The Many Uses of a Stability Ball

A Stability Ball is a ball made of soft elastic with a diameter of approximately 45 to 85 centimeters and filled with air. The stability ball is also known as balance ball or Swiss ball. The stability ball can be used to challenge individuals of all ages and fitness levels, and has many different applications including sports conditioning, rehabilitation, and pre/post natal workout.  

If you're overweight or obese, you might be curious if you can use a stability ball. Yes you can! There are burst-resistant stability balls that often hold 600 or more pounds. Before you purchase a stability ball, make sure that  it's the right size for your height:

55 cm - 4'11" - 5'4"
65 cm - 5'5" - 5'11"
75 cm - 6'0" - 6' 7"

A leading benefit of using a stability ball compared to direct exercise on a hard flat surface is that the body responds to the instability of the ball to remain balanced, engaging many more muscles. Those muscles become stronger over time to keep balance. Most frequently, the core body muscles — the abdominal muscles and back muscles — are the focus of stability ball fitness programs. The stability ball can be integrated with different fitness programs such as Pilates, weight training and many other fitness routines. 

Weight training. Use the stability ball to add challenge to the movements and incorporate the muscles of your legs, butt and abs.

Abdominal training. Doing crunches, twists and other traditional exercises on the ball adds great effort to the movement by recruiting more muscles.

Flexibility, yoga and pilates exercises. The Stability ball is great for stretching and relaxing.

Used by kids too. It's a tool for workout but it's still a ball. Your kids will love playing with it, just make sure that they don't hurt themselves.

I've seen people using the stability ball as their chair while working instead of a normal chair. This is based on the theory that the abdominal and back muscles are constantly active in order to maintain proper posture and balance on the ball. Just sitting on a stability ball can be a real challenge and it's a great way to improve your posture when sitting in front of a computer, doing paper works or watching television.

A Stability ball is one of the important and needed items to help you strengthen your body, lose weight and work out your core. What's good about this fitness tool is that it's a low-cost investment with which you can do a variety of exercises. With the use of a stability ball, you can improve your posture, balance, flexibility, core strength and coordination.