Health and Fitness Blog

Archive for the ‘Exercise Ball’ Category

You’ve probably seen exercise balls somewhere, but very few people know how to use them effectively during their workouts. People throw them to one another, sit on them and bounce them around the room, but these simple rubber balls can assist you to lose weight and tone your body.

If you find yourself running out of time during the day or just want to get a few minutes of exercise in each day, have a think about getting your hands on an exercise ball and trying a few of these quick and simple exercises.

1. Lie back on the ball so that only your back is touching the ball. Make sure that your feet are flat on the floor and your hands are behind your head (as if you were doing sit-ups). Staying in this position, lift your head up and down. This is just like doing sit-ups but with an exercise ball. To make this exercise more difficult, bring your feet closer to the ball.
2. One exercise that is very simple but extremely effective is one that is known as the “Ball Table Top”. Kneel down and place your forearms and elbows on the ball. Keeping your back straight, extend your body by straightening out your legs so that you are no longer kneeling down. Repeat this several times to tone your chest muscles, abdominal muscles and back muscles.
3. If you’re hoping to tone your thigh muscles, this next exercise is ideal for you. Lie on the floor, keeping your back straight. Grab the ball with your knees and repeatedly raise your buttocks from off the floor and then back down to the floor.

These are three very different exercises that will help you to tone various muscles in your body. You’ll see huge differences over a few weeks if you do these exercises for a few minutes each day.