Archive for October, 2009

What exercise can I do at home without having to purchase any equipment?

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
SkaterChick


I don’t exercise alot at school as I’m pretty shy so I was just wondering what kind of exercise I can do at home. I’m not overweight & I don’t look overweight. People have commented that I have nice legs and I really want to keep it that way :) So please help! I need some kind of exercise I can do to keep my legs in shape and my tummy flat ^^

All nice & helpful answers would be appreciated!

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How long does it take to see results with personal training?

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
The Lady Amalthea


I am not trying to lose weight just trying to tone up. I am 5′5” and 125lbs. I usually would stay fit by swimming but I got rid of my pool in June. So I am not as tone as I used to be and I want to tone a little for a trip I am taking in Feb. I am thinking about doing 12 30minute personal training sessions. That is all I can afford. Would that help? Would I see a difference?

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Best Ab Exercises For Effectiveness

Saturday, October 17th, 2009
Julie Barros


What are the best ab exercises and most effective on your abdominal muscles? If you are trying to get great abs and a flat stomach by doing 100 crunches, then be sure to read on to find out what one study deemed as the best ab exercises.

According to one study conducted by the Biomechanics Lab at San Diego State University, the bicycle maneuver was the top rated abdominal exercise with the traditional ab crunch coming in at the bottom three.

This study used specialized equipment to measure the activity in the abdominal muscles to determine the best ab exercises. There were 30 men and women who participated in this study ranging in age from 20 to 45. Each participant performed 10 to 12 reps of 13 common abdominal exercises. Each exercise was given to the participants randomly and the participants were allowed to practice each exercise.

The study also included some popular abdominal exercise equipment in this study including the ab roller, ab rocker and an exercise ball. Each abdominal exercise was measured for effectiveness in the rectus abdominus muscle and the oblique muscles. The data was gathered and analyzed.

Best Ab Exercises

Topping the list for the most effective in the rectus abdominus was the bicycle maneuver, captain’s chair and coming in third was the exercise ball crunch. The best ab exercises for the oblique muscles were the captain’s chair, bicycle maneuver and the reverse crunch.

Coming in close behind the top 3 for the rectus abdominus were the vertical leg crunch, torso track and the long arm crunch. The number 4 through 6 spots for effectiveness in the oblique muscles were the hover, vertical leg crunch and the exercise ball crunch.

Worst Ab Exercises

The bottom 3 abdominal exercises for both the rectus abdominus and oblique muscles were the Ab Rocker coming in last then the exercise tubing pull and coming in 11th was the traditional crunch.

This study did state that all the abdominal exercises studied showed some effectiveness in the ab muscles, however some were more effective than others.

Getting Flat Abs

Although there are probably 100 abdominal exercises for you to try, in order to flatten your stomach you must also focus on reducing belly fat. The best exercise to lose belly fat is not an abdominal exercise. Rather it is aerobics. That’s right. You must do aerobic or fat burning exercises in order to eliminate and reduce fat. If all you do is abdominal exercises then all you accomplish are rock hard abs hidden under a layer of fat.

Your weekly exercise routines should consist of both aerobics and strength training. By including both in your workout routines you will not only be burning calories and fat but building lean muscle. The more lean muscle you have the more calories you burn.

But of course all this exercising doesn’t give you free reign to eat what ever you want. You still have to incorporate a healthy eating plan to help reduce fat and build muscle.

To really get flat abs and that treasured six pack abs be sure to eat right, do aerobic exercises and focus on the best ab exercises to get the most out of your abdominal exercise routine.



24 Hour Fitness Clubs - How They Serve Your Fitness Needs

Saturday, October 17th, 2009
Abhishek Agarwal


With 300 Twenty Four Hour Fitness clubs throughout the nation there will be one close to you. A Twenty Four Hour Fitness Club offers just that. Twenty four hour access to a top of the range facility. No matter what time of the day or night you are free to exercise we are open for business.

