This series is dedicated to an overview of the equipment you can use in the comfort of your home to shape the body of your dreams.
Series entries:
Fifth on our list:
Exercise balls
We take a look at exercise balls that can be incorporated into your home workouts. These are more suited to be supplemental tools rather than your main workout instruments. Let’s take a look at different types of exercise balls and advantages and disadvantages!
Notable exercise ball types:
Stability ball
Swiss ball, yoga ball, balance ball, and gym ball are only some of the many aliases of stability ball. These are elastic inflatable balls with a diameter of about 35 to 85 centimeter. They are used in a variety of exercise, mainly focused on improving stability.
Advantages
The stability ball forces your body to incorporate more muscles while it tries to stabilise itself, working deep muscles you would not usually train and improving your overall performance in other areas.
They are also quite safe to use because of their light weight. They are great for beginners and experts alike.
Disadvantages
Your training results may not be visible, because you are working deep stabiliser muscles that do not show very much on your physique. However, it does wonders to improve your performance in other exercises due to your muscles being more balanced.
The stability ball takes up a lot of space and tends to roll around if not placed in a proper place. It is very frustration having the ball roll into your way while you are busy with other training.
Stability balls have become popular to use in place of chairs for sitting at a desk. Some believe this a much healthier alternative when you sit for many hours a day. If this sounds appealing to you, I would advise to do more reading up on the subject and consult your doctor before trying to sit on a stability ball all day long (also be careful not to let it roll out from under you!)
Bosu ball
Essentially a stability ball cut in half, meaning this is only a half circle with a flat surface on one side to place on the floor.
Advantages
Great if you want the benefits of a stability ball, without it rolling around! There are also some great exercises that can be performed with a Bosu, but not with a stability ball, such as burpees or balance squats.
Disadvantages
Bosu balls are quite expensive in the sense that they are used for very specific exercises and therefore are not as versatile as other equipment on our list. This item is more for the sake of variety, a fitness luxury if you will.
A ball roughly the size of a basketball or soccer ball, with the exception that it is weighted. The weight range is on the lighter side, as medicine balls are more targeted to ballistic movements. They are popular to use in cross fit training, which incorporates functional movements from various types of exercises done at high intensity to improve your overall fitness level and burn fat.
There are also heavy variations that are mostly used in strongman training that is focused on lifting as much as weight possible.
Advantages
They are great for people wanting to get into weight training, but are a bit scared to use dumbbells right off the bat. Medicine balls are safe to drop or throw if something goes wrong during a movement and they will also not damage the floor when dropped.
Medicine balls introduce a throwing dynamic to exercises. You can throw it from person to person, or up in the air and catch it again. They are exceptionally well suited for athletes trying to improve agility and athleticism
Disadvantages
A major disadvantage is that most of the exercises (with the exception of throwing) can be just as easily done with a light dumbbell.
Make sure you get the right weight medicine ball to reduce the risk of injuries. Your medicine ball should be light enough to throw around, but still heavy enough to offer you challenging resistance.
Final word
Exercise balls are a great addition to any equipment set, adding new moves and stability training to your home workouts.They are not strictly a necessity as far as workout equipment is concerned. It really comes down to personal preference if you want to use them or not.
