People are always coming up with new ways of doing exercise and physical fitness, but there is a new game in town that is all the rage - exercise balls. Some of the reasons for the popularity of these Swiss ball exercises are that it’s extremely portable, it’s very low impact (therefore it’s particularly quiet), it can be carried out in a very small area and it is very economical.

Probably the most popular exercise ball in use at the moment is the Swiss ball. This is an inflatable ball that is usually a around 65 or 75 cm in diameter. Many folks simply use this ball in place of their chair at work. when you are sitting on a Swiss ball, it feels quite natural to make small rocking movements rather than just sitting still which obviously works the core and provides a small amount of exercise even while just sitting there.

But when used for full-blown exercise the Swiss ball is an amazingly versatile piece of kit. Many of the exercises using the Swiss ball primarily work the core but all of these exercises work the secondary muscles at the same time and you can also emulate the same kind of exercises that you can do on home gym equipment.

One day while I was working at the gym, a gym instructor showed me how to do press ups by putting my feet on top of the ball. The natural tendency is for the feet to roll off to either the left or the right of the ball, therefore as well as the usual benefits that can be gained from doing press ups, you are also continually working the core which is trying to stop the feet from rolling off the sides of the ball.

Most of the Swiss ball exercises are based on the same principle - some part of the body is elevated on top of the ball and this part of the body is encouraged by gravity to dismount from the top of the ball. this may not sound very technical and you may assume that there aren’t many exercises that can be done in this manner. But you only have to do a search on youtube for the term Swiss ball exercise and very quickly you will normally probably notice that there are literally hundreds of different exercises that you can do using the Swiss ball.

In fact, once you try doing these exercises and learning new ones you will normally probably start creating your own original ones before long. Going back to the press up with your feet on top of the Swiss ball, once you have attempted this you will normally probably notice that it not only works the core, but it adds a new dimension to the upper body toil that you do. As you will probably discover during press ups the whole of your upper body eventually starts to shake and quiver because of the forces transferred from the feet all of the way down the body to the arms. This is one of the key reasons why it is so effective to use the Swiss ball for your exercises.

As mentioned, there are loads of exercises that can be carried out using the Swiss ball. But if we jump ahead to the advanced level one of the hardest but most advantageous methods of using the Swiss ball is to carry out exercises while standing on it. This is not advised for beginners as it can be quite perilous. Once one is ready to attempt these complex exercises, you should initially learn how to kneel on the Swiss ball. Then once this has been mastered, one can then advance to standing on top of it.

Again, by searching youtube you will normally discover some great demonstrations of exercises that you can carry out while standing on a Swiss ball. When searching, you will find that they have a variety of names such as Swiss balls, balance balls and exercise balls. The most important thing to bear in mind while attempting to learn the skill is that when you involuntarily dismount the landing can be quite painful, therefore safety mats should be used to start at all times. Obviously, the most common occurrence is for the legs to slip off the side of the ball which is the same as your feet going from under you - just like when slipping on ice. Please consider this as the main reason for exercising in the first place is to improve your health, not to damage it.

When you have mastered standing on a Swiss ball, you will be a Swiss ball master and will have developed incredibly strong core and legs and an outstanding ability to balance.