In the previous blog we looked at how Swiss balls benefit us in so many different ways. So I thought why not I share with you some of the best Swiss ball exercises? The 4 exercises below are all my favorites when I want to improve my stability and strength.
Here we go!
Forward ball roll
This exercise mainly strengthens the stability and strength of our shoulders and deep abdominal walls.
To perform this exercise, make sure you start with a 90/90 position. That is elbows bent at 90 degree with your forearm on the ball and hips perpendicular to the ground/ your calves. This will form a box-like shape between you and the Swiss ball.
As you roll forward, inhale, tuck and hold your tummy in at the same time. This ensures that you are activating your TVA –– transversus abdominals –– to stabilize your whole body. As you go roll back, you are going to exhale but still keeping your core tight until you reach the starting position.
Also, the speed of the arms and the hips should be perfectly matched. That means, you arms and hips should move maintaining an equal distance in between all throughout the movement. One of the most common mistakes people make is that they roll forward only with their arms but not their hips. Integrating the upper and lower body cannot be overlooked for this exercise. Otherwise, you’re just putting relying on your joints and primer movers to perform the movements, not the actual targeted muscles –– stabilizers and neutralizers.
Overhead press kneeling
Caution: If you are not professionally trained, please do not attempt performing this exercise without supervision.
Overhead press kneeling on SB is one of the hardest yet most interesting and fun exercises to play with. It requires literally every single muscle in our body to work together so that we can maintain balance on the ball keeping the center of gravity in place.
For this exercise, it is best that you start with a bigger ball then progress to a smaller on as you get stronger. When we are doing an overhead press on such unstable base of support, it’s essential for us to maintain good posture. That means our whole spine should be in neutral curvatures. This ensures us we are properly recruiting our core musculature and not compensating any part of our body to stabilize us.
For beginners, always start with two arms. This way the loads placed on your body is equal both sides. When you get stronger, you can progress to alternating arms and lastly single arm. Single arm press is a lot more challenging because of its unequal load. When only one arm is loaded, the center of gravity will shift a lot more easily. This requires us to recruit our sling system –– external obliques and contralateral internal obliques, to work harder so that we won’t fall. If you find kneeling is getting easier, go ahead and proceed to standing!
Jackknife cruches
I believe most of you have heard of this exercise. This is one of the most effective exercises that train our core and hip flexors by integrating the upper and lower body.
This time, a smaller ball should be used for beginners and then it can be progressed to a bigger ball. You can also adjust the difficultly by changing the position of the ball. The closer the ball is to your hip, the easier it is. Vice versa.
To perform this exercise, first take a deep diaphragmatic breath then tuck your stomach in to activate TVA, exhale as you tuck your legs in.
When you perform this exercise, there are a few things you should be mindful of:
Keep your head in a straight line with your spine. Otherwise, your neck will suffer from extra pressure trying to hold your head.
Keep you hip the same level as the shoulder and not move it up and down throughout the whole exercise so that you’re really recruiting the core.
Keep you arms slight bent so that you are using your muscles to your body and not relying on the joints and ligaments.
Do not tuck your coccyx/tailbone. When you tuck your legs in, you should stop right before your coccyx moves. This will reduce the risk lower back injuries.
Supine hip extension
This is another simple yet amazing exercise that targets our glutes, cores, low back, quadriceps, and hamstrings. Many usually think this only trains our glutes, but there are so many variations in performing this!!
Here are some variations and what they’re best for:
Back on ball (targeting quads): Keep your shins/calves perpendicular to the ground throughout the whole exercise (both extension and flexion). This way our body weight will be all loaded on your quadriceps.
Back on ball (targeting glutes & hamstrings): If you want to target your glutes and hamstrings, keep the Swiss ball in place this time; don’t let it move back and forth when extending and flexing hips. It is okay if your shins are not perpendicular to the ground.
Back on ball (for people who have flat back): If you have reduced lumbar curvature, you should extend your hip as much as you can when you come up, whether you are targeting your quads or glutes. Doing this will lead your lower back into extension and slowly bring the lumbar curvature back to normal after a period of time.
Feet on ball (progression): If doing hip extensions back on ball is too easy for you, you can try progressing it to feet on ball. It is important to keep the ball in place throughout the exercise. If you find your legs keep moving to the sides or the front, it’s probably too challenging for you at the moment. This variation creates instability in your base of support which requires you to recruit more of your core and all other stabilizers & neutralizers in your lower extremities. Not only does this put more load on your gluteal musculature, it also improves stabilization. This leads to enhanced sports performance because you will become stronger, more stable, and gain more control over your body.
Adding different forms of resistance: You can always add plates, dumbbells, kettlebells, or sand bags to this exercise if body weight is not challenging for you. Just simply place the loads on your iliopsoas/pelvic floor when you perform the exercise. You also place resistance band around your thighs in order to target more of your abductors (IT band, glutes med.) as well!
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Comment down below and let me know what some of your favorite Swiss Ball exercises are! If you are curious about how we design our coaching programs integrating Swiss ball exercises and how they are going to benefit yourself or your friends/families, come visit TAO Movement!
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