Friday, October 21, 2011

Exercise Ball Abs Workout - Is it Effective?

The exercise ball abs workout is possibly the most effective when it comes to developing the core muscles. These workouts give the area strength and a toned appearance. With traditional exercises for the abdominal muscles only one area of the abdominal muscles is worked at a time. Traditional exercises target either the transverse or rectus abdominus muscles while a workout for the abs that utilizes an exercise ball targets both.

The first part of an abs workout is the abdominal curl utilizing the exercise ball. The entire muscle groups that make up the abdominal muscles are worked with this easy exercise. To perform this exercise ball abs workout lie parallel to the floor on your exercise ball and form an angle of ninety degrees with the knees.

Exercise

Then without bending the hips life the shoulders up with a slow, controlled movement. Return to the starting point slowly and repeat until a full set of the exercise has been done. In order to get additional muscle mass you can hold a weight plate on the chest to increase the resistance.

The next exercise that can be useful in an exercise ball abs workout is the abdominal roll up utilizing the exercise ball. The hip flexors, obliques and rectus abdominus are targeted with this exercise. This exercise is fairly simple to perform. Position the ball in front of you while in a kneeling position, then lie down on the floor. With hands on the floor reach out in front of you and roll the ball in the direction of your thighs. Next walk your hands in until the ball touches your chin making sure the shoulders remain in alignment with the hands and the abs are contracted.

Next utilize the legs to pull the ball toward you. Bending the knees to the chest as the ball is under you until the knees come to the chest. Then return to the starting position and repeat the exercise.

This workout is more effective for working the abdominal muscles as it takes the entire group of muscles instead of isolating specific groups. This means that the ball is vital when attempting to obtain that six pack look for your abs.

Exercise Ball Abs Workout - Is it Effective?

1 comment:

bella said...

well written post. exercise ball workouts abs abdominal exercises done on the stability ball activate twice as many core muscles as classic belly toners like the crunch and the sit-up.