Abdominal Crunch Exercise Using the Balance Ball

Video Transcript

" Hi! This is Manny Castro, Exercise Physiologist. In this clip, I would like to demonstrate exercises on the stability ball, also called a balance ball or a swiss ball. Now, the most basic exercise on a stability ball is an abdominal crunch, which we all have seen. In the coming clips, I will demonstrate many, many a variety of exercises that you can do on this ball. You can also use it for weight training, lightweight training, not heavy weight training but it can do a lot of things for not only your abdominal muscles but many other deeper muscles in the abdominal and the lower back area. Now, the first exercise I would like to demonstrate for you is, obviously, the simple abdominal crunch. Now, a few techniques that you use for the abdominal crunch when you are on the floor is basically lay your back flat on the floor and your knees up. Now the luxury you have with the stability ball is that you don’t have a flat surface, so now you have to adjust. Now, for a beginner, you probably want to start with the ball in your mid-to-upper back. This way it will be a little simpler. Now for advanced users, this movement you can slide back a little further and you’ll see me start shaking here, and that provides a lot more resistance for your abdominals. Now, let us start with a simple abdominal crunch here. What you want to do with the abdominal crunch is about 3 sets 15-20 repetitions. I say high repetitions because the abdominals are made for that. So what you’re going to do is lift your thorax up to about 30 degrees, you do not want to come all the way back up, and then back down. Again, lift, keep your chin up, and focus on one spot on the roof. Again, you’re going to repeat 15-20 repetitions."