The Swiss ball workout
While working out for a perfect body shape, you probably tend to focus more on your core ab muscles. Besides the strenuous ab crunches, which are more freestyle, you have a host of other options to choose while working on your abs.
A Swiss ball can expand the motion on the crunch, thus stimulating more abdominal muscles. The ball can also create some needed instability, which contracts the ab muscles for bracing your body, and also provides resistance like weights when lifted.
The Swiss ball plays multiple roles, it acts as a workout surface, a weight, and an exercise equipment that work on the core abdominal muscles, transverse abdominals and obliques for pain-free back muscles and a stronger midsection.
How to perform the workout?
You can perform the following workouts with a Swiss ball to tone your ab muscles:
- Ball crunch – Lie on the ball with your feet shoulder-breadth apart and hands behind your ears. Slowly crunch your upper body upwards by bracing your core and tightening your glutes. Raise your shoulders off the ball and tuck your chin to the chest. Slowly lower your upper body and come back to your starting position.
- Ball rollout – Rest your forearms on the ball and stretch your legs behind. Roll the ball forward and brace your abdomen as you extend your hips and arms. Roll back to your starting position once you feel you’re losing tension in your abs.
- Ball tuck – This balancing act is done on a high plank. Start by placing your wrists under your shoulders, keeping your core engaged and feet resting on the ball. Maintain the hip level and use your core to pull your knees towards your chest by rolling the ball towards yourself. Straighten your legs to return to your starting position.
- V-up and pass – Lie faceup on the floor, holding the ball between your ankles and extending your arms behind your head. Sit up while lifting your legs simultaneously and passing the ball from your ankles to your hands. Move down to the floor and repeat the step by passing the ball from your hands to your legs.
- Wall side crunch – By being next to a wall, place your right side on the ball and extend your legs to the wall for support. Brace your core and place your hands behind your ears. Perform a side crunch by raising your left elbow up and engaging obliques. Return to your starting position and then switch sides.
The Swiss ball workout can really help you to achieve a desirable abdomen in a short period of time.
