Swiss
Ball Exercises that Don’t Suck
By Nick Tumminello
After my article Stick Your Neck Out was published; I surprisingly
caught some flack from the “hardcore” types just because I showed
a stability ball being used in a few of the exercise applications. Since
I’m not emotionally attached to any one piece of equipment or style
of training, I was not upset in the least about this. However, it
did make me realize how misunderstood the Swiss ball is within the
“hardcore strength” community.
So, in light of this realization, I’m stepping up to set the record
straight once and for all about Swiss balls and how they should and
shouldn’t be utilized in and effective strength program.
Don’t Hate the Player, Hate the Game
My friend and colleague Coach Rob Simonelli brought up an interesting
point when he and I were discussing this article and why serious
weight lifters dislike Swiss balls. Rob said “What serious
lifters don’t understand is that it’s not so much that they dislike
Swiss balls, it’s that they dislike what Swiss Balls represent”.
He was absolutely right. Hardcore weightlifters have made Swiss
balls guilty by association just because there are a bunch of “functional
trainers” out there doing some seriously ridiculous stuff on them.
This doesn’t mean that Swiss balls can’t be use for stuff that actually
has value.
To all you Swiss ball haters out there, I want you to ask yourself
one question; “Am I blaming the tool or the practitioner?”
I think you will realize that myself and Rob and are correct in saying
that, the Swiss ball, like everything else in the gym is just a tool.
One that can be used or abused depending on whose hands it’s in.
Just because there are people out there abusing a certain tool doesn’t
mean we should throw it out of the tool box all together. If that
were the case, we wouldn’t use any equipment at all judging by what
I’ve seen done with barbells and dumbbells these days.
Now let’s get one thing clear, the title of this article is called
“Swiss Ball Exercises that Don’t Suck” not “Swiss Ball Exercises
that You Need to Get Bigger, Stronger and Faster”. The exercises
shown in this article are in no way a necessity, they are just other
options to challenge your body in a positive manner and compliment
your “core” lifts.
In other words, they are just tools in the tool box.
You just have to know when to use the tools you’ve got.
When Instability and Strength is Actually Good
Recently, I got to attend one of my friend Eric Cressey’s classes
on training the overhead athlete. During his workshop, Eric made
a great point that I feel is relevant to this article. He said that
although it has been found that unstable surface training for the
lower body has been found to be ineffective and in some cases even
counterproductive for healthy individuals, instability training for
the upper body may actually be beneficial. Eric went on to explain
that it all has to do with the fact that the lower body predominantly
functions in a close chained (both feet in contact with the ground)
manner that does not normally involve the ground moving underneath
it. However, the upper body functions in more of an open chained
(no ground or solid surface contact) manner with things more likely
to move and change position.
This makes a lot of sense if you think of a football lineman blocking
a pass rusher. The lineman’s feet are dealing with a flat and stable
ground while his upper body is all over place dealing with another
body moving in every which way trying to get around him.
Now that I have hopefully changed your mind about the Swiss ball,
I’m going to provide you a list of exercises using the Swiss ball
that we have found to be beneficial to our clients, athletes and
physique competitors.
The Exercises (That Don’t Suck)
Y,T,W, L Shoulder Circuit w/Swiss Ball
The reason why we preffer to use the Swiss ball while performing
our Y,T,W, L shoulder circuits has nothing to do with the shoulders
themselves but has everything to do with the trunk. In that, when
athletes perform the Y,T,W, Lcircuits on a flat surface like the
floor or a bench, they usually start to extend from their lower back
in a superman like position. This is normally due to the fact that
they, like many athletes, lack ample shoulder flexion. Therfore,
they attempt to kick in the lumbar extensors to help raise the arms.
 
On a flat surface all the extension is coming from the low back
If you reffer to my article How Not to Warm Up, you will
see why this type of movement is undesirable. We all tend to
slouch and sit too much, in doing so we create length and weakness
in the thoracic area. So, the real goal here is to somehow create
extension at the thoracic spine, not the lumbar spine. This can be
successfully accomplished by performing the Y,T,W shoulder circuit
on a Swiss ball.
   