All that is available without the obligation of an annual contract. You can pay monthly. There is no need to sign up for a whole year at a Twenty Four Hour Fitness Club.

We find this arrangement suits the busy lifestyle that many of us have today. Demanding work schedules and family commitments can all be fitted in to your fitness routine. No one needs feel that exercise is impossible for them.

If you are out of town for a couple of weeks you are not wasting money at Twenty Four Hour Fitness. Twenty Four Hour Fitness even offers a baby sitting service.

Yet you still have all the advantage of membership. The fully trained staff at Twenty Four Hour Fitness will create a fitness program tailor made to suit your needs.

Your fitness program can help you to increase your fitness for a specific sport or prepare you for serious competition. This program is designed by athletes for athletes.

The Performance Program offers a menu plan to help you get your diet right. At Twenty Four Hour Fitness we understand the importance of diet in achieving fitness. Your fitness programme includes resistance workouts and cario vascular training. After the seesion there is metabolic rate test that will show you have far you have improved as a result of your efforts.

This is a great program for any one who wants to get started straightaway but does not know much about fitness and nutrition. By following this program you will learn all you need to know about improving you fitness levels and achieving a healthy weight.You will be laying the basis for lifelong fitness.

As you follow the Performance Program you will learn how nutrition influences your health. Correct intakes of vitamins and minerals are important to your fitness and general well being. At Twenty Four Hour Fitness you will discover how to create a better diet for yourself.

As your diet improves and your fitness increases you develop a noticeably better quality of life and more positive outlook. Coming to Twenty Hour Fitness is about taking active control of your life and health.

Whether you are an athlete who wants to improve your performance or someone who wants to lose weight and maintain your health Twenty Four Fitness clubs have something to offer.

You can chose from a range of club options. You might like the active club which offers group exercise in addition to free weights and cardio machines. This can be a good option for those who need to shed the pounds. Exercise in a group can be very motivating. This is an ideal option if you have a busy life and are short of time.

Alternatively you might prefer the sport club which offers basketball as well as heated pools and a whirlpool. The super-sport club offers the same amenities as the sport club plus a sauna, massage and steam room. These facilities are excellent if you are an athlete who is engaged in intense workouts and need to protect your body against injuries. They are also ideal for those recovering from injuries who need to rehabilitate their bodies.

Then there is the ultra-sport club which offers all the amenities in the active, sport and super sport club with the addition of a day spa, racquetball courts and an executive locker room. This is the de luxe option for those who are really serious about their fitness and health.



Toronto Personal Trainer

Thursday, October 15th, 2009
cbathletics


Personal Trainer in Toronto … Toronto personal trainer gym lee davy fitness centre training dynamic conditioning centres

What weight loss supplements can people with Bipolar condition take?

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
Debra


I would like to know specifically what supplements to help aid weight loss for Bipolar people on weight gaining Bipolar medication (which slows the metabolism and increases appetitite)

I already know of Green Tea to speed up metabolism and suppress appetite and Acai Berry DOES help you look a bit thinner in the face and relieves minimal bloat if taken moderately.

What other supplements are safe?

I want as much help as i can get!
Thanks!

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Phone Personal Training: Does it Work?

Friday, October 9th, 2009
Michael Greeves


Personal training is a fitness trend that is really gaining momentum. A recent development is personal training via phone or email. Most phone personal trainers will converse via email as well. With most services, there is a part of the population that will benefit from and enjoy phone personal training. However, there are definitely some negative aspects of doing personal training over the phone. Each side will be outlined in order to provide you with an overall picture of how (and if) personal training over the phone will work for you.

Positives

Busier people will definitely benefit from this service because it enables them to workout on their own time and report in when they can. People that do not have the leisure of scheduling a three-day-a-week workout at 9am, and instead have to stagger their workout times will find this service easier to use due to its flexibility. Many phone personal trainers available advertise a weekly phone session to check up on progress so a workout plan can be adjusted.

