Work out article of the week : Stability balls

[Mop]

The single greatest item in a gym isn't a stack of weights or some body by Jake exercise thing. It is simple - it is actually a toy for children developed in Europe. From there - a company for gymnasts took it up and ran with it, leading to it becoming a huge item in rehab and strength training

You can do pretty much any exercise on it - you can create strength, stability, power, rehab all on this single item. Personal training studios rarely have more than a singular bench anymore - as they can have 10 of these balls and do the exact same things with better results.

*************************************************************

As with most valuable experiences, the information presented in this article series is meant to inspire and encourage you. Much of the information I will present has come about through bold exploration and creative implementation by our predecessors in this area of conditioning. As they were intrinsically inspired to take a "toy" and adopt it to a clinical environment, this text aims to inspire the reader to always look for the "diamond in the rough". The next "stability ball" could be right under your nose.

Tradition many times is based on success. However, much of this tradition is based on "clinically-unexamined, passed-down" information. The typical "that’s the way it’s always been" rationale. In order to separate fact from fiction, one must always be willing to ask the "why" of tradition. Therefore, a secondary purpose of this article series is to stimulate critical thinking. The type of thinking that invokes curiosity and exploration of possibilities – the thinking that leads to the constant examination of traditional training principles.

This article series will also introduce a concept of training we have coined as "Stabilization Limited Training" (SLT). This type of training is characterized by limiting prime mover force production, and by developing the strength of the stabilizing structures. SLT was developed like most training modalities we use today - first it was used successfully, then described.

Strength and conditioning leaders often propose many innovative training ideas and professional journals constantly provide a plethora of ingenious training modalities. However, most of the thrust behind articles remains the introduction and description of the training modality, not its integration into a traditional training program. This article series will provide a comprehensive approach to Stability Ball (SB) Training, as well as an integration model. Extensive examples of protocols, and their place within traditional training models, will also be provided within this series.

Stability Ball - A brief history



One of the most versatile pieces of equipment used today by conditioning professionals is the SB (i.e. "Swiss balls", "Fit-balls", Physioballs", etc.). SB’s have had long-standing success in the world of clinical rehabilitation. However, due to their effectiveness in developing balance and core strength, athletic trainers, coaches, personal trainers and physical education teachers have begun to integrate them into their programs. Now they are the new craze in the world of athletic and functional conditioning.

The history of the SB originates back to the early 1960s. It was made by an Italian toy maker, Aquilino Cosani, and sold primarily in Europe as the Gymnastik. In 1981 Cosani started a new company, Gymnic. These two companies are still in Italy and are the major suppliers of SBs throughout the world.

The SB’s clinical application by Dr. Susan Klein-Vogelbach, a Swiss PT, can be traced back the 1960’s. Through a series of classes, seminars and clinical workshops, the SB made its way to the San Francisco area in the 1980’s. Since the 1980’s, the SB has slowly gone from the rehabilitation setting into the fitness and athletic arena. Paul Chek, NMT was one of the pioneers in evolution of the stability ball as a performance enhancement tool. He was one of the first to use the SB, in the late 1980s, to rehabilitate and condition elite athletes. Due the SB’s success and growing popularity, the last decade has seen the birth of various programs developed to educate professionals on their use.

In Europe, SBs have been used in schools as chairs. The benefit of this type of application has reported as; improved focus, concentration, handwriting skills, better understanding of class material, and better organizational skills. There are several pilot studies in the US using the SB in schools. The preliminary data is consistent with that found in Europe.

A note on history!!!



In our field of strength and conditioning, we often come across individuals who want to lay claim to ideas and methods. These individuals, suffering from the "I was the first person to do this exercise" syndrome, believe that because they have come up with an "original" idea, they were the first to "invent" it – obviously not the same thing.

The use of ball balancing can be traced back to the circus, and probably before that. I’m currently working with the Circus World Museum to obtain a brief history and any pictures that may be available on the use of ball balance. I will pass them along as I receive them.

Diversity of settings, populations and applications



Once limited to the rehabilitation and clinical setting, the SB has permeated to all sectors of the health and fitness community. In clinics they are still used to provide gentle proprioceptive stimuli for individuals recovering from surgery. John Leonard is one of Florida’s finest PTs. He says, "The SB we have found probably to be our most versatile piece of equipment. It’s fun, it’s colorful and everybody from our pediatric patients to our geriatric patients literally find the SB to be something unique and that they can generate some enthusiasm about. The unique thing about the SBs is that they utilize the neuromuscular system in a way that no other exercise equipment I have come across has. That is that they incorporate the use of:

Multiple muscle systems
Neurologically induced muscular responses
A normal and natural process of balance
The body’s own normal processes, to establish and restore balance.
From the clinical setting, the SB made its way to the sports arena in the 1990’s. Therapists with athletic backgrounds, such as Paul Chek, realized that the SB could be applied more aggressively to actually enhance the performance of athletes. Now, the stability ball can be found in just about every professional strength facility. Articles with the likes of Shak O’Neal using the stability ball, have made their way into conditioning magazines, furthering the SB’s popularity.

