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Physical therapists have used them for years, but fitness experts now acknowledge they’re one of the best ways to strengthen the abs and back, and increase stability. For years, a staple of old-school fitness was tossing the ol’ medicine ball around the gym. Today, a new method of getting on the ball is all the rage to shape the body and help improve overall quality of life: exercising with fitness balls. Also known as a Swiss ball, physioball, or exercise ball, the fitness ball has its roots in rehabilitation, and for good reason. Like the much heavier medicine ball, a fitness ball is a multipurpose exercise tool, particularly beneficial to strengthening muscles, as well as improving balance and even incorporating a cardio workout into the routine. One of the earliest noted uses of an exercise ball was 1965 in Switzerland, where physical therapists used it in work with children challenged with cerebral palsy. Hence, the term Swiss ball was coined. Today, fitness balls can play an important part in anyone’s exercise program. Children can use them to improve balance and to add fun to physical fitness. Seniors can use the balls to firm and tone buttocks, thighs and abdominal muscles. And professional athletes have adopted the fitness ball as a playing partner critical to their success. Take Atlanta Falcons running back T.J. Duckett, for example. At six feet and 250 pounds, Duckett pushes himself to the limit with physioball push-ups. He uses two balls, assuming the push-up stance, hands on the outside of the top half of the ball, with a spotter assisting in stabilizing the rear ball. Doing two sets of 50 pushups, Duckett exercises his entire core, which must work to keep the balls from rolling. This exercise trains both the upper and lower body to stay aligned when hit by 275-pound giants on the NFL playing fields. Duckett’s exercise regime is an extreme example. “I almost always throw up (which) means you’re pushing your body to the limit,” he says of his program, which includes the fitness balls. But don’t think you have to throw up to see results from working out with a ball. Quite the opposite. There’s an exercise for everyone when using balls, which deliver myriad results. Physical therapists have used them for years, but fitness experts now acknowledge they’re one of the best ways to strengthen the abs and back, and increase stability. Calgary’s Lisa “Longball” Vlooswyk, golf’s reigning and five-time Canadian long drive champion, is a proponent of the fitness ball, calling it a “stability ball,” and for good reason. ” (It) has quickly become an indispensable fitness tool for those looking to improve their balance and core strength,” she says. “The popularity stems from the fact they are affordable, safe, need minimal equipment, target several muscle groups at once, and there seems to be limitless possibilities to the number of exercises.” Michigan-based golf fitness expert Ingrid Saffert, who coaches pro golfers in Canada and the U.S., is a big proponent of the Swiss ball. She holds a Master’s degree in exercise science, and has certifications in both STOTT Pilates and personal training. Saffert further completed the Golf Biomechanic certification and Level 1 of Corrective High Performance Exercise Kinesiology at the world-renowned CHEK Institute in California. She says Swiss balls can benefit everyone, whether “an elite athlete or just someone who wants to maintain an efficient body and stay out of the doctor’s office.” Saffert explains: “It is vitally important for all the muscles to communicate effectively with the brain. As one muscle group is working, other muscles are counterbalancing.” The Swiss ball helps provide stability in this area, she says. “I like to compare it to having a solid basement. Who would build a building on a shaky basement? And the taller the building, the more solid the basement must be. Same with your body.” Indeed, a fitness ball offers enhanced balance and co-ordination of core muscle groups used to stabilize the spine and control proper posture, while promoting increased tendency to maintain a neutral spine position during exercise. Saffert calls CHEK founder Paul Chek “the Swiss ball guru.” A prominent expert in the field of holistic health and corrective and high-performance exercise, Chek promotes use of the ball as a staple of healthy body and mind. CHEK — the Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology Institute — educates about Swiss balls via its website, chekinstitute.com. “Exercising on a Swiss ball is achievable for a lot of people,” writes Nigel Brooke for CHEK. “Ball exercises are very easy to graduate, i.e. you can make them very easy or very difficult, with a wide range in between. They will increase your flexibility but do not demand it at the outset. Because a ball is naturally unstable, it encourages use of the core stabilizer musculature, which is underused and/or weak in most patients we see. It encourages awareness, a getting-to-know-your-body again feeling and, last but not least, it is fun.” Choosing an exercise ball requires you to sit on the ball, making sure your knees are bent at about 90 degrees. Common fitness balls are sized from 55 cm to 75 cm. They’re inexpensive (prices vary) and available everywhere from department stores to online retailers, and through local gyms. Ask your fitness trainer for advice on purchasing an exercise ball that’s right for you. And remember: it’s important to ensure you are in good physical health before engaging in any form of exercise. Consult your doctor if you have any health-related questions. When you’re ready, get on the ball — and have fun! Jeffrey Reed is a London, Ont. based freelance writer.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An exercise ball allows a wide range of exercises to be performed.
