The "No Time to Exercise" Routine


On those days when you just have no time to exercise, you can still use the ball to help maintain your strength and activate your core stabilizers and abdominals. 

Most people in the fitness industry will emphasize that you should make exercise a priority in your life and find a way to fit it into your schedule. Although this sounds ideal in principle, there are only so many hours in a day. When other people are making demands of us, often our own fitness gets put on the back burner.

To get you started, just use the ball as a chair during your regular activities during the day with your transversus abdominis activated for ten minutes; then, choose four of  the following exercises:

I give a few other tips to get you more active at the bottom of the page.

Click on each exercise below to get a full description of each ball exercise, methods of progression, and tips from a physical therapist.

Superman

Hand Walking

Back Extension 1

Ab Crunch 2

Rolling Plank 1

Bridging

Squat

As you find these exercises easier progress them as each exercise describes:

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Tips to become more active:

  1. Take a walk (a) the dog (b) a friend (c) a podcast
  2. Join a group that is active. Whether it be a sport or a walk at lunch, it helps if you are accountable to someone
  3. Rather than sit on the couch to watch tv when you get home, put a treadmill in front of it
  4. Use the stairs instead of the elevator at work or the escalator at the train station
  5. If you go shopping, park a little further away.