The biggest, bounciest exercise fad of all time

Working your ‘core’ is important, but you don’t need to sit on a huge rubber ball to do it, says Greg Ryan.

The fitness industry has always been full of fads - remember ‘The Abdominizer’? – And one of the biggest and bounciest of them all is the gym ball, Swiss ball, or core stability ball. Whatever it’s called, if you go to a gym you probably have either used it or thought about using it. So is it any good?

Well, if you sit on it, it makes you work your ‘core’ – that part of your body you are told is important and needs to be strengthened in order to support your back, improve your posture and give you a flat stomach.

Body Alignment
However, what they fail to tell you is that if you sit and stand correctly when exercising you are working your core – without a Swiss ball in sight. In fact, something as simple and functional as opening a door works your core, but the efficiency of how good you work it will depend on how good your body’s alignment is at the start of the activity; standing in a slouched position when pulling the door open is not as good as if you were standing properly.

However, not to disparage the Swiss ball too much, when used appropriately it can be a great way of challenging the core to work harder, but what most people need to learn first is how to sit correctly on a stable platform before being let loose on an unstable one like a gym ball. It all comes down to posture in the end.

Move Your Arms Around
The core is important but, to get the most out of it, one has to think less about strength and more about control. If you are sitting reading this slouched over, think about sitting tall as if you’re being pulled by a piece of string attached to the top of your head, without holding your breadth.

Congratulations, you’ve just activated your core. If you now start moving your arms around, this will make your core work harder to keep your spine, pelvis and head still- the key elements of your core.

Sure, add some weights to your arms and strength becomes an issue, but ultimately your core is for life, not just for when you sit on a ball or for when you workout in a gym. So get a core workout everyday by “thinking tall” when you’re sitting, standing and moving. If you want to focus on your core to improve your body strength and performance, try video gait analysis. It’s a great way to look at your dynamic posture and can provide a view on how your core performs while undertaking exercise.

From this a tailored exercise programme can be put together to give you the edge in performance, as well as preventing injuries before they occur.

Greg Ryan is a consultant musculoskeletal physiotherapist at Health & Fitness Solutions.