Use The Ball, Lose The Belly | Core Workout

One of the most notable advancements in the fitness world over the last ten years is the progress we’ve made in understanding the importance of our core. Experts have recognized the importance of full core training not only as a tummy flattener but as a back strengthener and a crucial part of functional body movement, too.

A strong core helps you bend, stretch, twist, and lift. For most people, your core plays an integral part in almost every movement all day long – even healthy sitting! Included with all of this new knowledge has been a wealth of new and advanced methods for core training. We’ve ventured far beyond the crunches and sit-ups and into the world of planks, rotations, and balance challenges. But for this workout, it’s all about the stability ball.

The stability ball might just be one of the best tools around for giving you new strength in your core fitness. The ball provides a dimension of instability making not only the target muscles work harder, but additional smaller muscles and fibers surrounding the core kick in to help keep you stable. It truly is a wonder tool for the core!

Choose the proper size by sitting on top of the stability ball and looking for your knees to come straight out or just slightly below your hip bones. If your butt sinks lower than your knees, choose a larger ball.

Perform each exercise for 12-15 repetitions. When you are finished, start back at the top and repeat.

Watch the video below to see the full workout!

Stability Ball Ab Pike

A) Begin in a plank position with feet on the ball and hands on floor just below your shoulders.

B) As you exhale, lift your hips up and pull your feet toward your midline until your body forms an upside down “V.”

C) As you inhale, return to plank position. Tighten your abdominals to avoid letting your back sag.

Perform 12-15 repetitions

Stability Ball Back Extension

A) Place the front of your body, from hips to ribs, on top of the ball. Keep abs tight and reach arms down alongside body.

B) Extend legs long behind you with feet hip width apart. Your body should form one, long line.

C) As you exhale, draw shoulders back and lift chest upward, keeping neck in line with spine. Return to start position.

Perform 12-15 repetitions

Stability Ball Core Rotation

1) Place shoulder blades on top of the ball with the rest of your body extended out in a table top position with knees bent 90 degrees and feet hip distance apart. Head is of slightly off the back of the ball.

2) Press palms together and hold them straight above chest.

3) Keeping arms straight, slowly lower them to the right of you’re the ball, turning the torso to follow but keeping hips and legs steady.

4) Return to center and repeat on the left. This is one repetition.

Perform 12-15 repetitions

Ball Forearm Plank

1) Begin kneeling with stability ball in front of you and forearms on top of ball.

2) Tighten core and lift knees up until you are in a straight line plank. Keep your shoulder blades pulled down.

3) Hold plank, squeezing glutes, thighs and core and breathing continuously.

Hold for 30 seconds

When you finish this routine, go back to the beginning and go through the workout a second time for optimal results.

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