Leg Raise and Cross with the Exercise Ball
Starting
Position
- You start this ball
exercise by lying supine on
the floor with your heels on the ball.
- Arms are
straight and out to the sides of your body.
- Engage your abdominal
muscles through
the
abdominal hollowing exercise.
- Lift
your hips toward the ceiling so that you are straight from your heels
to your shoulders as in
the
bridging exercise.
- Lift your left leg
straight
up as in
the leg raise exercise.
Action
- Lower
your left leg slowly to the ground while keeping your hips up.
- Don't let your hips
sag as you lower your left leg as far as
you can.
- Bring your left leg up
and back across
your body and take it down as low to the ground as you can on the right
side.
- You will need to
rotate your right leg as
you do this.
- Repeat this
with the right leg.
Prime
Movers
- Abdominal obliques,
hip flexors, hamstrings, back extensors.
Physio
Tips
- Doing
this exercise with palms up increases the work done by your rear
shoulders, arms and upper back.
- Doing this
exercise with palms down preferentially works the front of the
shoulders and chest.
- Start with smaller
movements
until you get a feel for how far you can go without falling over.
Progression
- Bringing
your arms closer to your trunk will make this exercise more challenging
by decreasing the size of your base of support.
- Try the Front Spin
Once you get into the
straight leg raise position, start by making small movements to the
side with the raised leg - just 4 inches one side then 4 inches to the
other side. Over time increase these movements gradually. You may not
feel comfortable rotating your trunk while in this position, so don't.
This exercise requires strength in your abdominals as well as control.
This is a very advanced ball exercise as it forces you to maintain
spinal stability as you move limbs and rotate your trunk. I recommend
you master the exercises listed above prior to attempting this ball
exercise.
If you've come this far and have already mastered the bridging, leg
raise, and hip roll and still find this difficult, try letting some air
out of your ball or propping it up against the wall to start until you
get the hang of it.
Repeat this ball
exercise 5
times.
Repeat this ball
exercise 10
times.
Repeat this ball
exercise 15
times.
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