Stability ball
- Thread starter Dabble
- Start date
Pilates ball? Dont have one but there's one at the gym that I use for cruches sometimes and ye its great for traning stability.
Yeah I have a stability ball at home. I do not really feel much doing any exercises on it though. With sit ups, I can do a lot on there and not really feel my abdominals burn (same with oblique sit ups). I can do sit ups on the ground and feel them more than I can on the ball. hamstring curls - I dont feel my hamstrings getting any work either. I also have done back extensions on the ball and have to do about 25+ to get a feel in my lower back.
Don't bother doing bar or DB lifts on it. You'll lose force development from the instability.
Instead, use it to develop stability, coordination and balance.
Examples of good exercises (taken from, you guessed it, "New Rules of Lifting"):
Swiss-ball lateral rolls.
Supine hip extensions w/ and w/o leg curl
Crunches
Russian twists
I'm sitting on a stability ball right now instead of using my chair. easier on my butt and I am able to keep my back straight instead of slouching. slouching is not good for the back. Also I am not getting stiff like I usually would with the chair.
Woah. Thanks alot Cynic! I'm def going to try all of them out and include them into my workout.
Definately not!
You want a stable platform when you have a weight over your head and throat.
The article I read said you don't gain as much in strength due to a loss of force production when lifting on an unstable surface.
As Alwyn has them in his program, the only weighted swiss ball exercises are a medicine ball throw and crunches. Everything else is bodyweight to develop the coordination in the TVA (transverse abdominals), stability and balance.
And as they are, they are hard.
I disagree. I love to use the stability ball as a bench. You may not be able to lift as heavy of a weight as on a stationary bench, but using the ball gives you an awesome workout. You need to maintain your core throughout the entire workout!
You can get pretty much a full-body workout entirely on the ball. JMO - but I think it's a great piece of equipment!!!
The "core" gets enough maintanence from bent over rows, squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, etc.
I have yet to see anyone but a poor and stupid PT have clients do weights on a swissball. How many times in life do you have to push something while laying on an unstable surface?
All this "functional" training has gotten out of hand.
I don't agree, but I'm in no position to stop anyone either.
I still wouldn't recommend lifting weights on an unstable surface. That's begging for an injury.
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Wow
good to know!! But now I'm screwed!! lol!! I was starting to work out at home and my bench is in the basement, is there other options??Wow
Can't you bring the bench upstairs?
Isn't the basement fit for working out?
Last option is floor presses (laying down and benching that way).
I would work in making that bench usable, or get a gym membership.
I got another question about the stability ball, is this the most efficient type of non-gym equipment to do crunches with?
This from "New Rules of Lifting" (Everybody, especially new people, should get this book!):
"In a 2000 study in the journal Physical Therapy, Spanish researchers compared four types of abdominal crunches. The Swiss-ball crunch, by a long shot, made the abdominal muscles work the hardest."
Paraphrasing the rest...
The rectus by 2x, the obliques by 4x as much.