Have a ball with fitness
Training with a gymnastics ball helps strengthen muscles that are difficult to reach with other exercises.
IF you thought exercises using a gymnastics ball were just for physiotherapy and pregnant women, think again.
Training with a gymnastics ball helps strengthen muscles that are difficult to reach with other exercises.
You can even create a challenging fitness programme centred around this piece of equipment.
“You can train your entire body with a gymnastics ball: arms, chest, back, abdomen, legs and rear,” says Sandra Gaerttner, a fitness trainer at the German University of Applied Sciences for Prevention and Health Management.
This is why you won’t just see the ball lying around a physiotherapist’s office, but also at the gym.
Gymnastics balls are even sometimes used in offices to replace office chairs.
This is “good for the whole body”, says sport scientist Ulrich Kuhnt, as the more open posture we adopt when using them stimulates blood flow to the body’s vital organs.
However, you should only use a gymnastics ball as a chair temporarily – doing so for more than an hour can overload the muscles.
Here are some exercise ideas for using a gymnastics ball:
Plank: When laying in plank position on a gymnastics ball, you train your entire body.
Start by kneeling behind the ball and place your arms, at an angle, on the ball to support yourself. Then raise your knees until you are in a full plank position.
You can also do side planks in this fashion.
Crunch: This is a classic exercise done on gymnastics balls.
Lie with your back on the ball, legs slightly angled and feet on the ground.
Lift and lower your upper body as if doing traditional crunches to train the abdominal muscles.
Bridge: Lay on your back on the floor and place your heels on the ball.
Keep your shoulders and arms on the floor, with your palms facing upwards.
Raise your buttocks off the ground to form a bridge, which stretches your core and back muscles.