Fitness Ball Exercises
Having a fitness ball in your home gym will add variety and interest to your workouts. These large vinyl balls will work the core muscles of the body including the abdominal and back muscles. These muscles are needed to maintain posture even if the exercise you are performing doesn't specifically target those muscles. This is one of the main advantages of using a fitness ball.
You can perform exercises with or without weights according to what you are hoping to achieve from your workout. You can use a fitness ball as a replacement for a weights bench for many exercises. This adds variety and is more difficult because you need to maintain your balance in addition to performing the exercise.
An example of such an exercise is the benchpress. With a dumbbell in each hand, position your upper back and head on the fitness ball. Have your palms facing your feet and bend your elbows through 90 degrees. Position your feet roughly shoulder width apart with your feet flat on the floor. Your core muscles should be worked to ensure that your thighs and upper body form a straight line. When you're ready, push your dumbbells up above your chest. Make sure not to allow the weight to sway above your head and not to lock your elbows. Then return to the starting position.
Other exercises that you can perform with dumbbells include the 'bent over lateral raise'. This is performed face down and targets the muscles of the shoulders and upper back. You could also perform an external rotation exercise while in the face down position. This exercises the deep rotator cuff muscles of the shoulder.
There are also a variety of other fitness ball exercises that can be performed without weights. These include the abdominal crunch and side crunch that target the front and oblique muscles of the abdominal. These are useful exercises if you are looking to build up a 'six-pack'. After performing these exercises you can use the ball to do a back extension, which will strengthen the muscles of the lower back.