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The Question: They have become pretty popular, and with good reason. An exercise ball can improve balance and can be difficult to stabilize. What is a good routine to follow using only an exercise ball? What kind of results can you expect? Show off your knowledge to the world! The Winners:
2nd place - 50 in store credit. 3rd place - 25 in store credit. To use your credit, e-mail Will @ will@bodybuilding.com for more info.
Agreed, which is why there is one in the perldog007 home fitness complex. Of course in the dog compound we use the stability ball or Swiss ball with weights quite a bit. Around here we do abdominal work like crunches without weight and if we are going to be seated in front of the boob tube for a while, say "UFC Unleashed" and "Ultimate Fighter", we may use it for a chair. This will give our stabilizers some play instead of just broadening our backside while we are entertained. But we are here to talk about something very different. You have been kidnapped by the CCCP. No genius not the remnants of the communist party, but the Concerned Chamomile Consuming People. In their quest to eliminate testosterone from our culture they have gone beyond promoting the meterosexual lifestyle. They have kidnapped you and stranded you in a room with a big pink Swiss ball. These anti-male forces are so insidious you may not even realize you have been kidnapped. You may think you are on a business trip at a motel with really lame exercise equipment, or just visiting in-laws. Perception is not what it seems. You are cut off from iron and surrounded by unfriendlies. The only means of preserving your buff build is that big pink Swiss ball in the corner. The rat bastards didn't even have the human decency to obtain a cool looking one, say black with the Everlast logo. Now what do you do? Well, if I were you, I would have read and practiced the routine below for just such an emergency. Prepare to go plumb bezerk, nothing, not even a lack of equipment will stop you from getting your workout. Now, make like you are using Johnson and Johnson Baby Shampoo and lose the tears. Read on.
Only an exercise ball, are we joking? What do we do about progressive resistance, periodization, drop sets, pyramiding, and all those other cool words we like to throw around? Courage, my troubled friend. Those of us who have been around for a while have seen some badass cats that never really touched a weight. Anybody who has experienced recruit training in our military, especially a leatherneck, knows that you can get stronger without lifting weights. My son's own mother did not recognize him at graduation due to larger arm muscles and smaller waistline. Repeat my last, the young man lost fat and gained muscle without weight training. His arms only gained 1/2 inch in the twelve weeks, but with the rest of him getting 25 lbs smaller (185 to 160), the effect was dramatic. There are some decent articles on this site, and books and videos everywhere. Even Wall-Mart has DVDs' showing Swiss ball routines. By now you should be open to the premise that we can stay pretty fit without weights if we try. Maybe even gain some strength. Remember, more functional strength means we will be able to move more iron and that means bigger gains when we escape back to the gym. One of my favorite writers on this site is Mike Mahler. He has developed an excellent bodyweight exercise he calls the Mahler Body Blaster. Mike also wrote an excellent article on a whole routine of just bodyweight exercises.
Now Mike works with weights as well, but obviously bodyweight exercises have not hurt him and they wont hurt you either. Adding a Swiss ball to the mix will give you the benefits of bodyweight exercise and improve your stabilizers. We want to make your captivity with the CCCP as productive as possible. You want to train every day. This means we will not be going for muscular failure. By training every day, we are training ourselves to be stronger by getting the muscles to give us better contractions. This is not a size gaining protocol. This is a strength gaining workout. Our goal is to be stronger when we get back to our beloved iron pile. With the why covered, let's get on the how. I already knew about several exercises with the ball. I found one for hamstrings and another for the shoulders in a great article by Jeff Turner about working out without a weight room here.
Like many things in life, there is an easy part, and a hard part. The easy part is prescribing exercises with a Swiss ball which will work the entire body. The hard part is prescribing a rep range. This will vary for every individual. What we want here is to train the muscles to contract. We want to make better use of what we have. We should feel stronger after the workout than when we began. This means we will not train to failure. You should be able to do this workout every day, even twice a day. Do the exercises in the order of the body parts you want to concentrate on most and do each exercise for as many reps as you can with good form. If you are experiencing shaking and failure to contract, you are overdoing it. Read some of Pavel's books for a detailed explanation of the concept of training for success, not failure. The Naked Warrior is a good one to start with. I like to do this routine indoors, or weather permitting, on the lawn always barefoot.
