THE SWISS BALL
Having some fun with swiss balls: Athletes; Stephanie, Mel and Alison. They make it look too easy - this really does require a lot of core muscular strength and co-ordination.

Why is it called a Swiss Ball?
It was first introduced as a physiotherapy aid by Swiss physiotherapists.

Why do I use the Swiss Ball?
1. improves balance ...... therefore agility
2. improves the function of neutraliser and stabiliser musculature

What are neutralisers and stabilisers?
Neutraliser muscles are muscles that counteract the actions of other muscles to ensure smooth co-ordinated movement. Stabiliser muscles are muscles that surround your joints and protect them from injury. We all want our neutraliser and stabilisers to be working well when we get older. Many older people fall over because their neutralisers and stabilisers have forgotten how to maintain their balance and don't adjust quickly enough when their foot lands on uneven ground.

Why don't machines at the gym do the same thing?
Machines are bolted to the floor therefore you don't need much stabiliser action in your body. Your body (other than the specific muscle you are using) could go to sleep on the machine/bench while exercising. It is not stimulating the stabilisers. Machines have fixed axises of motion which means you don't have to stabilise the weight in 3 dimensions.

All Swiss Ball work is "3 dimensionally free"
Nothing is fixed and stable ...... as you will find out when you start working out with one. You have to provide the stability with your own musculature.

Swiss balls are completely unstable!!
That's a good thing!
The more unstable the training environment, the more activation of the stabilisers and neutralisers AND more joint stability. This is what provides us with our balance and stability as we age. The best example I can think of in describing what is happening when your neutraliser and stabilisers are working together is seen in a tight rope walker when first learning. When they are trying to get their balance, they wobble to the left - oops - too far - now wobble to the right - oops - that's too far - to the left - to the right - to the left again. As they develop competence, the wobbles are smaller and the adjustments happen sooner. The skill of tight rope walking is being fine tuned.

Eventually, their neutralisers and stabilisers are so strong and well tuned, that it doesn't appear that they are wobbling at all. But the wobbling is still happening at a much smaller level - it is happening at the muscle and tendon level which is not perceptable.

When you work with a Swiss Ball, your body does the same thing: lots of wobble at first, then less and less as your neutralisers and stabilisers learn how to maintain your balance.
For sportspeople: the more stable the joints are, the more the brain will allow the prime movers (muscles) to be recruited therefore improving sports performance.

The general population benefit enormously from a Swiss Ball.
The instability of the ball, when sat on, provides a reminder for our body to sit with good posture. Everyone can always benefit from strengthening their core musculature. These are the muscles that help to hold us upright. The muscles in front of our spine, the abdominal muscles, need to be encouraged to work to help the muscles near and around the spine. Most often, back ache is actually back fatique. When we strengthen our abdominal muscles - all of them - they are able to help the extensor muscles of the back and reduce the load on just one set of muscles in the back.

The constant switching on and off of muscles to maintain our posture and balance while sitting on a Swiss Ball actually serves as to massage our back muscles. Sitting on a Swiss Ball encourages the natural posture of the 'S' shape in our spine and the unstable nature of the ball discourages slouching.

Swiss Ball Workouts provide high levels of nervous system activation.
*if we stimulate your nervous system in the gym, your day to day activities/sports performance will happen more effortlessly due to the lower nervous system activation*

My Swiss Ball Sessions with athletes like Mel, Michael, Jana, and Stephanie, who are used to hard workouts, find the Swiss Ball workouts very taxing. They should be in order to stimulate their nervous system. It might look like they are simply rolling around on a ball but, when done properly, it is truly very difficult and sometimes impossible. My motto is: "if you try to do what is impossible on a Swiss Ball, you will achieve a high degree of physical accomplishment" and then you need to push the boundary of what is possible to what is impossible again. Striving to fail is seen as a good thing in my gym.

I strongly recommend that you use an "anti-burst" swiss ball.
That is a swiss ball that is able to take your weight plus whatever you are lifting without the risk of it suddenly bursting and causing injury to you. They are more expensive than the balls that you can get from the nearest sports store but I wouldn't want to put a price on your back or mobility.

The Swiss Balls that I recommend have passed a test at the Newcastle University whereby they have been loaded with weight in excess of 500kg and punctured with a knife. They have deflated slowly as designed, taking more than 30secs, rather than suddenly deflating and causing serious injury.