Most people know how to work out already; they are just looking for a personal trainer for motivation. A phone personal trainer provides the encouragement and motivation that one needs; it still gives you someone to be accountable to and check in with. Phone personal trainers provide more coaching than anything, mainly because they are not with you when you are working out but are tracking your progress nonetheless.

Based on your specific goals, a phone personal trainer will still design a workout program specifically for you. The weekly phone sessions are used to talk about the week’s progress and see what works and what doesn’t. The workout plan is then tweaked from week to week to increase intensity and help you reach your fitness goal.

Negatives

The most obvious negative to using a phone personal trainer is that you lose that “personal” part - your trainer is not there with you working out because they only available over the phone once a week. Some people need the motivation in the moment, not after the workout has been completed. When working out with a personal trainer, they are going to push you harder than you would push yourself if they were not there. Two more reps of an exercise or two more minutes of running can make a big difference in the long run - both for your body and for your self-confidence.

A benefit of having a personal trainer in person and not over the phone is that there is immediate feedback on your workout. Your personal trainer is able to coach you on form and technique immediately instead of a week later. If you go a week doing a workout that was designed for you, and you are doing one part of it wrong because you weren’t sure of the technique, that could be precious time (and money!) wasted.

The bottom line is that for some people, phone personal training will work out wonderfully. For others, it will be a waste of time and money. You have to figure out how motivated you are and whether or not you are comfortable with your technique and form in order to decide which option will best suit your needs. Either way, you are gaining someone to be accountable to, and fitness goals aside, sometimes that is all people need.



Brain Exercise

Thursday, October 8th, 2009
Michael Logan


k Your Brain, Work Your Body

The problem: I lost my car keys. What kind of brain exercise will make my brain work better?

The solution: Brain-boosting software programs are a booming business. And studies show that both computer exercises and old-fashioned mental activities-reading or crafting - can affect memory.

But the best thing you can do for your brain is to move your body.

“If I had to pick between fitness training and brain training, I’d go with fitness,” said Sam Wang, an associate professor of neuroscience and molecular biology at Princeton University. So far, he said, exercise has been shown to have an effect several times larger than computer-brain exercise.

So are we talking about physical activity or physical exercise?

According to Simon Evans, Ph.D. and Paul Burghardt, Ph.D., authors of the best brain exercise book availabe, Brainfit for Life, there is an important difference between physical exercise and activity, and how both impact brain and body fitness.

They report that brain exercise or physical exercise does not need to begin with going to the gym for physical training, but can begin at home with a simple increase physical activity, those normal things we do around the house to maintain it, like a little extra walking each morning, now that it is spring. Push a lawn mower, rather than ride one, that kind of thing, is just the key to keeping the brain at its peak, so that it perceives accurately, and remembers well.

Why is physical activity so important to the brain? The brain needs quite a bit of energy, meaning food, and it does not store a reserve, so it needs blood flowing to it, and activity/exercise does that, gets the blood flowing to the brain, and when the brain has lots of blood flowing to it, it will build lots of arteries and veins which bathe the neurons regularly with nutrients and oxygen and remove waste, ect.

That is where the computer based programs can enter the equation, because when I provide my brain novel challenge, it will build dendrites and synapses to cement new learning.

However, if I do not cement those new connections inside my brain, they will be pared away, so just like regular physical activity/exercise, regular mental activity/exercise is necessary for the brain to “flex its axons and stretch its dendrites.”

I need to do brain activity/exercise because if I do not, the subtle negative changes in my brain’s ability to respond to my life from the lack of those things will soon mount to major problems.

So what computer based brain exercise can I combine with my physical exercise/activity?

By the way, if you want a powerful program that you and your wife can use to exercise at home, without expensive equipment, then do this. Believe me, it is a great, focused way to increase your level of physical activity without expensive workouts, coaches, or clubs. And physical exercise is what keeps us at our best brainwise.

Exercising with your partner can be a great way to deepen your relationship, which contributes to better brain health too.

