Men’s Health magazine Medicine Ball Ab Workout Challenge from the December 2008 issue:
Modified version of the original Medicine Ball Ab Workout Challenge for people with bad backs (exclude sit ups and crunches):
These are some tough medicine ball exercises for your abs!!!
Personally, I love stability and medicine ball exercises as they are very effective for developing sexy abs, strengthening the core and training stabilizer muscles. I no longer do crunches and sit ups on the floor… don’t wanna cause more damage to my poor back.For more medicine ball workouts and ab exercises, pls visit: Turbulence Training
and Turbulence Training For Abs
Stability ball, also known as swiss ball, fitball, exercise ball or fitness ball, is one simple piece of ab exercise equipment to have for training your abdominal. (Stability ball is the only fitness equipment that I know has so many names!)
No abdominal machines or gadgets work as effective and safe as a stability ball. Here’s why…
When you sit on a machine, it stabilises your body and your stabiliser muscles are not called into action. Not training your body to integrate other muscles to work together with the abdominal and deep core muscles creates strength imbalances and leads to injuries over the long term.
Benefits of training with stability ball
1. Enhance balance, stability and control of deep muscle
There are deep abdominal and back muscles that work as stabilisers for entire body. These muscles work together to protect spine and help with daily activities eg: lifting, throwing, bending, reaching, etc. When training with a swiss ball, the nature and instability improves centre of balance and activate stabilizer muscles. Unconditioned stabiliser muscles can lead to injury.
2. Improve posture and support around joints
Training with stability ball involves full range of motion and recruits additional muscle groups to maintain proper form. As the ball moves freely, it creates a wider range of motion for working the joints and keeping them flexible.
3 . Greater muscle strength and endurance
I’ve been training with stability ball for several years, and teach fitball classes twice a week. It’s an excellent ab exercise equipment that is inexpensive and yet very effective. A simple ball indeed, but with many uses. It can be used not only for abdominal exercises, but also total body workout.
In Firm & Flatten Your Abs program, David Grisaffi explains the importance of core training. A complete abdominal training should not only focus on working superficial muscles (that gives the six-pack appearance), it must also strengthen and develop the underlying muscles. Strengthening the hidden muscles is crucial to preventing injury and improving physical performance. A core training program decreases the likelihood of back pain, neck pain, incontinence, ruptured disks, torn muscles and strained ligaments.
Your abdominal workout is not limited to crunches, sit ups and leg raises only. There are hundreds of exercises you can do for the core and abdominal without fancy gym equipment. Most of the ab exercises in Firm & Flatten Your Abs program can be done at home with a stability ball and bench only. A few of the abdominal exercises require cable apparatus which can be replaced with a light dumbbell.
I love Fridays ‘cos it means the weekend is here. Time to chill out, clean my house, meet up with my buddies or doing nothing at all
This morning, I did the 6-minute ab supersets by Craig Ballantyne (watch how he does it in the video below) after my weight training.
There are 4 abdominal exercises and 2 supersets.
1st superset:
Exercise 1: side plank
Exercise 2: stability ball roll out
2nd superset:
Exercise 3: Bird dog
Exercise 4: Cross body mountain climber
Each superset is performed twice with 30 seconds rest after completing 2 exercises. The 2 supersets are done within 6 minutes.
Personally, I find crunch free abdominal exercises are very effective for conditioning my abs. In the past, I used to do lots of crunches and sit ups on the floor but with minimal results.
In Craig Ballantyne’s Turbulence Training For Abs program, he offers superb crunch free belly fat burning workouts using bodyweight abs exercises and interval training to lose stomach fat, burn calories and get 6-pack abs.
The following article by Craig Ballantyne explains how to work your abs more effectively by combining explosive and static ab exercises.
I perform the medicine ball slam as part of my explosive ab workout. Here’s how I do it:
1. Start position: Hold medicine ball with your arms extended overhead.
2. In one continuous motion, bring the ball down in front of you like you are chopping wood.
3. You will have to bend at your knees (or squat) to complete this.
4. Drive the ball up to starting position and repeat.
The difference between this ab exercise and the one described by Craig below is that I don’t move my legs. My feet are shoulder-width (or slightly more) apart. These 2 variations of medicine ball slam are equally effective.
Try it out yourself!
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A new research study showed that doing ab exercises “faster” (aka explosively) lead to more work done by the ab muscles.
Here’s what you need to know about this study, and why this info is both good and bad.
