Stability Ball Exercises: Standing Glute Lift

Series Summary

Bodyweight exercises differ from free-weight lifting in that they utilize body weight and sometimes very little equipment such as dumbbells. There are a number of bodyweight exercises and stretches that can be done with the physioball, also known as the swiss ball, stability ball, Pilates ball, strength ball, and exercise ball. They are all easy to learn and can be done almost anywhere you may be. The freedom to practice these exercises quickly and at home increases the probability that you will continue to do them. This will lead to better muscle strength and tone, flexibility, and good health. In this free video series, learn some basic stability ball combination exercises. Our expert, Amy McCauley, is a professional personal trainer at Gold's Gym. She shares all her knowledge with you so that you can safely and effectively shape and tone your muscles. Learn how to work the hamstrings, glutes, legs, arms, spine, and more. So, if you are looking for some great, low impact exercises, learn about the stability ball workout today!

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm going to show you how to do a standing glut lift using the stability ball. The size of the ball is dependent upon your height so you are going to want to look into that but I'm using a 65 cm ball and there is also a 55 cm ball for those of you who are shorter than 5'4" and for those of you who are taller than 5'6" you are going to want to use a 75 cm ball. A general rule of thumb is when you come down you want to place your hands on the ball and you want to make sure that you are not so low that you are bending down or so high that you are up here. Hinge forward with your hands on the ball. You are going to keep one hand forward stabilizing and as you lift your leg off the floor you are going to feel automatically that the ball is going to shift from side to side so push the ball up against the wall so that it helps stabilize your body a little bit more and we are going to roll the shoulders down the spine, chest open, one leg stays on the floor. As you lift we are going to lift with the toe and lower. We are going to try to do between 10 and 20 repetitions and then once you complete those, stay at the top and do very small pulses. This is going to require a little bit more stabilization in your abdominal area and in your back. We are going to pulse this for about 10 to 20 repetitions as well, repeating two to three sets and then switching sides so you are going to notice that the leg on the floor is going to feel just as much work load as the leg that is lifted in the air. So again set up position for this, shoulders are directly over the hands, the foot is close to the ball, we are going to lift and point, you can also flex if you would like to. Flexing is going to go a little bit deeper into the gluts, pointing is going to help lengthen that muscle. We are going to make sure that the head remains even with the hands and not way over the hands, keep the abs tight and you want to avoid the hip rotating open so try to keep the hip square down to the floor as you are lifting up and down so again repetitions are between 10 and 20 with small movements at the top if you want to change it. If you want to make it a little bit more intense you are going to pop up on the ball of the foot, the knees coming in to the ball and we're stabilizing here so that is a little bit harder to do. If you want a little bit more advanced version, drive it up on the toe, lift up and down and that knee is stabilizing into the ball and that is how we do our glut lift standing up and using the stability ball."