With the swiss ball and some correct positioning, the extension
comes from the thoracic spine
We position our athletes so that the apex of their thoracic curve
during flexion over the ball is over top the apex of the ball itself.
We also have them flex at the hip joint which further decreases extension
at the lumbar spine. This enables us to get more bang for our buck.
We build endurance in all the muscles invovled in extending the thoracic
spine while simutaneously reaping the benefits of the Y,T,W, L
shoulder circuit.
The Swiss Ball Dumbbell Chest Press
The swiss ball chest press allows us to build flexibilty in hip flexors,
strength endurance in the anterior neck muscles and glutes while
simultaneously building upper body pushing strength.
The swiss ball chest press is the only exercise that we use a swiss
ball in combination with weights. However, because it involves an
unstable surface, we only use it while performing repetitive effort
lifts and never use it while performing dynamic or max effort lifts.
Many people will agrue about the instability of the ball interferring
with strength output. When I meet coaches that are of that mindset,
I tell them two things;
- If the feet are positioned shoulder width or wider, the instability
is pretty much canceled out.
- We agree that instabilty interferes with max strength output.
This is why we ONLY use this exercise with submaximal loads as
in a hypertrophy phase or repetitive effort phase.
In my mind, if you want allot of bang for your buck the Swiss ball
chest press is a great choice.
Swiss Ball Perturbations
CLICK HERE TO VIDEO
This is one of the most popular exercises we use at Performance
University amoung our high level athlets and recreational clients
alike.. Swiss perturbations are a fun and very effective way to develop
rock solid core stability. The goal of the person holding the ball
is to maintain optimal alignment and own the position thay began
in. With each diffrent strike of the ball, the torso as to make a
slight adjustment to maintain control of its position. Thi si what
Rehab spractioners call rythmic stabilization.
We call it a damn good exercise. The unpredicatable nature of this
exercise makes it more functional than most other “core stabilization”
exercises.
This exercise can be progressed by the partner striking the ball
with slightly more force or the holder standing with the feet closer
together or in a stagered stance.
Swiss Ball Roll Out
The swiss ball roll out is one of our favorite exerciss for training
the anterior trunk muscles. We like it because it devloped torso
strength and pelvic control without putting the spine in a flexed
position as it would be in a crunch or sit up type exercise. Mike
Boyle produced a great article called Anterior Core Training that
thoroughly desribes the theory and methodolgy behind movements like
the swiss ball roll out. In that same article, Boyle also diplayed
many progressions to the swiss ball roll out involving tools like
the ab dolley and arko wheels. However, if you don’t have all of
those tools/toys available to you, here are some simple progression
strategies you can use.
The beginers version of the Swiss ball roll out starts with the elbows
bent and forearms resting on the ball. As shown below.
 
This exercise can then be progressed by raising the torso and straightening
the arms. This lengthens the lever arm and increases the demand on
the anterior core. Shown below.
 
On both of these roll out variations be sure to extend both your
arms and legs while maintaining a fairly neutral spine. Only go out
as far as you can without losing optimal spinal alignment.
The Reverse Ball Roll Out
As of late we have been using another variation of the roll out which
we call reverse roll outs. To perform the reverse roll out, hold
on to a stable object such as a weight bench. While maintaining alignment,
extend your lower body until reaching a superman type position. Return
to the starting position and repeat.
 
The height of surface your holding onto should be approx. even to
the height of the ball. In the picture above, Tim is holding on to
a bar that is slightly higher than the ball underneath his legs.
You can see how this is causing him to sag slightly at his low back.
We were in the process of moving our gym during this photo shoot
and we had to work with what we had left in the gym.
Swiss Ball Toe Plank
This is another great anterior core exercise. We usually perform
holds for anywhere from 10-20 seconds. Proper form for this exercise
is pretty much self explanatory.
Swiss Ball Knee Tucks
If you have fairly decent “core strength”, Swiss ball knee tucks
aren’t really that difficult. This is why we don’t use this exercise
with the intention of building strength. We use this exercise to
build awareness of what the rehab world calls” hip/back disassociation”.
All this really means is, how well you can move at your hips without
moving at your lumbar spine. There are a lot of ways to accomplish
this which are beyond the scope of this article. However, in the
context of the Swiss ball knee tuck exercise, we want our athletes
to be able to flex at their hip without flexing at their low back.
If they can accomplish this, it shows that they posses good hip/back
disassociation.
Athletes with poor hip back disassociation will always compensate
for a lack of hip mobility by increasing mobility at the lumbar spine.
Which according to the latest research is designed for stability,
not mobility? My article How NOT to Warm Up covers that
science in great detail.
The science aside, just keep this little saying in mind, “what your
hips lack can hurt your back”.
So, yeah…do your knee tucks.
 
