program with a slow, steady pace. Try to be active for at least 20 minutes in the beginning. You can steadily increase the time period for exercise over an eight (8) week period.

Research has proven that weight lifting (anaerobic exercise) may benefit people with diabetes. This type of exercise is known as “resistance training.” Lifting heavy weights may not be helpful for persons with certain diabetes complications, so always comply with your physician’s recommendations.

Q. What are the different types of exercise?
A. There are two main types of exercise, anaerobic and aerobic exercise. Anaerobic exercise involves lifting weights or using exercise bands. Activity usually lasts for a shorter duration and involves intense activity done in small bursts. Anaerobic exercise is commonly known as “resistance training” and the goal is to build muscle and increase strength.
Aerobic exercise works the large muscle groups in the arms and legs. Examples of this include: jogging, brisk walking, swimming, biking, dancing, biking and rowing. Aerobic exercise gradually increases the heart and breathing rates. Aerobic exercise is usually recommended for most diabetic patients because of the proven benefits to the cardiovascular system (heart, lungs, and blood vessels).

Q. What if I have had a sedentary lifestyle?
A. You will improve your overall health by increasing your activity level. Take advantage of any opportunity to bend and stretch as much as possible during the day.

To make your day more active, here are some simple tips to get ready, get set, and get moving:

Parking your car further away from the store when you go shopping Use stairs rather than elevators whenever possible Communicate with neighbors or co-workers by stopping by in person, rather than using the phone to call Stay active at home with light gardening and housework chores

Q. What are the strategies for exercising success?
A. Make exercise part of your daily schedule – even small increases in physical activity will be beneficial to your health. Being active simply means moving more!

All physical activities should start with a warm-up, and then progress to the chosen exercise. After exercising; remember to have a cool-down period. You will see the most progress with your exercise plot when you are consistent with a specific type of activity. For example, if you chose to walk, try to find the most convenient time of day for walking, and then stick to it.

Your exercise program should always include these three (3) essential elements:
Warm-up: Approximately 5-10 minutes of stretching and bending. This will prevent injuries to muscles and joints.
Activity: 20 minutes (or more) of sustained physical activity. This includes walking, biking, aerobics, swimming, or other sports, such as tennis or racquetball. Cool-Down: Gradually reduce your activity, and then stretch for at least 5 minutes.

Q. Are there any exercise precautions or other guidelines?
A. Remember, exercise will lower your blood glucose level. If you feel symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), take glucose tablets or gel to treat low blood sugar. Avoid very vigorous activity when the insulin activity is peaking (insulin is working at the toughest level). If you plot to exercise at moderate or high intensity, check your blood sugar before beginning your exercise. If the blood glucose level is below 100 mg/dl, eat a light snack with a carbohydrate source before exercising. Remember, low blood sugar can occur shortly after exercise or up to 24 hours after physical activity, so monitor blood glucose levels regularly.

When purchasing shoes for exercise, protect your feet with properly fitting shoes and socks. Plot to buy your shoes at the end of the day when your feet are larger. Avoid open-heeled or open-toed shoes.
Shoe-Fit guidelines: the in-step of the shoe should conform to your the size and the shape of your foot. Your toes should have some “wiggle-room” – the shoes should securely fit at the heel to prevent slipping.
Sock Suggestions: White socks should be used, and they should be soft and padded with no seams.

Diabetic patients need adjustments in insulin dosing or eating schedule. Food intake may need adjusting to prevent low blood sugar when exercising. For example, if you will be bike riding, do not
inject insulin into your leg. Insulin should not be injected into a body part that you will use during exercise.

Wear medical identification as a precaution when exercising.

Remember to drink water and stay well hydrated. At least 64 ounces of water should be consumed daily.

You can find more articles at Destination Diabetes

Pregnancy Exercise Video Types – Tips To Pick The Best One For You

It is very beneficial for baby and mother to exercise during pregnancy. You should choose a excellent pregnancy exercise video as incorrect exercise can harm you and your baby. A specifically designed pregnancy exercise video should be used that has various effective and safe exercises for pregnant woman. This would help you stay fit when you are expecting or is pregnant. It would ensure your health and fitness during pregnancy. Such pregnancy exercise videos may have exercises based upon yoga to massage or workouts.

