Effective Exercise Ball Exercises To Gain Strength and Agility

If you're looking for great exercise ball exercises then look no further! While standard dumbbells and barbells are the usual method used to execute a strength training program, now more and more people are starting to incorporate in exercise balls as well.

This is a newer workout tool to come onto the market and is offering a seemingly endless number of opportunities to incorporate it into your plan.

The exercise ball is a perfect workout tool to use since it really reduces your overall base of support which means all those muscle fibers are going to have to work that much harder to maintain stability.

If you aren't paying attention and maintaining the tension, you'll quickly fall out of form and that will be the end of that exercise.

When first moving your workout over to an exercise ball it is important that you give yourself some time to get comfortable. It's not unusual to find you feel quite 'off' while executing the movements as it will take a while to get adjusted to.

Be patient with yourself and keep trying. Once you do get the hang of it and are easily able to move into balance right from the start, then you're going to see a number of positive fitness benefits that you've never noticed before.

You may also decide to start off using little to no weight for some of the following exercises and then add more weight as time progresses onwards. This further gives the body a chance to adapt to the movement pattern and ensures that you have your form down pat before moving on.

Whether you choose to include one or all of the following exercise ball exercises in your workout, you will see nice benefits as a result.

Effective Exercise Ball Exercises

Ball Wall Squats

To work the quad muscles, the ball wall squat exercise will really get you feeling it. To perform this simply place the ball directly up against a wall and then with your back to it, move down into a squat position. Aim to get the knees at a 90 degree angle and hold this position for as long as you can before losing form.

Since this is an isometric type of exercise rather than a dynamic one you're really going to find it targets the muscles in a completely new manner that you aren't quite used to.

Shoulder Press On An Exercise Ball

The second exercise to add to your program is the shoulder press on an exercise ball. This movement will call the abs into action as they struggle to help you maintain the upright posture position.

To perform this one, simply sit directly on top o the exercise ball with the back straight upwards and dumbbells at your side.

Then bring the dumbbells up to shoulder height level and begin to press directly upwards until they are just about extended. Hold this position for a second and then lower back down to the shoulders to complete the rep.
Be sure to keep the face looking directly forwards in order to maintain proper positioning.

Chest Fly On An Exercise Ball

Another terrific exercise for the chest muscle as well as the abs is the chest fly on an exercise ball. To perform this one get down so your mid back is resting directly on the top of the ball. From there, bring a set of dumbbells directly above your chest and hold them there with the elbows extended.

Next, begin to slowly lower them out to the sides of the body until they are almost parallel with the spine and then once they are there, bring them back up to the top to finish up that rep. Note that you will have a slight bend in the elbows while doing this movement and that is fine as long as they don't take on an extremely curved position.

Overhead Tricep Extension On An Exercise Ball

To target the triceps, try overhead tricep extensions on the exercise ball. For this one you will lift the dumbbell directly up over your head holding it with each hand while sitting flat on the ball like you were with the shoulder press.

From there, begin to bend at the elbows while keeping them directly pointed upwards and slowly lower the weight down. Once they are fully bent as far as comfortable, straighten them back up again while lifting the weight to complete that rep.

Pull-Overs On An Exercise Ball

If you're working out at home, targeting the lats can become a bit tricky since you don't have a lateral pull-down machine. To help solve this problem try pull-overs on an exercise ball.

To perform these lie across the top of the ball with the knees slight bent directly in front of you. Be sure that you keep that solid straight back alignment throughout this entire exercise in order to see the best benefits.

From there, while holding a weight with both hands slowly lower it back down so it's behind the head. Pause when it's just above parallel and then bring it up once again until it's directly on top of the chest.

Note that again you will have a slight bend in the elbows however this shouldn't be anything too noticeable. All you want to do is make the exercise comfortable to execute so be sure to watch proper form on this one.

Bicep Curls On An Exercise Ball

One big problem you often run into when performing standard bicep curls in a standing position is the use of momentum to help guide you through the movement. By moving this exercise over on top of an exercise ball however, you eliminate that risk.

Sit directly on top of the ball and hold a dumbbell in either hand directly down by your sides. From there, begin to curl the weight directly up into the body while keeping that exact same position on the ball.

If you find yourself feeling as though you may roll off the ball that is a good sign that you're typically using the sway of the body to help out with this lift and will really benefit from moving the curls over to the ball.

Tricep Dips With Feet On The Ball

Finally, a great way to end off your workout and also finish off the tricep muscle is to place the feet up on the ball and perform your standard tricep dips off a bench.

Since the feet are now on an unstable surface you're going to find that the triceps have to contract that much harder to maintain control so doing it in this manner is really going to intensify the exercise overall.

In Conclusion

Don't let yourself get bored with your standard workout program. Instead, bring these exercise ball exercises into play and ramp up the level of results you get. Check out this page for an excellent exercise ball ab workout.

While you may want to maintain the major compound exercises that allow you to lift the most weight in the workout, the addition of the above movements will add a nice touch to your otherwise stale program.

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