FITNESS

Stability Balls: Improve Your 'Core Control'

by Kari Lansing

Stability ball, resist-a-ball, physioball, swiss ball, etc. You've probably heard of at least one of these, and they are all the same thing. The big rubber ball that people sit on, roll over, balance on, and do an infinite number of exercises on. It can be as simple or as complex, as stable or unstable as you want to make it. It's one of the most versatile, yet simple exercise tools that has come into the market in a long, long time. The only limitation is one's imagination.

The basis of the theory of using the ball for exercises is teaching your body core control. The core starts just below the armpits and ends just below the hips. Having good core control means that a person can control the stabilizing muscles surrounding the center of gravity to maintain proper core stability in order to let the primary movers – larger muscles such as hip flexors, back extensors, hamstrings – work efficiently. The center of gravity for men is basically at the navel, and for women it sits just below the navel.

Elite-level athletes usually have excellent control of their center of gravity, allowing them to be quick, agile and balanced, both when their feet are on the ground, but more importantly when they are not! Better core control also equates to better posture and balance. For people who are not athletes, this can mean fewer falls, less pain particularly in the back, and more fluidity in motion overall.

What Size?
To start using a physioball, one needs to know a few basic concepts. The size of the ball you need will depend on your height. When you are seated on a properly fitting ball, the knees and hips should be at 90 degrees. Generally, the following chart works for most people when finding the right size.

There are about a hundred different companies on the web that will sell a ball to you. I would recommend a burst-resistant ball. These balls have a pin-hole in them, so IF it does pop when you sit on it you won't hear a loud blast and you won't be rubbing your backside because you dropped to the floor. With a burst-resistant ball the air would slowly leak out, and your ball would slowly get noticeably softer. These balls are generally very strong, but things like sand and grit will obviously reduce the life of any ball. Use them inside or on the grass.

Basic Concepts
The harder the ball is blown up, the more difficult it is to control when doing exercises on it. Beginners or people with back pain should use a softer ball, allowing more surface area on the floor and body to provide more stability. Once you get stronger and accustomed to the ball, you can add more air.

The farther the ball is from your center of gravity, the harder the exercise. As your stabilizing muscles get stronger, and decrease their time to react, the exercises will be more fluid and controlled. You will feel less foolish and more like a champion! The instability of the ball forces you to exercise from the core out to your extremities (inside-out), unlike many traditional exercises that work from the extremity in to the core, such as the dumbbell bicep curl (outside-in).

Quality and control are paramount before progressing exercises to a more difficult level. If you have not mastered an exercise, do not make it any harder because you will teach your body how to compensate. Oversimplifying this concept, compensation means that the stabilizing muscles will not be strong enough to do their job properly, so they'll recruit surrounding muscles to help. These surrounding muscles will likely need to be doing something else to propel the body, such as to help to throw a ball, but instead, they are stuck helping to stabilize. So the throwing motion becomes less powerful, less accurate, and more likely to cause an injury.

By ensuring the quality and control of a wide variety of exercises you teach each muscle its role. This takes time, practice and patience to create the muscle memory needed to do the exercise well. I equate this concept to my clients like multiplication tables. If you say "five times four is 20" in your head 200 times vs. 20 times, you are much more likely to remember it. Your body works much the same way … if you practice the exercise more often, your body is much more likely to perform it well because you will constantly be reminding the muscles of what each one needs to do in that situation. Eventually, you won't even have to think about it.

Holding your abdominal muscles in engage your transverse abdominus, and will help you to stabilize while performing exercises. If you feel like you are all over the place on an exercise, check that you are holding your abs in.

Exercises, Exercises, Exercises
As always, get permission from your physician before beginning any exercise program. The first thing to do is sit on the ball. Many people need time just to know that it will not burst, and that you will not just flip off of it. The rubber that the balls are made of is pretty sticky, so gaining confidence on it doesn't take much time.

Getting used to the ball:

1. Sitting – knees and hips are at 90 degrees, feet are in front of the hips. Your hands can be at your side holding the ball for more stability. Shift the hips forward, backwards, and side to side. Lift one foot, then the other. Turn this into a balance exercise by holding the foot up for five seconds while balancing on the ball.

2. Lying on your back (supine position) – Practice the transition from seated to supine by rolling your hips off the ball while maintaining them in an upright position. Once you are in the "down" position, the hips should be at the same level as your shoulders, and your knees at 90 degrees. This is called the tabletop position. For balance in this position, straighten one leg while holding the hips up, and the ball still. To strengthen your rectus abdominus, perform crunches in the supine position, with the ball centered beneath your sternum. Keep the hips up, and do not arch over the ball.

For many more exercises just hop on the Web, and check out the plethora of videos, books, and other fun tools to use along with your new ball! Just do a search under physioball, stability ball, or swiss ball.

Kari Lansing (kari@placidhealth.com), MS, ATC, CSCS, a certified athletic trainer and certified strength & conditioning specialist, has been a strength and conditioning coach for the Canadian National Freestyle Ski Team for three years. Kari works at Lake Placid Health & Fitness.

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