First of all, there are two ways to increase the amount of muscle used in any movement. One is to increase the resistance, and the second is to increase the velocity.
Both require more muscle fibers to produce force, and more importantly, recruit your fast twitch muscles. However, while this is an interesting report about the abs, we have to be careful not to take it to extremes.
First, explosive movements cause more muscle damage, and that means more muscle soreness.
Second, you can’t talk about the abs without talking about the low-back and spine. Your low-back and abs want endurance for health and safety, but we want maximum abdominal recruitment for six pack abs.
So here’s the best way to keep everyone happy…
a) do only one explosive ab movement per workout
b) do at least one ab endurance exercise per workout
-> Medicine ball slams
-> Sledgehammer swings
-> Kettlebell swings
-> Sandbag swings
-> Band pulldowns
A medicine ball slam is just like an angry soccer throw in.
Hold the ball at waist height, step forward with one leg while raising the ball overhead (stretching your abs), as you plant your foot, reverse your arm direction and contract your abs and drive the medicine ball into the ground. Pick the ball up and repeat for 6 reps.
After you’ve done your explosive ab exercise, you can do something like a plank, side plank, or plank with your arms on the ball for your abdominal endurance exercise.
That will help you work more of your abs while supporting your “core” muscles – plus you don’t have to suffer the dishonor of crunches.
About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training For Abs workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training For Abs website.
If you’ve been constantly working out on the treadmill, cross trainer and stationary bike, you may notice your physique is not changing as expected or you are not dropping the last few pounds. This is commonly known as weight loss plateau.
Assuming that you are on a clean diet, you can overcome weight loss plateau by increasing energy expenditure and hence calories burned. Consider changing the type, intensity, frequency and duration of cardio and/or weight training.
Need workout ideas? Check out the following workout videos at:
What’s hot in the world of abdominal and core training today seems to change as fast as the latest clothing styles. New gurus, new infomercials, new machines – today’s fitness marketplace is all about “what’s new.” I often write reviews about the latest, greatest ab and core training gadgets, usually debunking most of them, but this time I’m actually going to do the opposite.
As new products push their way into the fitness scene, some truly legitimate, cost effective devices get pushed out, forgotten, or even worse – dismissed as “fitness fads.” Such is the case with the swiss ball (also known as a “exercise ball”, “gym ball” or “stability ball”)
Why Some Fitness Experts Condemn The Swiss Ball
Swiss balls have been around a long time in physical therapy and rehab settings and when they crossed over into the mainstream fitness world, they were probably hyped a bit too much. It’s not that they didn’t deserve the attention, its that many fitness “experts” placed the swiss ball up on a pedestal as the end-all be-all of abdominal, core and fitness training, rather than representing the ball for what it really is – a single training tool among many– just like barbells, dumbbells, cables or any other fitness equipment.
As a result, entire training systems were built around the swiss ball (neglecting other forms of training), and people misused and overused the ball. Some trainers used the ball for “exercises” that were nothing more than circus acts. I’ve seen it all – everything from standing on top of the ball and squatting to bench pressing on the ball with 400 pounds..
As a result of the over-hyping and misuse of the swiss ball, some coaches and trainers have recently spoken up and publicly renounced the ball as a ” gimmick.” This has caused a flood of emails to pour into my office as consumers and fitness enthusiasts have become more confused than ever.
It’s no wonder: Trainer A says, “The ball is the best thing since sliced bread” and trainer B says “the ball is and always was a gimmick.” I believe the ball is a very valuable training tool and that the truth is somewhere in the middle, so I’d like to help put things back into proper perspective.
Swiss balls are powerful, portable, inexpensive and versatile training tools
I use swiss balls nearly every day in my own workouts and in workouts for my clients. The versatility of the swiss ball is simply unmatched as proven by the fact that I can use a swiss ball to help a 65 year old sedentary woman overcome muscle weakness and improve balance or use the same ball to help a professional boxer build stamina and add power to his punches. I can also show you how to use the swiss ball to develop “six pack abs” as well as train literally every muscle in your entire body.
New Research Reveals That The Swiss Ball Can Make
Abdominal Exercise Up To 104% More Effective
To give you a research-proven example of just how effective a swiss ball can be, let’s focus on one of the most basic and well-known of all abdominal exercises: The Crunch
As most people know, the crunch is a modified (partial) sit up that involves raising the head, neck and shoulder blades up off the floor. Many personal trainers believe that the crunch is highly overrated and overused. I won’t argue, as I agree there’s a lot of truth to that. However, the crunch can be greatly improved with one simple change: Do your crunches on a swiss ball.
