Stability/Balance Ball Sizes and Uses

The exercise ball is basically a big, bouncy ball. It was supposedly developed by a European physical therapist who wanted the injured patients to be able to do some aerobic conditioning. The idea behind this is to put the patients on the exercise ball and have them bounce. The patients got a great workout method and without causing any damage to their injured areas.

Fitness balls are still used by therapists to rehabilitate back, hip and knee injuries. The exercising balls can really make exercise fun and comfortable and it really helps you master the core stability, control, strength and balance. It helps in strengthening the torso for better workouts and less injuries. It’s also one the best ways to strengthen your abs and back and increase your stability.

Before going for an exercise ball you need to know certain things…

The ball must be of right size for your height. To test the compatibility, sit on the ball  making sure your hips are level or slightly higher than the knees. If you don’t have a ball to sit on, lean against a wall and squat until your hips are level or slightly higher than your knees. Then measure the distance from the bottom of your hips to the floor and then choose the ball size that best fits.

• Under 4’10″ use a 16″ or 42cm ball,
• 4’11″ – 5’4″ use a 21″ or 55cm ball,
• 5’5″ – 5’11″ use a 25″ or 65cm ball and
• 6’0″ – 6′ 7″ use a 29″ or 75cm ball.

One of the brands that is recommended by most of the professionals is SPRI. These heavy duty exercise balls are tough and durable enough to withstand diverse training methods. It has dura- wall construction and slowly- deflates up to 350 pounds which makes it the ideal ball for weight training applications.

SPRI exercise balls are safe and are recommended by most of the professionals. It challenges your body by putting your body in an uncomfortable position and keeps your mind and body alert all the time cause you have nothing to lean your back on and the ball moves so it’s very unstable, so you are forced to sit up in a correct posture.

SPRI balls are versatile and can be used for about anything including:

• Abdominal training – Doing twists, crunches and other exercises…
• Weight Training – You can use the bouncing ball as your weight bench to add difficulty to your movements and that will incorporate the muscles of your abs, torso and butt.
• Sitting around – It can be a great challenge to just sit around the exercise ball. It’s a great way to improve your posture when sitting in front of the television of computer.
• Yoga and flexibility exercises – The SPRI exercise ball is a great tool for stretching and relaxing.
• Play around – At the end of the day it’s a ball so you can play around with it as well. Playing around with it could also be one sort of exercise and that would only add to your health.