An exercise ball is a ball constructed of elastic soft PVC with a diameter of approximately 35 to 85 centimeters (14 to 34 inches) and filled with air. The air pressure is changed by removing a valve stem and either filling with air or letting the ball deflate. It is most often used in physical therapy, athletic training and exercise.
The ball, while often referred to as a Swiss ball, is also known by a number of different names, including balance ball, birth ball, body ball, ball, fitness ball, gym ball, gymnastic ball, physioball, pilates ball, Pezzi ball, sports ball, stability ball, Swedish ball, therapy ball, or yoga ball. It is larger and much lighter than a medicine ball.
History … The physical object known as a “Swiss Ball” was developed in 1963 by Aquilino Cosani, an Italian plastics manufacturer. He perfected a process for molding large puncture-resistant plastic balls. Those balls, then known as “Pezzi balls”, were first used in treatment programs for newborns and infants by Mary Quinton, a British physiotherapist working in Switzerland.
Later, Dr. Susanne Klein-Vogelbach, the director at the Physical Therapy School in Basel, Switzerland, integrated the use of ball exercise as physical therapy for neuro-developmental treatment. Based on the concept of “functional kinetics”, Klein-Vogelbach advocated the use of ball techniques to treat adults with orthopedic or medical problems.
The term “Swiss Ball” was used when American physical therapists began to use those techniques in North America after witnessing their benefits in Switzerland. From their development as physical therapy in a clinical setting, those exercises are now used in athletic training, as part of a general fitness routine and incorporation in alternative exercises such as yoga and Pilates.
A woman performing weighted sit-ups on an exercise ball.
BENEFITS: A primary benefit of exercising with an exercise ball as opposed to exercising directly 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 exercise ball fitness programs.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Fitness Ball 4 Tennis With Scott McTeer
(Top: Scott demonstrates the Russian Twist, Bottom: Fitness Ball pushup)
I first met Scott McTeer about ten years ago. Scott played college tennis for Duke and later played and coached on the ATP tour. He has worked with Pat Etcheberry and Jim Loeher among others, and has trained with many ATP players, including Andre Agassi and Jim Courier. He is now a certified personal trainer and the author of two books about fitness and training (Your Body, Your Life and Our Body, Our Life). His current clients include former WTA player and coach Beverly Bowes.
Previously when I trained with Scott (before my kids were born and I had time to train) we did a lot of work with weights, particularly dumbbells. When I ran into Scott recently, he told me he is really sold on the benefits of tennis players training with the fitness ball, also known as a swiss ball or stability ball. He told me “In my opinion the fitness ball is the best piece of exercise equipment ever invented. The ball is three dimensional and is functional training in its purest form. It will improve you game, shape your body, and dramatically improve your functional strength, endurance and stablitiy.”
I’m always looking for new ideas to get fitter, so after I checked out his website, I decided to meet Scott at a local gym for a fitness ball workout. I’ll admit I was a little skeptical, even though I have read about the benefits of fitness ball training from several different sources, including Mark Verstegan’s book “Core Performance.”
After a short warmup, Scott put me through a number of exercises focusing on different parts of the body using the fitness ball: Russian twists, knee lifts, one legged lunges and squats, good mornings, wood chops, push ups, planks, double leg raises, back extensions, bridges, leg curls with bridges (that one killed me) and pikes. Those are the ones I remember, I’m sure I left a few out. Suffice it to say that by the end of the hour, I was feeling pretty spent and it was definitely a full body workout.
After the workout Scott explained that he wanted to develop a workout that tennis players could do anywhere – on the road, at a gym, at home, or on the court. In addition, Scott has made videos that can be downloaded to a Blackberry, iphone or ipod touch. He explained “This way, you can take the workout with you, if you forget how to do something, you can just watch the video as a reminder.”
Check out Scott’s website, www.ybyl.com for more information or to purchase the videos or a CD of the Fitness Ball workouts. Scott can be reached at scott@ybyl.com.
