Yoga Ball ?

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I bought a yoga ball and have been doing crunches with it ... i did 60 of them ... and wasnt sore at all ... am i doing something wrong or is it working? I reread the instructions and I am pretty sure I'm doing them right, and I have the right size ball, I'm 5'8" and it says mine is from 5'6-6' ... I'm a 25yr old female, abs never been in shape in my life ... please let me know :) Thanks!
 
Were they hard to do when you were doing them? Soreness is not an indicator of how well something worked. Are you already in shape? If so, then you may need harder exercises.

I think the yoga ball (I call it a stability ball) is one of the BEST tools for fitness. If you want more instructions of pictures or exercise ideas, head over

Also, you can do 10,000 crunches a day but that will not get rid of the fat on your belly. To do that you have to reduce overall body fat. The crunches and Plank poses and all that ab stuff will work the ab muscles.

To lose body fat...

1) Eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. Each meal should be 2-3 hours apart. Each meal should contain one protein and one carb. The first meal should be eaten within an hour after waking.


2) Drink lots of water :)


3) Rest properly. This means taking at least 24-48 hours between strength training the same muscles, and it also means getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Lastly, it means taking 1-2 days off from exercising per week.


4) Cardio. This should be done at different intensity levels and different session lengths. Consider doing a low intensity/long session, a high intensity/short session and a few medium intensity/medium length sessions.


5) Strength Training. Strength train each muscle 1-3 times per week. You should lift a proper weight and perform the proper amount of sets/reps for your strength training method.


All of the above things combined will result in fat loss.
 
Those pics are good ... yes they are difficult to do when i'm doing them but I just dont get sore from it, so soreness is not a factor of effectiveness? I am doing all the stuff for fat loss as well, I've just found my tummy looks and feels flatter when I have time to do pilates classes, and since i only have time to go to that class on Sundays right now I thought the stability ball would produce similar results during the week. I really like that website, its one of the best I've seen :) How many ball crunches shoule I do? I've been doing 2 sets of 20 ... any suggestion? Also here is my diet, i've been eating small meals for a while now, I get hungry so fast now guess my metabloism in increasing? Anyways please make suggestions on my diet below:

Breakfast 8:15 - yogurt - 140 cal
Snack 10:15- Weight Control Oatmeal made with splenda - 160 cal
Lunch 12:45- Turkey Sandwich on Wheat w/ cheese - 350 cal
Snack 3:15- Atkins Morning Start Trail Mix Bar (11g protetin) - 160 cal
Dinner 7- grilled chicken breast and veggies

right now i'm in school so no time for dinner so i've been having a snack at 6 with triscuits,turkey, and cheese (like 200 calories) and then 200 calories of cheez-its during class at 8pm ...

I drink lots of water :) 12 glasses a day?

Thanks for any suggesitons :)
 
Yep, soreness is not a factor for effectiveness. Athletes are rarely sore. Your body adapts to fitness. Some people feel sore after everything they do. Some never feel sore at all. It all depends on the person.

Same with sweating. A lot of people believe the more you sweat the better. But that's not true. I amy sweat a lot and you may not sweat at all. But we could both be working out at the same intensity level.

The best factor in determining if your exercise and nutrition program is working is to test your body fat %. Most gyms do this for their members at no cost.

Pilates works the core area. So your stomach may look and feel better afterwards. The ball should give you just as good as a workout. The Plank pose is best, IMO. You can do do as many sets as you would like for the ball. But I'm getting the impression that you are just working the abs?? Is that the correct assumption?

If so, you should really get involved with a full body routine. It will help you so so so so so so much more than just working the abs. Since you are just beginning, I would stick to doing the . The same goes for the abs. Do 3 sets of an ab exercise. That can be divided up into 1 Plank pose, 1 set of Reverse Crunches and 1 set of Stability Ball Crunches.

Your nutrition program can use a lot of help- sorry to say :( My comments are in brackets next to your meal plan.

Breakfast 8:15 - yogurt - 140 cal [Add protein here]

Snack 10:15- Weight Control Oatmeal made with splenda - 160 cal [Add protein here]

Lunch 12:45- Turkey Sandwich on Wheat w/ cheese - 350 cal [Not bad]

Snack 3:15- Atkins Morning Start Trail Mix Bar (11g protetin) - 160 cal [Ditch this all together. Try cottage cheese and a piece of fruit]

Dinner 7- grilled chicken breast and veggies [Good]

right now i'm in school so no time for dinner so i've been having a snack at 6 with triscuits,turkey, and cheese (like 200 calories) and then 200 calories of cheez-its during class at 8pm ... [Ditch the cheez-its. Try a protein bar if you need something to munch on. I'm not a fan of protein bars, but they have their place... this is a place for them. You have dinner at 7pm, but then say you don't have dinner because you are in school... so you eat triscuits, turkey and cheese. I'm not sure which one you are doing right now.]


Re-read those steps to fat loss again. It mentiones that each meal should have a carb and a protein. It also metions the importance of a full body strength training program.
 
Thanks for the suggestons ... yes i am working 8-430 and at school from 6-10 everyday right now for the next 6 weeks so i dont have much time ... thats why i've just been doing 35 min weight loss program on the elliptical everyday in my small window of free time and then on sundays i have time to take a pilates class. So i was trying to find a way to work my abs during the week ... i'll definitely add doing some planks. I'm just SO tired when i get home i cant do a whole body anything right now :( So in short i'm trying to find little things i do have time for (i.e. yoga ball :) ) Trying to not loose progress during this school stuff .. i'm getting certified to be a teacher ...

Yes right now my dinner is triscuits,cheese and turkey before class and cheezits in class ... i'm gonna do tuna and triscuits instead to get some protein in there ... (the rest of the time other than this 6 weeks i dont go to school and instead have time and eat chicken and veggies for dinner ha!)

Why ditch the atkins trail mix bar completely? It has 11g protein in it ... i thought that would be the same as a protein bar without all the sugar and bad stuff in it .. am i wrong?

Yogurt and Oatmeal both have protein in them ... is that not enough protein for that meal? I dont eat cottage cheese and protein is hard for me to find to eat ...eggs hurt my stomach so what else is there? i guess some nuts?

thanks for ur help ...
 
My philosophy has always been "Do what you can, when you can."

I suggested tossing the Atkins bar for cottage cheese and a piece of fruit like berries or something. I do not know how the Atkins bar stacks up against protein bars because protein bars are so diverse in their nutritional make up.

Overall it's your call. In my training to become a nutritionist we were taught that foods belong to one of three primary food groups. Fats, Carbs or Protein.

If it has a face or came from something with a face it equals protein.
If it came from a plant then it is a carb.

Yes, there are exceptions to these rules. Very few. We were taught that every meal should include 1 protein and 1 carb. Oatmeal would be a carb. It may have protein in it... but it is not a viable protein source.

Reese's Peanut Butter cups have protein in them... but it would not suffice for my protein of the day- although I wish it could ;)

There are many many protein choices out there. Chicken, turkey, cottage cheese, milk, cheese, greens, tofy, tempeh, beans, fish, etc.
 
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