Why do people use a stability ball for squats?
~Form~
The neutral spine is key when doing a squat.
That is why the ball is the best piece of equipment
if you have trouble keeping your spine flat/neutral.
- · Grab a stability ball and a pair of dumbbells
- · Place ball on the wall and stand with the ball in between the middle and top part of you back
- · When you squat, remember that your spine must be in the neutral position without your head moving, (shoulders back, chest out, neutral spine)
- · Holding the dumbbells at your sides squat down to a 90 degree bend, make sure your bottom doesn’t fall below the knee
- · Inhale has you go down, exhale as you come up
- · Don’t LOCK YOUR KNEES, always keep your knees slightly bent even when your standing in the neutral position
- · Work your way up from 10, 15, or even 20 pounds each side
- · When you come up focus on squeezing your glutes together and press in through the heels of your feet
· This targets the glutes, hamstrings, a quads…..
I DIG IT!
7 comments:
thanks for the tip I try them this off season
This is a very disappointing blog entry. When I saw the title and a drawing of a stability ball, I fully expected to see a picture of Shannon Tipton, the Stability Ball Queen, curling a body bar while kneeling on a ball. Instead I see a lame animation of someone doing squats. I no longer believe that you can even balance on a stability ball. Post some proof. If someone didn't believe that I could run a Boston qualifying marathon time or had a huge nose, I posted pics on the Internet. C'mon, let's see the Stability Ball Queen in action.
Almost as disappointing was the fact that you changed the music on your blog from one of My Favorite Things to something else. Now, I'm only going to check out your blog to see what celebrities and famous athletes are posting comments.
Bill
Hey BP, did you eat your Wheaties this morning?
Click on your "favorite things" everytime you visit BP, in the mean time groove to my beats.
Can I still balance on a ball and do bicep curls? You bet......youtube video to come.
smiles...
Great info! And, an interesting option to traditional quad squats. Haven't tried it but I will definitely have too.. I start my weights this week..
I'm with BIll on the music. I prefer the previous tune! :-)
Waiting to for the vid.
Greater pointers here Shannon. The only downside to using the ball behind you when squatting is alot of people will use it to lean into as opposed to guidance,thus pushing excess pressure through into the knees.
I like to use the ball in a squat by holding infront of my thighs (ohhh!) when standing and as my hips go back & down I raise the ball out in front of me and then lower the ball back down as I return to a vertical base. This makes for a deceptively challenging exercise (for us mortals,anyway) as it naturally encourages the spine to remain neutral and the hips to go back as opposed to straight down.
Have a great day
:-) xox
Great tip Mr. Spinningman. The pushing up "through the heels" and standing at a slight angle will prevent any pressure on the knees.
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