3 Effective Home Fitness Exercises With A Stability Ball

Stability ball exercises are awesome for your home fitness routine. In many ways the stability ball challenges your whole body in addition to your core. It takes upper and lower body strength to maintain balance and proper form when doing a given exercise. This is what makes it so unique to other forms of core training. Here are 3 stability ball exercises to add to your home fitness routine that will blast your core and trim fat from your waist.

1. Oblique Incline Curl. The obliques are an area of the core that we all struggle with at times because fat is easily stored there, hence the term “love handles.” When it comes to the obliques, the incline curl is a great way to target and hit those muscles in a way that you normally wouldn’t be able to do with traditional crunches.

To begin this exercise, lie down on the ball at an incline angle. You want your buttocks slightly off the ground with your upper body at a 45 degree angle. Roll your upper body down towards your feet so the bottom of your torso is halfway to the ground. Without putting any pressure on your neck, flex your ab muscles forward without moving your lower body. When you reach the peak of the movement, curl your body to one side and then back to the starting position. Do the same for the other side.

If you’re new to this exercise, try 2 sets of 10 repetitions.

2. The Hip Extension. The hips are very important when it comes to the overall function of the body. As we get older, our hips are typically one of the first areas of the body to give us problems if they’re not strong. The earlier you work on strengthening the hips, the less prone you’ll be to hip problems later on in life.

To begin, lie down on your back and place the ball underneath your feet so that your legs are propped up on the stability ball. Keeping your abs tight, squeeze your glutes and lift your hips off of the ground. Hold the position for about 2-3 seconds and lower yourself to the ground (gently). The exercise is a bit more of a challenge so try 2 sets 5 repetitions to start.

Eventually you want to progress to the point where you’re able to do this exercise with one leg at a time.

3. Leg Twist. This is actually one of my favorites. The waist, like the hips, is a very important part of your body because twisting, bending and turning are involved in everything you do in life from getting out of bed in the morning to sitting in a chair throughout the day.

To begin, place your shins on top of the stability ball. Balancing yourself with your hands flat on the ground (almost in a push position), roll the stability ball to the right, and then to the left using only your legs. This can be another challenging exercise so start with 2 sets of 10 reps (5 on each side). Not only are you working your waist in this exercise, your also working your arms and shoulders as they are your support for this routine.

These are just 3 of many stability ball exercises you can add to your home fitness routine. Always remember that the best results from any workout program come with patience, consistency and a well balanced diet. Never rush any exercise and if you need to decrease the reps, do so. Proper form is the most important thing.

Rahim aka The Homebody is always writing about fun and exciting home fitness exercises. He’s all about getting in shape from the comfort of home with body weight training and home fitness equipment.