More Love, Less Fat

This program actually increases your IQ. Twenty minutes per day for 19 days, then practice as needed. No upper limit, according to the res

The solution: Brain-boosting software programs are a booming business. And studies show that both computer exercises and old-fashioned mental activities-reading or crafting - can affect memory.

But the best thing you can do for your brain is to move your body.

“If I had to pick between fitness training and brain training, I’d go with fitness,” said Sam Wang, an associate professor of neuroscience and molecular biology at Princeton University. So far, he said, exercise has been shown to have an effect several times larger than computer-brain exercise.

So are we talking about physical activity or physical exercise?

According to Simon Evans, Ph.D. and Paul Burghardt, Ph.D., authors of Brainfit for Life, there is an important difference between physical exercise and activity, and how both impact brain and body fitness.

They report that brain exercise or physical exercise does not need to begin with going to the gym for physical training, but can begin at home with a simple increase physical activity, those normal things we do around the house to maintain it, like a little extra walking each morning, now that it is spring. Push a lawn mower, rather than ride one, that kind of thing, is just the key to keeping the brain at its peak, so that it perceives accurately, and remembers well.

Why is physical activity so important to the brain? The brain needs quite a bit of energy, meaning food, and it does not store a reserve, so it needs blood flowing to it, and activity/exercise does that, gets the blood flowing to the brain, and when the brain has lots of blood flowing to it, it will build lots of arteries and veins which bathe the neurons regularly with nutrients and oxygen and remove waste, ect.

That is where the computer based programs can enter the equation, because when I provide my brain novel challenge, it will build dendrites and synapses to cement new learning.

However, if I do not cement those new connections inside my brain, they will be pared away, so just like regular physical activity/exercise, regular mental activity/exercise is necessary for the brain to “flex its axons and stretch its dendrites.”

I need to do brain activity/exercise because if I do not, the subtle negative changes in my brain’s ability to respond to my life from the lack of those things will soon mount to major problems. (You may never find those keys).

So what computer based brain exercise can I combine with my physical exercise/activity?

Any program involving the dual n back task will amplify your physical workout.

There is evidence that the dual n back task actually increases your IQ.

Wonder if there is a way to do the dual n back while I am walking?



weight loss?

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
Josh


okay, so I know almost everything there is to know about losing weight effectively. I love to give advice to people on how to lose weight. Am I in good shape? Hellz no! I am 50 lbs overweight and 21 years old in college. I know all this stuff about losing weight, yet I cannot apply to myself. Why am I not strong enough to do this? I can barely resist eating. I love food so much. Taco bell, pizza, quesadillas, hot pockets, cola, the list goes on. I am addicted to food, I eat when I’m not hungry because I crave the taste of it. I have asked for the strength to resist these temptations but to no avail. It seems hopeless that I will ever be average weight. I dont’ need weight loss advice per se…I need ways to become strong enough to resist my strongest temptations…any suggestions?
I should mention that I do get up off my butt and try to stay active, I’m not that lazy, it’s just that the amount of calories I am able to consumer is far more I can burn off at my activity level, in the shape I am in, I can’t do extremely heavy workouts, in fact running hurts my legs, any kind of weight training will deal a lot of pain, right now, I basically try to walk a lot, because it’s basicall what I can do right now without noticing bad side effects.

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Stability Ball Exercise Progressions for Building Muscle and Core Strength

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
Nick Tumminello


After my article Stick Your Neck Out was published; I surprisingly caught some flack from the “hardcore” types just because I showed a stability ball being used in a few of the exercise applications.

Since I’m not emotionally attached to any one piece of equipment or style of training, I was not upset in the least about this. However, it did make me realize how misunderstood the Swiss ball is within the “hardcore strength” community.

So, in light of this realization, I’m stepping up to set the record straight once and for all about Swiss balls and how they should and shouldn’t be utilized in and effective strength program.

Don’t Hate the Player, Hate the Game

My friend and colleague Coach Rob Simonelli brought up an interesting point when he and I were discussing this article and why serious weight lifters dislike Swiss balls. Rob said “What serious lifters don’t understand is that it’s not so much that they dislike Swiss balls, it’s that they dislike what Swiss Balls represent”.

