Weight Lifting: 3 Things to Watch When Weight Lifting With the Stability Ball
Dan Boyle
Weight Training 101 Course... Lesson 2Being new to weight training can be a fairly tough thing to do. Self consciousness rules the day at the gym because no matter how hard we try to think people are not watching us… we always have an underlying belief that they are starring at us. This can cause some tentative training and that can hurt you. With the stability ball, beginners can workout and not worry about how much weight they are lifting because using the stability ball requires a more complex movement.
Your whole body needs to work to stabilize the lifts and this makes for the perfect way to begin weight training. However, these are the 3 things you need to watch when you are using that stability ball… 1. Bouncing Momentum Just the other day, I was doing some great stability ball exercises and I wasn't careful enough and ruined a few reps due to bouncing momentum. Stability balls bounce nicely and if you don't slow your reps down, you can inadvertently bounce your arms off of the ball and that will shoot your arms up off the ball. This creates a nice momentous push in the up direction. Exercises to really watch for…
- Dumbbell bench press
- Shoulder press
- Any type of curl
- Any time you lay on the ball
2. The Weight ChosenStability balls are used because they cause the whole body to stabilize the movement that is being done. For this reason the weight is not as important as the rep speed and the need to concentrate on the stability of the whole movement. It is easy to choose too much weight and then start the ripple affect of negative movements.
- You get that bouncing momentum
- You loose balance on the ball
- Forces bad form and compensation
When using the stability ball, really concentrate on your form. That is how you are going to get the most benefit out of using them and really explode your results when you move to a more hardcore hypertrophy phase.3. Choosing the Right Ball This is really overlooked but can make a very big difference in the proper way to conduct stability ball exercises. Some of the stability balls are very mushy and some are very hard… some are really big and some are really small. What do you use and when?
The big mushy stability balls -- I like to use these when you are doing any type of exercise on your back. This could be a bench press, dumbbell fly, etc…Because they are mushy and a little bigger, they are easier to stabilize. The smaller harder stability balls -- I really like to use these when I want to push myself. Just be careful and drop the weight by 15% at least so you can control the movements. Because they are harder, less of the ball is sitting on the floor and that makes it a lot more difficult to stabilize. Stability balls make the beginner feel more comfortable at the gym and are the best way to get your weight training lifestyle off on the right foot. Before you even realize it, you will be skyrocketing your results and moving onto some more intense training. Stability balls will will be part of many of the programs where we put together the best exercises to lose weight. Move along to the final lesson simply by clicking on Weight Training Methods to get you going in the right direction. Make sure you listen to our fitness courses podcast where we cover all the new information in the fitness industry and all geared towards women!
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