Electromyography (EMG) studies have demonstrated that the swiss ball crunch (unstable surface) effectively recruits more muscle fibers than the floor crunch (stable surface). This leads to greater strength, stability and muscle development in your core region.
In 2000, a study by Vera-Garcia and colleagues showed a significant increase in muscle activity in the core area while performing a crunch on the swiss ball, as compared to a floor crunch. The swiss ball improved the level of muscular activity as well as the co-recruitment of spinal stabilizers. The researchers said:
“Performing the curl over the gym ball with the feet on the floor doubled activity in the rectus abdominis muscle, and activity in the external oblique muscle increased approximately fourfold.”
Although research results have been mixed in the past, the studies showing no increase in abdominal muscle activity using a swiss ball may have been due to the exercise technique used on the ball, including velocity and body placement on the ball. Earlier this year, Dr. Eric Sternlicht and colleagues at UCLA designed a study to test this hypothesis and they measured for differences in muscle activity while using different positions on the ball.
The EMG analysis confirmed their hypothesis and demonstrated that body position on the swiss ball could decrease or increase the amount of muscular activation. When the ball was positioned with the upper back high on the ball (just below scapulae), the muscular activity was less than a floor crunch. But by strategically positioning the ball so it was firmly placed at the lower lumbar region, there was a 66%, 93% and 104% increase in upper abdominal, lower abdominal and external oblique activity, respectively.
More Proof That Form Is Everything And Little Things Make A Big Difference
For years I have preached about proper form on all abdominal and core exercises and I have taught my clients “little tweaks” and “tricks” in technique that look minor, but which can lead to huge improvements in results. This new research is proof. It also reveals how the ball is a versatile tool for exercise progression: The high on back position is easier, while the ball lower on the back is more difficult, accommodating for different strength and fitness levels. Further progression can be added by using resistance (dumbbell or weight plate held on chest or at arms length from chest).
Swiss balls are only one of many training tools, but in my opinion, when used properly, they are one of the best of the bunch. I created an entire core training system that uses the ball for many of the exercises, I put all my clients on swiss balls and I highly recommend that you use the ball as well. Just remember, the swiss ball is only a tool – it’s not the “end all be all” of core training and it can’t work miracles. It will also not burn fat off your stomach – you need a caloric deficit to achieve body fat reduction.
Use the ball as one part of a balanced training program that includes other tools such as free weights, cables and your own body weight. Forget the potentially dangerous ”circus act” swiss ball stunts, use good exercise form, purchase only quality, high-strength exercise balls, use them in a clear area, clean them often, check them for leaks and I promise you will have a fantastic versatile training aid that will last you for years and never go out of style. Fitness fads will always come and go, but the swiss ball is still a winner.
References:
1. Vera-Garcia F, Grenier S, McGill S., Abdominal Muscle Response During Curl-Ups On Both Stable and Labile Surfaces, Physical Therapy, 80:6, 2000
2. Sternlicht E. Et al, Electromyograhpic comparison of a stability ball crunch with a traditional crunch, Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research, 21(2), 506-509, 2007
The crunch can be an effective exercise, especially when performed on the Swiss Ball. However, it’s extremely important to incorporate variety into your abs and core routines and not to depend on any one exercise alone. Your body adapts to every exercise in time, so you must put constant variety into your programs. To learn how to perform dozens of other unique core and abdominal exercises using a swiss ball (some of which I guarantee you have probably never even seen before), then visit my website home page to learn more about the Flatten Your Abs training course: www.FlattenYourAbs.net/index.html
About the Author:
David Grisaffi majored in physical education and is a certified high performance exercise kinesiologist with the CHEK institute. David holds a total of 6 certifications, he is a high school wrestling and baseball coach as well as an independent trainer and strength coach, known especially for his work with professional boxers and golfers. David is the author of Firm And Flatten Your Abs, an online best seller which teaches you how to lose body fat and develop “six pack abs’ while improving strength, function and athletic power at the same time. You can contact David or learn more about his programs at www.FlattenYourAbs.net
"Discover The Truth, The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth About Losing Belly Fat That Diet, Supplement And Weight Loss Industries Do Not Want You To Know..." in the
When you sit on a machine, it stabilises your body and your stabiliser muscles are not called into action. Not training your body to integrate other muscles to work together with the abdominal and deep core muscles creates strength imbalances and leads to injuries over the long term.
