Got a Birthing Ball or Fitball Hanging around? Use it to get fit!
6 June 2013
So did you, in a fit of overenthusiasm, buy yourself a birthing ball during pregnancy, get your partner to blow it up and then leave it languishing in a corner? Has it been consigned to the garage or loft now that you’re a mum? Or, if you’ve got older children like me, then perhaps it has turned into the best toy ever? Nerve wracking, if your child does what my 8 year old does. He balances on his knees on the ball, usually inches away from a window or a mirror! Well, that’s great practise for your children’s coordination and balance but what about you? A fitball is a fantastic tool for posture, for core stability and strength, and it also allows you to target lots of aspects of fitness all at once – very time efficient! So here are some ideas that you can start using today.
1. Use your fitball/birthing ball as a seat at mealtime or when you are sitting watching television. Remember, the key to this is posture: sit tall, roll your shoulders back and down, open out your chest, lengthen through the neck and through the crown of your head, relax shoulders away from your ears, draw your abdominals gently inwards, and…. breathe!
2. Wonderful! Posture on a fitball is sorted out: remember that whatever exercise I suggest doing, you have to keep hold of that great posture I’ve just talked you though. So now, why not do your pelvic floor exercises on your fitball whilst sitting beautifully tall? Boring? Yes, I know they are, but they are a necessary evil (!), so just do then whilst you are watching television.
3. OK, so are you beginning to think “So when is Jo actually going to give me some real exercises on a ball?”. I have, quite literally, dozens and dozens up my sleeve but it’s best to start slowly and build thing up:
a. Set up your tall posture with abdominals drawn inwards whilst seated on the ball
b. Now lift one foot off the floor whilst keeping your hips perfectly centred. Keep holding and make sure you breathe.
c. Have a go doing the same thing on the other foot. Does it feel different? More wobbly perhaps?
d. Now bring in some arm movements and see what difference this makes as you balance on one foot.
e. Need more of a challenge? Place a light weight in one hand – a tin of food works well – and move it around to see how this affects and challenges your balance.
f. Try the same on both sides – left and right.
4. Let’s take things up a level now. Remember the “superman” exercise we do in class where we are on all fours and we raise opposite arm and opposite leg? Well, you can really take things up a few gears by doing the same exercise balancing on a fitball. Take a look at the photos below:
a. Set up a long posture with your tummy supported by the ball and your feet on the ground. Make sure that your shoulders are pinned back and that your neck is nice and long.
b. Now extend your right arm in front of you and place your left hand down on your left thigh.
c. Here’s the really tricky bit: gently float the left foot off the floor.
d. Now hold, breathe and balance.
These four fitball exercises work really well together in sequence but equally, they can be done separately as one-offs. I would certainly give using the fitball as a seat a go – it’s so easy and so effective.
Happy wobbling!