Stability Ball Workout

[ezra76]

When these big blue balls first hit the market I thought they were for women. I have seen them used on many TV shows, ads and in magazines. So I picked one up last night for $19.99 at Dicks and just blew it up. Fricken amazing. Best piece of workout equipment for the price I have ever seen, by miles. I just did 3 major exercise sets. First off, squats, put the ball behind my back against the wall. It rolls up and down with you, pefect balance, posture and form all the way to the "ground floor". This alone was worth the $20. Then I take it into the carpeted spare bedroom... I laid back on it with my 40lb. dumbells, dumbell bench press. A lot easier than I thought it would be to stay balanced on the ball and control the weights. Last off, dumbell shoulder press... I got on my knees, ball behind my back, better than a bench!!! That's right, the ball forms to your lower back and no space, straining on the lower back.

I'm sure I'll come up with more and more exercises to do with it. I am thinking that holding it between my legs while working on the swing might prove beneficial to increasing shoulder turn and reducing sliding and pivoting.

Anyone who has ever been skeptical, these things are great. Before you go spend $1000 on some gigantic pulley and band driven device, give this $20 product and a pair of dumbells a shot. IMO it's better.

I'd appreciate any exercise ideas that anyone else has for the stability ball as well, thanks.

[chemboy2]

Stability balls rock! Any dumbbell exercises you can do you can work in the stability ball and work on your core strength!

Sit down and do curls and shoulder presses. Put your back on it and do chest press or flies. Throw your feet up on it and do push-ups. If those inverted push-ups are too easy, try lifting one-leg off of the ball while doing the push-ups. You can also do kick-backs and bent-over rows by leaning over and placing a hand on the ball. Again, not hard enough, do them on one leg.

The theme is to always be working your core while doing these exercises. In case you're interested, below is a link to a work-out schedule from Outdoor magazine from a couple of years ago. Once a year (New Year's resolution ) I go through this series and am just amazed about how great I feel. The series starts slowly and builds from week to week. The progression is perfect and you feel very little soreness. Within the first few weeks you will notice a huge increase in strength and flexibility; major bonuses to the golf game.

http://outside.away.com/outside/body..._your_life.adp

[JEFF4i]

Where's the link? SPAMMER! Boot him!

Hehehe, my gal has one, I need to try it out.

[chemboy2]

Originally Posted by JEFF4i

Where's the link? SPAMMER! Boot him!

Hehehe, my gal has one, I need to try it out.

you callin' me a spammer, pal?

[ezra76]

Yeah, try it out Jeff, it works. I was just lying on last night, doing some crunches and stretching side to side. Man you can really work the muscles of the ribcage. Those muscles are very hard to get at too. I have to go back to Dick's and try to get another one later... The cat didn't get as good a workout... I kind of feel like a jerk to return it but I'll justify that I've spent over $1000 there the last few years.

[chemboy2]

The other night the Golf Channel had back to back to back episodes of "The Spirit of Golf." One of the shows featured Adam Scott and showed the exercises he was doing on the stability ball. I wasn't TiVO'ing any of the shows until I saw those exercises, hit the record button on that one as there was no way I was going to remember those.

[JEFF4i]

Originally Posted by chemboy2

you callin' me a spammer, pal?

No, I'm calling Ezra a spammer, you should see the PMs he sends me.

[chemboy2]

Originally Posted by JEFF4i

No, I'm calling Ezra a spammer, you should see the PMs he sends me.

well then, nevermind.

[sandwedge]

I haven't used my dumbell bench since buying a stability ball. They work great and are much cheaper. I would recommend a stability ball and dumbells over any other piece of strength training equipment.

[ezra76]

I just got my new one last night. Spent an extra $10 for a thicker, more burst resistant model. I may have to let some of the air out and pump it back up for a workout. Man, using that pump with my hands just burns the crap out of my inner forearms. I tried out a little experiment. I put a book under the outside of each foot and did squats with the ball behind my back, against the wall for support. Seems to work the upper, inner leg muscles, as I hoped for. Getting these muscles stronger is not only key for the swing but I'm thinking that getting them to "overpower" the outer muscles may help in a powerful, repetitive firing in the downswing.

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

You should also consider purchasing a chin up bar you can put in a door frame, too. That's another inexpensive way to give yourself something to do that'll help improve upper body strength.

You can also consider breaking a leg and hopping around on crutches, too, that'll work the arms and shoulders.

[ezra76]

That wouldn't be bad but I can't use any screws or drill holes. I also move furniture for a living, obviously my upper back gets a workout doing this, more than I care for usually. Yesterday I had to move a spinnet piano up 4 stairs into the house. I had that puppy from the bottom, squatted down and deadlifted the entire thing above my waist. Not too bad for a wiry 6' 150lb. guy. The heaviest thing I've ever had that high was a double door stainless steel refrigerator I took to a 3rd floor, that almost snapped me in half.