He was absolutely right. Hardcore weightlifters have made Swiss balls guilty by association just because there are a bunch of “functional trainers” out there doing some seriously ridiculous stuff on them.

This doesn’t mean that Swiss balls can’t be use for stuff that actually has value.

To all you Swiss ball haters out there, I want you to ask yourself one question; “Am I blaming the tool or the practitioner?”

I think you will realize that myself and Rob and are correct in saying that, the Swiss ball, like everything else in the gym is just a tool. One that can be used or abused depending on whose hands it’s in. Just because there are people out there abusing a certain tool doesn’t mean we should throw it out of the tool box all together. If that were the case, we wouldn’t use any equipment at all judging by what I’ve seen done with barbells and dumbbells these days.

Now let’s get one thing clear, the title of this article is not called “Swiss Ball Exercises that You Need to Do Everyday or Else Your Will Go to Pot”. The exercises shown in this article are in no way a necessity, they are just other options to challenge your body in a positive manner and compliment your “core” lifts.

In other words, they are just tools in the tool box.

You just have to know when to use the tools you’ve got.

When Instability and Strength is Actually Good

Recently, I got to attend one of my friend Eric Cressey’s classes on training the overhead athlete. During his workshop, Eric made a great point that I feel is relevant to this article. He said that although it has been found that unstable surface training for the lower body has been found to be ineffective and in some cases even counterproductive for healthy individuals, instability training for the upper body may actually be beneficial. Eric went on to explain that it all has to do with the fact that the lower body predominantly functions in a close chained (both feet in contact with the ground) manner that does not normally involve the ground moving underneath it. However, the upper body functions in more of an open chained (no ground or solid surface contact) manner with things more likely to move and change position.

This makes a lot of sense if you think of a football lineman blocking a pass rusher. The lineman’s feet are dealing with a flat and stable ground while his upper body is all over place dealing with another body moving in every which way trying to get around him.

Now that I have hopefully changed your mind about the Swiss ball, I’m going to provide you a list of exercises using the Swiss ball that we have found to be beneficial to our clients, athletes and physique competitors.

a href=”http://www.performanceu.net/article05.html”>Click here to view pictures and videos of all the exercises described below.

The Exercises

Y,T,W, L Shoulder Circuit w/Swiss Ball

The reason why we preffer to use the Swiss ball while performing our Y,T,W, L shoulder circuits has nothing to do with the shoulders themselves but has everything to do with the trunk. In that, when athletes perform the Y,T,W, Lcircuits on a flat surface like the floor or a bench, they usually start to extend from their lower back in a superman like position. This is normally due to the fact that they, like many athletes, lack ample shoulder flexion. Therfore, they attempt to kick in the lumbar extensors to help raise the arms.

If you reffer to my article How Not to Warm Up, you will see why this type of movement is undesirable. We all tend to slouch and sit too much, in doing so we create length and weakness in the thoracic area. So, the real goal here is to somehow create extension at the thoracic spine, not the lumbar spine. This can be successfully accomplished by performing the Y,T,W shoulder circuit on a Swiss ball.

With the swiss ball and some correct positioning, the extension comes from the thoracic spine

We position our athletes so that the apex of their thoracic curve during flexion over the ball is over top the apex of the ball itself. We also have them flex at the hip joint which further decreases extension at the lumbar spine. This enables us to get more bang for our buck.

We build endurance in all the muscles invovled in extending the thoracic spine while simutaneously reaping the benefits of the Y,T,W, L shoulder circuit.

The Swiss Ball Dumbbell Chest Press

The swiss ball chest press allows us to build flexibilty in hip flexors, strength endurance in the anterior neck muscles and glutes while simultaneously building upper body pushing strength.

The swiss ball chest press is the only exercise that we use a swiss ball in combination with weights. However, because it involves an unstable surface, we only use it while performing repetitive effort lifts and never use it while performing dynamic or max effort lifts.

