Ball Plank
Starting
Position
- To perform this ball
plank exercise, kneel on the
floor in front of the ball and slide forward so that you are lying over
the ball with the ball situated under your feet and your arms straight.
- Your hands should be
directly under your shoulders
- You should be looking
down at the floor, chin tucked in
- Contract your
abdominals
in your
neutral
spinal position so that your
back
remains straight.
Action
- Hold
this position without sagging, shaking or allowing your chin to sink to
the floor.
Prime
Movers
- Stability
is achieved through spinal and scapular stabilizers
Physio
Tips
- If
you find this position too difficult try modifying
it by putting the ball under your knees, progressively moving it toward
your feet as you get stronger.
- You will need to
master this static position prior to trying any dynamic exercise
involving the exercise ball with feet on the ball.
Progression
There are a number of ways to make this exercise more difficult:
- balance on your toes
on the exercise ball
- lift one leg so you
are on one foot
- add more air to the
exercise ball to reduce the size of its footprint.
- use a bigger exercise
ball
-
add some trunk movement
Pushups 1.
- even more difficult is
Pushups 2.
This is my exercise ball
version of the ball plank with feet on the ball. Instead of having the
unstable surface under my forearms or hands I've put it under my feet.
Like the
plank
on the floor, and the static
plank with arms on the ball, this plank on the ball works the abdominal
muscles strongly as well as the
deep
short back stabilizing muscles.
Because your back is horizontal there is a great force acting on your
trunk to pull it down. This makes it more difficult than other planks.
Also, a shoulder angle of 90 degrees makes this exercise more difficult
than the floor plank where the arm is closer to the body.
Hold this position for
10
seconds.
Hold this position for
30
seconds.
Hold this position for
60
seconds.
Return
to the top of Ball Plank