As the popularity of the SB grew, it also started to make its way into fitness conferences. As professionals using the SB delivered educational presentations, personal trainers immediately saw it as a tool to enhance client interest and performance. Personal trainers have now brought the SBs into commercial training facilities. Articles in popular fitness magazines also started to appear at an increasing rate, creating the increased awareness we see today. Just about every commercial gym I go into now has at least one stability ball. Some have even developed group classes.

Due to the stability ball’s popularity within the rehabilitation and fitness industry, they have made their way into the private sector. Although the initial home use might have been rehabilitation, the stability ball is now used by many as a chair for their office, for regular strength training, and for play. Most, if not all, of my clients have them at home and regularly use them to keep their core functioning at its optimum. My clients also report that any one, who comes into a room where the SB is, ends up asking questions about the SB, as they sit and begin to play on it. They are a natural for fun and play!

The next section of this series will deal with the science and practice behind the SB. We will look into the scientific efficacy behind the SB and compare that to anecdotal observations we practitioners are experiencing. Following sections will deal with exercises selection and programming.

[Mop]

The understanding and training of the abdominal muscles have gone through a complete metamorphosis in recent years, due to increased awareness of various abdominal groups functions and their role in back care and injury prevention. The simple curls and crunches no longer hold their own in abdominal training. Added to, or replacing them, are spinal stabilisation, postural awareness and back strengthening exercises. A variety of techniques are used to improve core strength and stability as well as increasing torso tone.

Lumbar stabilisation is a vital inclusion in abdominal conditioning because it plays such a significant role in back injury prevention and rehabilitation. Some 90 per cent of adults suffer significant back injury at some stage in their life. Closely associated with all lower back injuries is weakness in deep muscles such as Transverse Abdominous, Internal Obliques and a posterior group, Multifidous. The role of these muscles is to support, or stabilise, the lumbar sine in all movements of daily life and exercise. As the fitness leader’s role becomes increasingly focused on longevity and health, we are now including more injury preventative exercises into our programs, bridging the gap between health and fitness.

To effectively train all muscle groups, with the aim of increasing lumbar stabilisation, as well as abdominal tone, it is important to consider certain aspects relating to specificity of training:

The abdominals are required to stabilise our spine in various positions, so we should train them in various positions, such as sitting, standing, prone and supine.
The stabilisers are required to support the back whilst a person is moving, hence our training should include contractions of these deep muscles during movement as well as static holds.
The spinal stabilisers should be trained at a level appropriate for the individual’s strength and awareness. Intensity and difficulty are increased by altering the base of support, to make it less stable or increase leverage.
Spinal stabilisation is required all waking hours. They are endurance muscles. Endurance training is therefore important.
Poor posture, postural awareness and ability to contract deep abdominals are commonly associated with weakness and injury, hence education and awareness should be an inclusion in the abdominals program.
Fitball allows us to train abdominal muscles and groups very effectively. There are several ways that Fitball can maximise abdominal training.

Fitball provides an unstable base of support. This can be used to challenge spinal holding, improve posture and postural awareness and also to train stabilisation during performance of other common exercises. For example, just sitting on the ball encourages good spinal alignment, and slouching on the ball, unlike a chair, is quite uncomfortable. Exercises such as weighted biceps curls, or shoulder presses performed sitting on the ball require contraction and endurance training of deep abdominals to maintain upright posture.
The roll ability of the ball allows alterations of lever length to increase or decrease difficulty, as well as enabling additional movements for a more challenging progression to an exercise.
Performing crunches or curls from the reclined position on top of the ball enables sensational rectus abdominous training, but incorporates the other stabilising groups also, Without stabilisation, the curls are not possible. This position also cuts out the hip flexor component, seen commonly in "regular" floor abdominal curls. For a less intense workout, the supine on the floor can be used with the legs relaxed on top of the ball, also cutting out the hip flexors.

[Eziekial]

Can you link to good ab workout using SBs or post your recommendations?

[Martrae]

Note to self....do not read this title right after the BJ thread....

[Harrison]

[smiley poster=tongue]l o l[/smiley]

[Shannan]

[Darcler]

When I was in physical therapy (before a year old) they used a ball on me. I couldnt hold my head up at a little under a year so they put me on a ball, tummy down and rolled the ball forward, to teach me to raise my head to avoid being hit by the floor.
The gym at my building also has these. It does the tummy good.

[Tacks]

So they just kept clunking you on the head until you decided to hold it up? That's awesome.

[Darcler]

Explains a lot, no?

[liquidstayce]

This is a good resource with some pics of abs exercises on the stability ball.

Enjoy!!

http://exercise.about.com/cs/exercisewo ... 21200b.htm

[Eziekial]

thanks stacy!

[Mop]

opps someone is on the ball, and obviously it wasn't me ><

thanks shuugah

[Mop]

opps someone is on the ball, and obviously it wasn't me ><

thanks shuugah