How To Do Stability Ball Single-Leg Lift and Lower

By: Chris Freytag, CPT

Stability Ball Single Leg Lift and Lower is an intense and effective exercise to strengthen your hamstrings, glutes and core muscles. Most of our common lower body exercises like squats and lunges focus mainly on the quads and glutes. It is difficult to find ways to target the hamstring muscles without specific machines. This move does the trick! It also creates a sense of instability forcing you to pull in your core and stabilize your body. If you learn how to do Stability Ball Single Leg Lift and Lower you will feel your legs the next day!

Another benefit of the Stability Ball Single Leg Lift and Lower is that it is an exercise done lying on your back. For some people, knee and hip injuries prohibit them from traditional moves like squats or lunges. Finding alternatives to strengthen the lower body can be difficult. This move is an excellent choice.

The stability ball is an excellent tool for many things, but primarily for strengthening and stabilizing the core muscles. In this exercise your core is put to use to keep you steady as you lift and lower your hips. Choosing a ball that suits your height is important. If your ball is too big you will not get a good range of motion. If the ball you choose is too small, you might not get enough stability. Generally those who are 5’4” and over choose the larger balls and those that are shorter choose the smaller balls.

After you try the Stability Ball Single Leg Lift and Lower, check out our “Use The Ball, Lose the Belly Core Workout. Also, check out our full body workout Stability Ball Total Body Toner.

Here are the steps to performing Stability Ball Single Leg Lift and

1) Begin lying on back, arms by side with right foot on top of stability ball and left leg extended into the air.

2) Press foot into ball as you lift your body up so you are in a straight line with only shoulders and head relaxed on mat. Left leg doesn’t move.

3) Slowly return to floor. Repeat for desired number of reps and switch feet.

Targets: hamstrings, glutes, core