1 Leg Swiss Ball Knee Tuck
This version of the knee tuck is much more difficult than the previous
because there is an added rotary component. Although there is no
visual rotation, the athlete has to work to prevent gravity form
pulling them into rotation on the side of the lifted leg. This is
what my good friend JC Santana calls “training the invisible. This
is an important point to keep in mind anytime you go from a bi-lateral
position to a unilateral position.
1 Arm Holds
This is another one that’s pretty self explanatory. Simply maintain
optimal spinal alignment while keeping your arm locked out. We use
holds ranging from 5-15sec.
This one is just plain tough!
Swiss ball Straight Leg Bridge
 
We always make sure to encourage our athletes to create the lift
using from their hamstrings and glutes, not from their low back.
Athletes with an increased lordosis (low back curve) will find this
more difficult and therefore tend to need more coaching on movements
like this.
Yes, I know you can also do this on a bench but our athletes seem
to like it better with the ball. So, as they say, “the customer is
always right”.
Plus, you can’t do some of the progressions I’m about to show you
on a bench.
Straight Leg Bridges (w/Long Lever)
We learned this progression from Coach JC Santana. It’s a great way
to integrate in the calf’s and increase the overall difficulty on
your posterior muscles.
Be sure to keep the heels off the ball.
1 Leg Hip Bridges (w/straight leg)
 
These are not only a great progression to the 2 leg bridges but they
serve as a nice compliment to the 1 leg knee tucks.
These work on improving hip/back disassociation in extension. We
want to see the extension coming from the hips and glutes and not
from the low back. We encourage our athletes to keep the lifted knee
stable during this exercise. If the knee moves, it means that the
pelvis is moving and therefore stability is lost.
Swiss Ball Bent Leg Bridges
 
The bent leg bridges are more glute dominant bridge than the straight
leg version. That said, your hamstring have to work isometrically
to hold the ball in place while the hips rise and fall.
We normally just alternate straight and bent leg bridges each workout.
Swiss Ball Bent Leg Bridge (1 Leg)
 
The rules on the one leg version are the same as above. Just be sure
to prevent any sort of pelvic rotation due to the reduced base of
support.
Swiss Ball Leg Curls
 
Once you can successfully perform both the straight and bent leg
exercises. We simply combine the two moves to make the leg curl.
This you really can’t do with a bench. You can do this with a slide
board if you have access to one.
Once your hips lift up, they don’t come down until the set is complete.
Be sure to lift your hips higher up as the legs curl in. This will
create a straight line between the knee, hip, and torso.
Aside from glute ham raises is the only exercise that allows us to train
hip extension and knee flexion simultaneously. Those two motions are always
coupled together during any locomotive type action.
Running involves the combined action hip extension and knee flexion of
the rear leg as it prepares to pull through
1 Leg Ball Curl
 
This progression from the two leg curl, when done correctly, will
challenge even the most advanced athlete.
Swiss Ball Complex
Once each one these exercises are mastered separately, we like to
combine them into a Swiss ball complex. We use this complex as part
of an active dynamic warm up, as a warm down or as active rest on
recovery days.
We start with roll outs for 10-20 reps
Then to push ups for 10-20 for reps
 
Followed up with the Y,T,W,L shoulder circuit for 10-15reps each
letter
Then move to knee tucks for 10-20 reps
We finish with a toes on ball plank hold for 10-30 seconds
This entire complex is normally performed for 1-3 sets and 0-60 seconds
rest between sets. Three rounds of this at 20 reps each exercise
with no break is just plain tough.
This complex is very popular with our clients and athletes because
it has a smooth flow from between exercises, it’s easy to remember
and it gets a lot of quality work done in little time. Aside from
that, it’s kind of fun.
Final Comments
Well, there you have it, the definitive list of Swiss ball exercises
that don’t suck.
If it’s not on this list and it involves a Swiss ball then…well,
you get the point.
The exercises on this list have been a part of our performance and
physique programs for many years. They have been used at some point
by just about everyone who has walked through our doors.
I can’t honestly tell you that these Swiss ball are solely responsible
for our clients and athletes consistently getting bigger stronger
and faster.
But I can tell you that they sure as hell haven’t hurt.
About the Author
Nick Tumminello is a highly sought-after expert in the field of human
performance training and owner of Performance University in Baltimore
MD. He is the developer of the Core Bar and has produced numerous
best selling DVD's such as Secrets of Self Joint Mobilization,
Secrets of Self Myofascial Release, and Warm-Up Progression
Vol. 1 & 2 which can be purchased at his new website.
While you're there, sign up for Nick's newsletter "The Performance
Post" and discover how to drastically increase your hamstring flexibility
in seconds, without stretching.
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