Let’s talk about the swiss ball, and why you should be incorporating it into your workouts.
The swiss ball is a large ball, filled with air, which introduces new movements and positions for beginners to the most advanced clients, including prenatal clients and postnatal mother’s. The swiss ball brings a variety of movements and benefits, with a focus on improving your balance, muscle tone and core strength.
Introducing the swiss ball changes the position of the body, incorporating different muscles to challenge your body to move in new ranges of movement. It requires focus and balance, which challenges your mind-body connection. It adds weight to movements, fatiguing your upper and lower body muscles and activating your core to help stabilise your body on the ball. A total body swiss ball workout effectively works every muscle in the body, while bringing pace to your workouts to increase your heart rate.
How does the swiss ball add challenge to your workout?
- Adds instability to your movements by reducing your base of support and creating instability in your position.
- All your muscles are required to work together to stabilise and support your movements on the swiss ball, ensuring a total body workout every time.
- It adds weight to specific movements which fatigue the muscles in your arms and legs.
How does the swiss ball support your workouts?
- It allows you to move in an elevated position, seated and off the floor which is highly supportive to prenatal members, elderly members or injured members working through a rehabilitation program.
- The swiss ball provides a softer surface, allowing you to work through movements such as a chest lift, off the hard surface on the floor.
- You can add the swiss ball to specific movements to provide feedback and a sense of rolling.
Now that you know the benefits of the swiss ball, join me on your mat for my top 3 exercises using a swiss ball.
The Lunge!
A Fluidform fundamental movement. Let’s add a swiss ball to challenge your balance and add weight in your arms for a total body activation.
- Come into a lunge position with one leg forward, one leg back with a slight bend in both knees and chest leaning forward. Rather than using a barre as a base of support, place your hands on the swiss ball in front of you, creating an unstable support. Complete any lunge sequence with this instability to challenge your balance.
- Progress the movement by moving the ball underneath your back leg, with your shin and foot prompts up on top of the ball. Move through a lunge sequence with this sense of rolling through your back leg. This will further challenge your balance, and place more weight into your standing, supporting leg. You will feel this move deeper into your glutes, and a sense of opening through your hips.
- Integrate your entire body by holding the ball between your hands. Move through your lunge series, moving your arms up as you go down, and bringing them back to your eyeline as you come up. This will quickly fatigue your arms and back muscles, as well as increasing your heart rate.
Pelvic curl
A Fluidform fundamental movement to help with mobility, alignment and strength in your torso and hips.
- In your pelvic curl position on the mat, place one foot onto the swiss ball to create instability in your lower body, hips and pelvis. Start with one leg, work through your pelvic curl sequence before swapping legs. You will be able to work through a greater range of movement with your foot elevated and supported by the ball. This will increase mobility in your spine.
- Advance the movement by placing both feet on the ball. This removes your stability with one foot on the floor, further challenging your pelvic stability, abdominal strength, spine and hip mobility.
Pike
The ultimate total body exercise to build strength and finish your workout session on the mat. When you add the swiss ball, it requires strength, control and trust in your body.
- Come into a 4-point kneeling position and place one foot onto the ball behind you. Come into a plank position by pushing the ball back, and bringing your other foot up to the ball. Feel pressure through all 10 fingers on the mat and open through your chest. Pull your knees and swiss ball in towards your nose, feeling your entire body activate.
- Advance the movement by alternating between a bent leg pike and straight leg pike, sending your hips upwards as the swiss ball rolls inwards towards your nose.
The body is now warm and you are familiar with the swiss ball, let’s get moving! Here are my top 3 swiss ball workouts. Try layering these workouts with your current challenge or workout routine to progress your swiss ball practice.
