I was at the gym the other day when I decided to pick up a binder and take a look at all of the exercises that were put in there. It turned out to be a binder made up of exercises to do with an exercise ball! There were over forty pages of them!

There are a ton of different types of exercise balls such as medicine balls (weighted) and Swiss balls, but for the purpose of this article, I am referring to the big ball that is made up of elastic soft PVC and is filled with air. If I had to pick one piece of  fitness “equipment” to buy, I think it would be the exercise ball. Why? Well, it has many uses.

First of all, when you are not using the ball as exercise equipment, you can use it as a chair. Sitting in a chair for many hours can actually hurt your back more than standing in one place and the exercise ball ensures that your body is always changing its position and working. You will not feel like you’re doing extra work, but your muscles will be moving and adjusting throughout the day, making you stronger and less stiff as well as improving your posture.

One fitness use is weight training, and a popular use is for abdominal training. There are hundreds of different ab exercises that you can do on a ball. Some of these exercises are as simple as putting your feet up on the ball and doing crunches. Another example is to sit on the ball and keep your feet on the ground while doing crunches. If that is too easy, add weights or try something else! They can definitely get tricky! You can work on many things at the same time with an exercise ball; for example, if you try to sit on your knees and balance on the ball, you’ll feel your abdominal muscles and your back muscles, but you will also be improving your balancing skills. The ball is also great for stretching and relaxing; many yoga and pilates exercises incorporate exercise balls into their classes.

Perhaps one of the best aspects is that they are incredibly easy to transport; especially if you deflate them. Oh, and they are affordable!