Many people will agrue about the instability of the ball interferring with strength output. When I meet coaches that are of that mindset, I tell them two things;

1. If the feet are positioned shoulder width or wider, the instability is pretty much canceled out.

2. We agree that instabilty interferes with max strength output. This is why we ONLY use this exercise with submaximal loads as in a hypertrophy phase or repetitive effort phase.

In my mind, if you want allot of bang for your buck the Swiss ball chest press is a great choice.

Swiss Ball Perturbations

This is one of the most popular exercises we use at Performance University amoung our high level athlets and recreational clients alike.. Swiss perturbations are a fun and very effective way to develop rock solid core stability. The goal of the person holding the ball is to maintain optimal alignment and own the position thay began in. With each diffrent strike of the ball, the torso as to make a slight adjustment to maintain control of its position. Thi is what Rehab spractioners call rythmic stabilization. We call it a damn good exercise.

The unpredicatable nature of this exercise makes it more functional than most other “core stabilization” exercises.

This exercise can be progressed by the partner striking the ball with slightly more force or the holder standing with the feet closer together or in a stagered stance.

Swiss Ball Roll Out

The swiss ball roll out is one of our favorite exerciss for training the anterior trunk muscles. We like it because it devloped torso strength and pelvic control without putting the spine in a flexed position as it would be in a crunch or sit up type exercise. Mike Boyle produced a great article called Anterior Core Training that thoroughly desribes the theory and methodolgy behind movements like the swiss ball roll out. In that same article, Boyle also diplayed many progressions to the swiss ball roll out involving tools like the ab dolley and arko wheels. However, if you don’t have all of those tools/toys available to you, here are some simple progression strategies you can use.

The beginers version of the Swiss ball roll out starts with the elbows bent and forearms resting on the ball.

This exercise can then be progressed by raising the torso and straightening the arms. This lengthens the lever arm and increases the demand on the anterior core. Shown below.

On both of these roll out variations be sure to extend both your arms and legs while maintaining a fairly neutral spine. Only go out as far as you can without losing optimal spinal alignment.

The Reverse Ball Roll Out

As of late we have been using another variation of the roll out which we call reverse roll outs. To perform the reverse roll out, hold on to a stable object such as a weight bench. While maintaining alignment, extend your lower body until reaching a superman type position. Return to the starting position and repeat.

The height of surface your holding onto should be approx. even to the height of the ball. In the picture above, Tim is holding on to a bar that is slightly higher than the ball underneath his legs. You can see how this is causing him to sag slightly at his low back. We were in the process of moving our gym during this photo shoot and we had to work with what we had left in the gym.

Swiss Ball Toe Plank

This is another great anterior core exercise. We usually perform holds for anywhere from 10-20 seconds. Proper form for this exercise is pretty much self explanatory.

Swiss Ball Knee Tucks

If you have fairly decent “core strength”, Swiss ball knee tucks aren’t really that difficult. This is why we don’t use this exercise with the intention of building strength. We use this exercise to build awareness of what the rehab world calls” hip/back disassociation”.

All this really means is, how well you can move at your hips without moving at your lumbar spine. There are a lot of ways to accomplish this which are beyond the scope of this article. However, in the context of the Swiss ball knee tuck exercise, we want our athletes to be able to flex at their hip without flexing at their low back. If they can accomplish this, it shows that they posses good hip/back disassociation.

Athletes with poor hip back disassociation will always compensate for a lack of hip mobility by increasing mobility at the lumbar spine. Which according to the latest research is designed for stability, not mobility? My article How NOT to Warm Up covers that science in great detail.

The science aside, just keep this little saying in mind, “what your hips lack can hurt your back”.

So, yeah…do your knee tucks.

