Focus On: Stability Balls
We’ve already talked about medicine balls and resistance bands, so today I thought it would be fun to focus on another gym staple: stability balls.
They look so nice and innocent, huh?
Not only are they inexpensive and easy to find, but you can get in a killer total-body workout, particularly challenging your core, using one of these things.
So what is a stability ball aka balance ball, fitness ball, Swiss ball, birth ball (!), physioball and sports ball?
It’s a large elastic ball, filled with air, and the size can vary (more on that in a second). The major benefit of using a ball is that it challenges core muscles to keep your body stabilized, and is a great way to add extra resistance to exercises without being too heavy. Many people use stability balls in lieu of desk chairs to challenge their back and abdominals, and the ball can also be used in the labor process. The ball can be used to modify traditional strength training moves and also as a stretching tool (arching your back over a stability ball to stretch your abs is one of the most glorious feelings ever).
Does size matter?
For the most part, yes. The most common sizes are 55, 65 and 75cm, and here is a general sizing chart*:
4’11” to 5’3”: 55cm
5’4” to 5’10”: 65cm
5’11” and up: 75cm
What are some exercises I can do with an exercise ball?
Here are some of my favorites for a total-body workout. As always, check with a doc before making any fitness changes, honor your body and your injuries.
If you’d like to complete these moves as a circuit, try for 2-3 total sets of 12-15 reps for each exercise.
Chest, triceps, shoulders: Push-ups
Tip: the closer the ball is to your thighs, the easier the exercise will be. Want to challenge yourself? Add in a pike. Push-up, pike, push-up, pike. Whew!
Back: Back extension
More challenging: add a gentle twist at the top of the motion. Hands are on your head (like you’re doing a crunch), come up and twist to one side. Lower and repeat.
Biceps: Preacher curl
Hamstrings: Hamstring curl. My all-time favorite stability ball exercise
Abs: Ball pass
Don’t speed through this exercise- take long deep breaths and count and you raise the ball and lower it.
Oblique twist:
Quads: Split squat
Tip: Watch your front knee and make sure it doesn’t extend past your toes. Need help with balance? Hold onto a wall, weight training bench or ballet bar.
Calves: Wall calf raise
Fire it up: Add weights (like pic above), or try one leg at a time
How often do you use stability balls in your training? It’s an excellent tool to have in your home gym to add in a couple of workout moves (or bounce around for fun), whenever you’d like.
Want one of your own?
Leave a comment with your favorite stability ball exercise, and a lucky reader will win a Go Fit stability ball in their preferred size. (You’ll need a hand pump or something to pump it up- a local gym will do this for you, too)
I’ll announce the winner around midnight EST tonight.
[This giveaway was sponsored by Bella. She’s so generous]
xoxo
Gina
345 Comments
Leave a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
I’ve actually never used one! So I don’t have a favorite, but looks like a great item to have for home workouts!
I have such a love/hate with the ball pass, but my all time favorite is the oblique crunch!
The oblique twist is my favorite exercise to do on the stability balls!
I love doing reverse crunches with the stability ball. I start in a plank position with the ball under my feet, and using my feet, I pull the ball into my chest, while stabilizing my core. Took me a few attempts to get the hang of it, but now I love doing it!
I love a good old fashioned stability ball crunch! I’ve been trying to expand the exercises I do on the ball, but was having a really hard time….maybe I have one that’s too large. I never knew there was a sizing chart!
I love love love doing plie squats up against the ball against the wall. I add resistence by holding a weight either on my shoulders or in between my legs. Feel the burn!
i like to sit on my stability ball at work all day 🙂 but i also like the hamstring exercise (above) that you’ve included in some of your workouts!
Push ups! I struggle with them but I love the results they give.
Pushups or ab work!
I like putting the ball under my shins and doing push ups! It’s the best!
I love doing the plank with my forearms on the ball! Works my core!
I love doing hamstring curls and would love to use it as a birthing ball when I go into labor next month!
I used to do push ups but have to admit it has been a long time! I’d be excited to win and try some of those videos out!
I would use it as a desk chair- studying for finals has really put a stitch in the exercise schedule. I love doing oblique twists on the ball and it makes a great studying break.
I have a love/hate relationship with the ab pass…so hard! I also really like to use the ball for booty exercises…we did one the other day where you’re doing a plank with really just your hip bones touching the ball with your legs out straight behind you (not on the floor), then you raise one leg up into the air at a time, focusing on the glutes. And then we did booty v-raises on the ball, too – it burn burn burned my booty in such a good way!
I love the ball pass and I love doing situps on the stability ball!
Planks! I always collapse and am not very good at them, but you feel like such a rock star as you get better. Just chillin’ out on the ball, haha. Also pikes and push-ups! At one class I went to, a woman put both her knees on the top of the ball, straightened up, and balanced completely unassisted on top of the ball (!!) for almost a minute. It was insane!!
My favorite exercises on the stability ball are chest presses and planks. 😉
I love doing Swiss Ball Crunches! It is the only way I can feel the burn, like I have correct form. Love my stability ball!
Its not an exercise, but I like to sit on a stability ball at work. I sit for almost 8 hrs a day so it helps me to keep good posture!