   Click Image To Enlarge. Swiss Ball Pushups.
    Click Image To Enlarge. Swiss Ball Lunges.
  Click Image To Enlarge. Swiss Ball Crunches.
  Click Image To Enlarge. Hamstring Curls On The Ball.
  Click Image To Enlarge. Last Curl Held At Top Of Rep.
  Click Image To Enlarge. Swiss Ball Supermans.
  Click Image To Enlarge. Swiss Ball Leg Lifts.
   Click Image To Enlarge. Swiss Ball Rotation.
  Click Image To Enlarge. Swiss Ball Flexions.
* Hold ball overhead while lunging, do not try to lunge with rear foot on top of ball, I think that is just weird. Worry about good form first, try to increase reps every few days if form is good. Now take a break and watch some television, using your Swiss ball for a chair. Or go troll the teen area in the Bodybuilding.com forums and take a mental beatdown while building your stabilizer muscles sitting on the ball.
You have many ways to increase resistance. Longer reps, more reps, using one arm instead of two, going one-legged on hamstring curls, going lower on lunges, use your imagination, work safe. As always consult with your physician before embarking on any exercise program.
If you are a beginner, you may see some size increase from a regimen like this. Most likely you will experience enhanced ability to contract your muscles and be able to lift more. With routines of this type, assuming a good diet, it is not uncommon to see bodyweight correction. That is, folks with too much weight lose some and those with not enough gain. Your rep range will increase. Your stabilizer muscles will gain like mad. Overall, you will grow muscles you didn't even know you had. This is what I am after. This routine and some kettlebell exercises will be my routine for November, along with some megadosing of flavones. I will let you know how it goes. Thank you for reading, and if you don't have one yet, get your Swiss ball here. Train well, live large.
The exercise ball is one of the most effective tools for developing core strength and increasing stability. Exercise balls, also known as "Swiss balls," are very versatile! Training with the exercise ball truly challenges your body in ways not possible with traditional gym equipment. Working out with the exercise ball is a revolutionary way to improve your fitness and health! Exercise balls are widely used by fitness fanatics and professional athletes, and now you too can improve your strength, coordination, and core strength with this effective exercise ball workout using only an exercise ball!
  Click Image To Enlarge. Back Extensions.
Muscles Worked:
   Click Image To Enlarge. Supine Oblique Crunch.
  Click Image To Enlarge. Hip Extension.
Muscles Worked:
Push your body up until your arms are almost straight. Do not lock your elbows. Hold and balance for a count of 2-3 seconds. Return to the starting position and repeat. Muscles Worked:
  Click Image To Enlarge. Incline Push-up.
Muscles Worked:
It is vital to keep your torso rounded over the ball for balance and support. Proceed to elevate the left arm and right leg slowly simultaneously, emphasizing a complete range of motion. Hold each contraction for a total of 1-2 seconds, and then slowly return to the starting position. Continue to repeat this exercise by alternating sides.
   Click Image To Enlarge. Prone Opposite Arm/Leg Raise.
Muscles Worked:
  Click Image To Enlarge. Squats.
Muscles Worked:
  Click Image To Enlarge. Lunges.
Muscles Worked:
Most of you reading this are thinking; can I even have a good workout using only the exercise ball? Yes, you can! The following routine is one I use from time to time, and let me tell you, I'm absolutely drenched in sweat after completing this workout! The routine is one which emphasizes on circuit training. Circuit training is a method in which you progress from one particular exercise to the next with little to no rest in between sets. Rest periods will be kept to 20 seconds in between sets with this program.
I started seeing results with this program just after two weeks of using it. I had developed new muscles I never thought I had. My core and stabilizing muscles greatly improved as well, which conclusively helped me bring up my core lifts such as the barbell squat, deadlift, and bench press! With this program, my conditioning and flexibility also increased considerably. You too, can expect amazing results using this program! With time you will experience better muscle contractions, conditioning, improved core stability, and changes in body composition!
Good luck with all of your fitness goals!
Mike
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perldog007's Swissball Routine:
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