1 Leg Swiss Ball Knee Tuck

This version of the knee tuck is much more difficult than the previous because there is an added rotary component. Although there is no visual rotation, the athlete has to work to prevent gravity form pulling them into rotation on the side of the lifted leg. This is what my good friend JC Santana calls “training the invisible. This is an important point to keep in mind anytime you go from a bi-lateral position to a unilateral position.

1 Arm Holds

This is another one that’s pretty self explanatory. Simply maintain optimal spinal alignment while keeping your arm locked out. We use holds ranging from 5-15sec.

This one is just plain tough!

Swiss ball Straight Leg Bridge

We always make sure to encourage our athletes to create the lift using from their hamstrings and glutes, not from their low back. Athletes with an increased lordosis (low back curve) will find this more difficult and therefore tend to need more coaching on movements like this.

Yes, I know you can also do this on a bench but our athletes seem to like it better with the ball. So, as they say, “the customer is always right”.

Plus, you can’t do some of the progressions I’m about to show you on a bench.

Straight Leg Bridges (w/Long Lever)

We learned this progression from Coach JC Santana. It’s a great way to integrate in the calf’s and increase the overall difficulty on your posterior muscles.

Be sure to keep the heels off the ball.

1 Leg Hip Bridges (w/straight leg)

These are not only a great progression to the 2 leg bridges but they serve as a nice compliment to the 1 leg knee tucks.

These work on improving hip/back disassociation in extension. We want to see the extension coming from the hips and glutes and not from the low back. We encourage our athletes to keep the lifted knee stable during this exercise. If the knee moves, it means that the pelvis is moving and therefore stability is lost.

Swiss Ball Bent Leg Bridges

The bent leg bridges are more glute dominant bridge than the straight leg version. That said, your hamstring have to work isometrically to hold the ball in place while the hips rise and fall.

We normally just alternate straight and bent leg bridges each workout.

Swiss Ball Bent Leg Bridge (1 Leg)

The rules on the one leg version are the same as above. Just be sure to prevent any sort of pelvic rotation due to the reduced base of support.

Swiss Ball Leg Curls

Once you can successfully perform both the straight and bent leg exercises. We simply combine the two moves to make the leg curl. This you really can’t do with a bench. You can do this with a slide board if you have access to one.

Once your hips lift up, they don’t come down until the set is complete. Be sure to lift your hips higher up as the legs curl in. This will create a straight line between the knee, hip, and torso.

Aside from glute ham raises is the only exercise that allows us to train hip extension and knee flexion simultaneously. Those two motions are always coupled together during any locomotive type action.

Running involves the combined action hip extension and knee flexion of the rear leg as it prepares to pull through

1 Leg Ball Curl

This progression from the two leg curl, when done correctly, will challenge even the most advanced athlete.

Swiss Ball Complex

Once each one these exercises are mastered separately, we like to combine them into a Swiss ball complex. We use this complex as part of an active dynamic warm up, as a warm down or as active rest on recovery days.

We start with roll outs for 10-20 reps

Then to push ups for 10-20 for reps

Followed up with the Y,T,W,L shoulder circuit for 10-15reps each letter

Then move to knee tucks for 10-20 reps

We finish with a toes on ball plank hold for 10-30 seconds

This entire complex is normally performed for 1-3 sets and 0-60 seconds rest between sets. Three rounds of this at 20 reps each exercise with no break is just plain tough.

This complex is very popular with our clients and athletes because it has a smooth flow from between exercises, it’s easy to remember and it gets a lot of quality work done in little time. Aside from that, it’s kind of fun.

a href=”http://www.performanceu.net/article05.html”>Click here to view pictures and videos of all the exercises described above.

Final Comments

Well, there you have it, the definitive list of Swiss ball exercises that don’t suck.

If it’s not on this list and it involves a Swiss ball then…well, you get the point.

The exercises on this list have been a part of our performance and physique programs for many years. They have been used at some point by just about everyone who has walked through our doors.

I can’t honestly tell you that these Swiss ball are solely responsible for our clients and athletes consistently getting bigger stronger and faster.

But I can tell you that they sure as hell haven’t hurt.