I. love. stability balls. Unfortunately, so do cats … so one at home doesn’t survive well. I’d have to defend it well if I one! But there was this AMAZINGZ core class at a gym I used to belong to. It was a bad ass 45 minute stability ball jam. It was. awesome. I think there was a fitness certification in stability balls or something that the trainer had. IT RULED. Pretty sure the gym (in my hometown) still has the class … should totally go when I visit the ‘rents for Christmas!
Well when I actually use the stability ball at the gym I love to do hamstring curls and and back extensions (but with my feet against a wall for support). But most of the time I use a stability ball that is too big for me (i’m 5’5″ and using a 75 cm ball) to sit on at work behind my desk! I had to get the biggest one to sit at my desk comfortably. Beats the heck out of my desk chair 🙂
I love my stability ball and use it almost daily except it has a slow leak and is constantly deflating on me. This is an awesome giveaway!
I do everything from crunches to rolling it back and forth with my feet while in a plank position…I do tons with it!
Awesome giveaway! I have been wanting to get one of these forever. My favorite size is the 65 cm. Working out with a stability ball is so nice while pregnant… it keeps me off the floor!! Plus, you can use it as a labor ball!
The hamstring curl is definitely my favorite too. I can feel the burn immediately!
I’ve only used stability balls for ab crunches–but I’ve always wanted to try out some other exercises. I’m starting to learn (and incorporate) more about stability exercises with the stability ball and Bosu ball.
I love doing hamstring curls on one! A trainer showed me how to do them once and it’s been my favorite ball exercise ever since.
I love stability ball crunches…..just a few is all I need to feel it. 🙂
Bella is so generous! 🙂 I’ve always been a little bit scared to try a workout with a stability ball, but the people I know who use them, love them. Thanks for posting all these tips!!
I also love hamstring curls! I’d love to have an extra ball to keep in my office as a seat since I sit at a chair for many hours a day.
Hamstring curls. Ouch!
This is great! I usually have zero creativity when it comes to these, so I’m excited to use a stability ball for an entire workout. I’d have to say that right now, my favorite workout on them is crunches, because it works the abs so well, but wall sits are also really interesting with a stability ball.
Love me some stability ball hamstring curls! Would love to have a stability ball to do these at home!
I have not used a stability ball much before. Thanks for the giveaway!
Not sure it’s my fav, but I usually use it to do chest presses/flys with.
I usually don’t use a stability ball when I exercise at my school’s gym. I mostly take advantage of the high tech fancy machines to get my workout in! But since winter break is fast approaching I will definitely be doing more at home workouts and a stability ball would definitely come in handy. My favorite exercise on a stability ball would be any ab exercise and definitely the split squat!
I love doing crunches on a stability ball at the gym. so difficult! I have been thinking about getting a stability ball to sit on at work instead of my office chair. Hoping it will improve my poor posture from hunching over my computer all day!
I love using the stability ball for all kinds of things, but if I had to choose I would say crunches! The stability ball provides such variety to your ab workout!
Prone Jackknifes!! And I ‘d love to win this – a stability ball is on my wish list!
I love the Hamstring Curl exercise! I learned it from your site and do it a lot 🙂
Crunches on the ball are the best! Plus, the stability ball makes the best office chair, I love it!
Ana
I agree with you that Hamstring Curls with the ball are the best! Hurt so good! And I consider Pikes to be one of the hardest exercises of all time – so great for you though.
I’d love the 55cm one, thanks Bella 😉
Side note, a lot of people in my office have taken to sitting on these as their desk chairs. I always want to try it, but sometimes, when one of the people who uses the ball currently, annoys me, I fantasize about taking a letter opener to the ball when they’re not in their office so they come back to a deflated chair. Mean and probably a little crazy (and I would NEVER do it), but I don’t want anyone having the same fantasies about me, haha.
i used to do stability ball workouts 2-3 times a week, but i recently moved and my new apartment gym has only one stability ball with these awful spikes all over it! can’t use it for more than 1-2 moves or it’ll hurt too much! i’d love to win one of my own though!
I Love using the stability ball for back strengthen exercises like the back extension. Now that I am pregnant and cannot lay on my belly my prenatal yoga instructor showed us how we can use the ball to support us and stretch over the ball to open up the front of our body. It feels GLORIOUS!!
My favorite is the hamstring curl too! One of the trainers at my gym recommended it to me when I started running more often, and I love that now that I’ve been doing them for a bit I can feel my core and my hamstrings and other parts of my legs getting stronger and stronger. Crunches on the ball are awesome, too.
I have the Gaiam balance ball chair and use it at work. People have noticed that my overall posture is better, and I love that I don’t have the lower back pain I used to get sitting on a traditional desk chair.
I never used the ball for exercises, and want to thank you for posting this so now I can try some of these out 🙂 I think I would start with the ball pass.
Thanks again!
I am boring and just use the ball for crunches. Thanks for the new ideas!
I love doing push-ups and back extensions on stability balls. Don’t forget about your back!!!
My nursing clinical this semester is in a high school health room, and we use stability balls instead of chairs. It’s wonderful! Plus I can squeeze in some exercises when there aren’t any students around 😉 I love doing simple crunches on the ball; it works so many more muscles than crunches on the ground. Thanks, Bella! What a sweetie 🙂