The Benefits of Using Fitness Balls

There are seemingly endless quantities of new exercise equipments coming out every day in the media boasting how they’ll change your life for the better. It is really rare to find a product that really is worth its weight in gold. A product that does what it claims, producing fitness results fast and efficiently. Behold, the fitness ball!

Fitness Ball

Complete body workouts are what should be sought in an average to good exercise plan. This involves a range of exercise movements that can be done to hone and tone the majority of your muscle groups. People often find that there are particular areas of their body that are more difficult to work on e.g. the abdomen in men, and the thighs and buttocks in women. These are areas where fat tends to most easily accumulate.

The recent invention of the fitness ball is a superb addition to your general overall exercise regime in that it hones in on these difficult to target areas, in both a fun and safe way.

The beauty of its inception is that it is incredibly simple to use and does not require the use of weights of other heavy pieces of gym equipment which can potentially cause major damage to your muscles and back. Saying that, there are now manufacturers that have developed balls that can be used in conjunction with heavy weights training, whether it be bench press or dumbbell activities.

Fitness balls are particularly effective due to their inherent instability when used requiring constant muscle use.

Fitness Ball Use

Typically balls come with instructions and an additional information sheet detailing workouts you can follow to achieve your desired results, all in a step-by-step fashion. Construction is of a tough but stretchy burst resistant rubber. Make sure you get the right size for your build. Common sizes are 45, 55, 65 and 75cm diameter. Exercises can hone your muscles used in stability, facilitate rehabilitation from injuries or allow cardiovascular workouts. All muscles can be worked, you just need to learn the postures required.

An example of a basic workout with one of these exercise balls can be seen below:

• Inflate the ball as detailed


• Lie across the stationary ball with your back. Your torso should hang down the side


• Place the pressure of your body on your legs and likewise on the ball


• Lift your hanging torso to a 45 degree angle (from horizontal) to place a strain on your abdomen, torso and thigh muscles. Hold this position only for a couple of seconds before moving your torso slowly back to the hanging position. This is termed a ‘rep’ (i.e. repetition), and should be given another go after a second or so of rest time. 8 should be achievable in the space of a minute for a moderate workout. You should increase the number of reps as you become more proficient.

Other exercises that can be achieved with these fitness balls are trunk extensions, core crunchers, basic crunches, elevated pushups and bent knee bridges. Full details of these can be found easily on the internet.

Once used the ball can be deflated and stored out of the way if necessary. The ball can be used to obtain a fitness position whilst watching TV or working at your desk.

Inexpensive to buy, fitness balls can be found in any good sport or exercise related store.