As a trainer and health coach, I constantly hear this frustration from my clients. Why? Because we frequently focus only on working our front abdominals, or rectus abdominis, to seem and feel confident once we travel or hit the beach. We forget how important it’s to stabilize and strengthen the encompassing muscles like our hips, glutes, pelvis, and torso. A robust, stable trunk is essential for daily activities and aids your body with better posture, prevents injury, and improves balance and adaptability. This is often where the steadiness ball comes into play. We’ve rounded up the absolute best stability ball exercises to shrink belly fat, which we’ll get below quickly.
The stability ball may be a lightweight prop that permits you to interact with your abs more intensely while also forcing you to the isolate and interact with the remainder of your body. The simplest part? It upgrades your daily ab work, so you allow the gym to feel sweaty, intense, and oh-so satisfied.
Reverse Crunches
This exercise is among my favorites because it incorporates planks and works every muscle in your stomach—and body, for that matter. Set yourself up during a tabletop position ahead of the ball, then slowly lift one leg, then the opposite to urge during a straight arm plank with the tops of your feet against the ball. Once you feel balanced, pull your knees into your chest, keeping your hips in line with your shoulders as best as possible. Then, extend your legs straight out again to urge back to your plank.
Crunches
While I’m not an enormous proponent of traditional crunches, doing them on the ball will provide lower back support, open your chest, and further engage your abdomen:
- Sit on the ball together with your feet flat on the ground.
- Start to steer your feet out and roll on the ball until it’s under your back.
- Bend your elbows, and then place your hands behind your neck for support.
Finally, crunch up by lifting your shoulder blades and scooping your abdominals out. Hold for a second, then lower backtrack.
V-Pass
This move takes a little touch of coordination, but when performed with the correct form, it’ll stir up every muscle in your belly. Start by laying down on your back together with your arms stretched above you and legs call in front of you. Place the ball between your hands, then lift your shoulders and legs simultaneously and pass the ball from your hands to your ankles. Next, lower down (or hover one inch above the mat for an additional challenge), and make an equivalent move, except passing the ball from your ankles to your hands.