Regular exercise would improve the birth weight and height of your baby. If you continue this pregnancy fitness programme even after the child birth then you would easily lose that extra body weight gained during pregnancy and tone up your tummy to its shape.

There are various types of workout videos available in the market or on internet. You can get videos for pregnancy exercises and also on the ways to get into pre-pregnancy shape after your delivery. Other choice is for yoga, pilates or aerobics; so that you can choose an exercise of your type. Such exercises would help you gain excellent energy level. It would also help you to improve your stamina, ease birth process, circulation and posture although you may not like exercising at that time.

You would develop safe movement and posture as these pregnancy exercise videos guide you for ways to recover from caesarean sections. In most of the cases, it has been observed that an average woman gain around 2lbs during her pregnancy. This increases chances of back ache and many other problems. All such problems can be easily overcomed with the help of exercises described in pregnancy exercise videos. It would strengthen your muscles and improves your posture to ease your back ache.

You can choose intense exercises once you expertise in simple and gradual exercises for startup. Therefore, these pregnancy exercise videos has gradual exercises for start up and once you are fit to go towards intense exercises you can. You should consult your healthcare provider about the type of exercises that you would be carrying out. It is necessary as you may be suffering from some or the other medical ailment for which that exercise is not advised. Research has proven that fit and healthy mothers who follow fitness programme has healthier babies in comparison to those woman who do not undertake such activities.

In yoga pregnancy exercise videos, different postures are included in various trimesters to help you in preparation for birth experience. You need fantastic flexibility and strength for child birth during labor. Yoga helps you achieve that easily with a completely relaxed and supple body.

Pilate’s pregnancy exercise videos helps you prepare both mind and body for your new baby by its useful breathing exercises that are included in the exercise schedule. Although it is advised that you should start doing Pilate’s exercises before you conceive but you can start it during your pregnancy also if you are under some guidance or supervision.

How to use a leading exercise ball

So what’s The Purpose of Leading Exercise Ball? Before looking at the motives of using a leading exercise ball, we need to know as to what exactly are exercise balls and why are they even used in the first place? Exercise balls are also known by several alternative names such as Swiss balls or fitness balls, the latter term being more prevalent. There are several exercises in yoga, Pilates or other general workout in which the body needs to stay balanced while performing the exercise. It is under these conditions that an exercise or fitness ball is used. Virtually all exercise balls have an outer coating of soft elastic PVC which is completely harmless to the human touch and hence is ideal for contact exercises. The basic principle behind using exercise balls is to increase the effort required for exercising which will eventually help in building more muscles. There are several ways in which exercise balls are used such as by adding balance challenges during exercising or by engaging the scarcely used muscles to provide balance to the entire body which will correspondingly help in strengthening of such muscles. The leading exercise ball is a special kind of exercise ball which was invented jointly by some Swiss medical therapists. Initially, the only purpose of leading exercise ball was to provide support during various exercises and the reason as to why such a need was felt is because a rigid surface, when used for support, can induce unnecessary strain on the contact muscles. It is here that the leading exercise ball provides the solution by replacing a rigid surface with a soft, compressible surface thereby lessening the amount of muscle strain considerably. All the major muscles of the body can be strengthened by working out with the leading exercise ball. Since these balls maintain their strength even while undergoing pressure, they are quite well loved even among those engaging in yoga or aerobics. Such balls are also used by several athletes who are engaged in heavy duty workout training. It’s vital to note here that leading exercise balls do require some time to get used to in an optimum manner. It is not recommended that you go all out using a leading exercise ball with each and every exercise that you do, while just starting out. In fact, you should limit yourself in using a leading exercise ball with a maximum of two exercises while starting out. Of course, if you have been working out for quite some time, say two months, then you can surely use a leading exercise ball with any exercise which you have mastered during your time in the gym. Again, let me add here that a leading exercise ball should be used with caution and not by throwing caution to the wind. As mentioned earlier, leading exercise ball was originally invented to cure medical conditions but this is no longer the case. Several exercises which are done with a standing position can include a leading exercise ball to simultaneously improve the back muscles as well. Similarly for those exercises which are done in a sitting position, addition of leading exercise ball can dramatically improve the abdominal muscles.