Life> Health

Shape up with a swiss ball

By Andrew McCallum (New Zealand Fitness Magazine)
Updated: 2007-02-01 16:28

Now by pressing down on their elbow, you should after some initial resistance be able to bend their arm. Have them return their arm to the original position on your shoulder, but this time have them draw in their belly button. By doing this they will be contracting the deep transverse abdominous (TVA) muscle and in effect stabilising their core. Now again try to bend the person's arm. Aided by the increased stability provided by the TVA contraction your partner should be much stronger this time.
No matter how strong your extremities are, your core and joint stabilisers are the weak links in force production. Having strong arms and legs without proportional core strength is like putting big tyres on a car with a small engine, it's all show and no go.

Increased Movement Complexity = Increased Nervous System Function
For those of us who have spent any amount of time in a gym, we have no doubt used a chest press machine at one time or another. Whether in a seated or supine (lying) position this machine simply requires us to push the resistance in the form of one or two handles away from our chest. This simple movement is designed to isolate the muscles of the chest and shoulders while also incorporating the triceps muscles located at the back of the arms.
Unfortunately, these are essentially the only muscles recruited while performing this movement. The user either sits or lies on a fixed surface and merely pushes. Think about the day-to-day activities that require you to push against resistance.
It is likely that SB training improves functional strength through neural mechanisms. Indeed, if the primary benefit of Swiss ball training in developing stabiliser strength is due to a better match in task specificity to real world tasks, then the evidence suggests that the often ignored critical nervous system processes are the greatest beneficiaries of prolonged SB training.
SB training may also increase the neural component of strength through improved motor coordination. The simplest tasks are closed tasks in which the relevant sensory information is stable and no variability exists between trial to trial.
Performing chest press repetitions using a machine is an example of a closed task. Practicing closed tasks results in fixation, a type of learning that narrows our range of performance. The most complex tasks are open tasks in which the regulatory stimuli are unstable and there is variability between trial to trial.

Increased Range Of Movement = Increased Exercise Effectiveness
The SB facilitates multi-angle resistance training and allows some exercises to be performed through a greater range of motion. For example, while lying with the lower back on the centre of the ball, athletes can perform abdominal crunches beginning with the abdominal muscles in the stretched position. This stretched position can't be reached while lying on a flat, horizontal surface.
It is claimed that the effect of the pre-stretch and potential strength development in the stretched position can enhance the effectiveness of the exercise and make the task more functionally useful to the participant.
Another example is the increased scapula (shoulder blade) movement in a Swiss ball bench press with a dumbbell. The additional movement in the upper back works to decrease the range of movement and loading at the shoulder joint, preventing excessive stress on the surrounding joint structure.

Although it has not been demonstrated that training at multiple angles or through a greater range of motion, increases muscular hypertrophy, these factors can aid overall strength development due to training specificity.

The SB is the most cost-effective exercise tool available today. Its adaptability means it is suitable for people of all ages and activity levels. Its adaptability makes it suitable for people of all ages and activity levels. It can effectively and safely work essentially every muscle of the human body through a full range of motion with or without external resistance.
Some of the versatility of the Swiss ball can be derived from variety and creativity in comparison to traditional weight training exercises. It will serve to increase your flexibility but not require it from the outset.
Because a ball is naturally unstable it encourages use of the core stabiliser musculature that is under utilised and/or weak in most of us. It encourages awareness, a getting-to-know-your-body again feeling and, last but not least, it is fun.