Want to build strength, balance and proprioception CORRECTLY without having to risk your neck on upside-down Bosu Balls or other kinds of ‘instability’ training? The benefits are clear – Click Here to read a study on instability training and how it affects our balance and stabiity.
In this article, I will share with you some of my favourite Core ball exercises that will benefit your yoga practice and your lifting workouts. I highly recommend that you don’t focus on the number of reps as the goal, rather the mind-muscle connection building by doing these exercises with awareness. Click here for more information as to why.
1. Core Ball Exercise Strengthening The TVA -Transverse Abdominis
I love working my TVA as I have found the most benefits in doing exercises that target this important muscle. Core ball exercises are perfect as they are a good introduction to instability training. The TVA is the primary stabilizer of the spine and it is hidden by the more visible muscles in the abdomen, like the Rectus Abdominis and the Obliques. Very often it is incredibly weak and is shut down because few people train it specifically. This simple exercise, the Set Point with a Swiss Ball, will get you feeling your TVA and help you to know when it is engaging and when it is not.
Lie on your back and place the Swiss ball between your legs in a comfortable place, making sure your back is in a neutral position. Squeeze the ball gently between your legs and lift your legs up to the ceiling. Inhale, then exhale, lift your upper body off the ground, bringing the arms forward and the fingers engaged, thumbs up towards the ceiling. If your neck feels strain, you can put your head on the ground but make sure your spine is in a neutral position and the lower back isn’t arching off the floor. Breathe here for 30 seconds, then come down and repeat three more times.
You will know if the TVA is engaging when you can keep a neutral spine on the floor. If your back starts to arch, the TVA has disengaged so feel free to bring the legs up higher if this is happening. This is such a useful thing to practice as over time, you will gain insight as to what it feels like when your TVA activates and when it doesn’t. With repetition, your TVA should activate subconsciously – which is what we want!
2. Strengthening The TVA (Again!) – The Swiss Ball Roll
This one is quite a big jump up in strength but if you feel confident with the Set Point and can bring your legs quite close to the ground without your TVA disengaging, then you are ready to try this. The Swiss Ball Roll teaches us how to maintain lumbar pelvic control which is essential in keeping our lower back healthy and to stop energy leaks in the kinetic chain when we’re doing something challenging, like pressing something overhead.
Come to an Elbow Plank onto the Swiss ball. Make sure that you are not resting your belly on the ball and that your shoulders are right above your elbows. Push out through your heels, lift your knee caps up into your thighs and squeeze your glutes. Inhale, with a small controlled movement, roll the ball away from you about 1-2 inches. Exhale, roll the ball back. This counts as one roll. Make sure that you do NOT arch in the lower back as you roll the ball away. Repeat 5 times.
Once you are proficient at the Elbow Roll, you can increase the difficulty of the exercise by coming onto your hands in a Plank Position. As you’re working with a longer lever with extended arms, it will be harder to maintain that lumbar pelvic control. Don’t forget to breathe and do not rush the exercise. Do sets of 3-5 reps, making sure you take the time to rest in between sets (or even reps) if you need to.
3. Core Ball Exercise Strengthening The Lats And Back – The Crane Prep Hold
I love this core exercise – it looks simple but with practice, will profoundly change the strength and awareness in your back. If you’re a yoga practitioner and you have a ‘banana back’ in things like handstands or headstand, the chances are your lats are very weak and you’re overusing your shoulders. Since most yoga instruction is quite vague about what makes up the ‘back body’, know that our lats, some of the biggest muscles on our back, are a huge part of that. Very often, once again, they are asleep.
This exercise will wake these important muscles up. Come to the top of the Swiss ball with one knee and place your hands shoulder-distance apart, cambering the fingers and pressing your arms very straight and strong. Bring both knees onto the ball and inhaling, gently bring your knees into towards your chest. You don’t have to move them in very far to feel your back working tremendously. Breathe and feel the muscles around your rib cages tightening. This means your lats are firing. Start off with about 10 seconds then gently move the knees away from the chest. Build up to 3-5 sets of 20-30 second holds.
As you wake up your lats, you’ll also be waking up the muscles on your side body such as your Serratus Anterior and also the muscles around your shoulder blades. What you are doing is helping to support the shoulder girdle by awakening the lats. And our shoulders are some of the most injury-prone parts of our body, so these exercises will help to safeguard this vulnerable area.
So give these core ball exercises a try and watch how your yoga practice and your lifting will get better, with your body developing more mobility over time as well as strength and resilience.
