Fitness From the Pro

Yesterday when I was teaching a body sculpting class we did an abdominal exercise, that also worked glutes and hamstrings. I really like to utilize combination exercises as much as possible because it makes for a more efficient workout.

This abdominal exercise uses a stability ball.

• Get on your knees and face the ball.
• Place your elbows on top of the ball.
• Lift your right foot off the floor, keeping your knee bent and foot flexed.
• Lift and lower that leg.
• Repeat on the other leg.

This sounds easy enough right? Trying to stabilize while lifting the leg is NOT an easy task. Keep that belly button pulled into your spine to stabilize yourself.

If it is too difficult with a bent knee, then just extend the leg out behind you, keep the foot flexed and lift and lower.

If any of this is too hard, just start out with the elbows on the ball and legs fully extended on the toes behind you and hold for 15 seconds. You can gradually increase the length of time and move on to above abdominal exercises.

If you are having great stabilization, then use a bent leg and put a weight in the crease behind the knee and lift and lower the leg.