The Bosu Ball: Is It Good for Core Training?

Are you giving your core muscles a good workout? In recent years, fitness experts have emphasized the importance of training the core muscles – the muscles that wrap around the body and stabilize the spine and pelvis. Strengthening these muscles not only flattens and tones the abdominals, but provides stability for the entire body while reducing the risk of sports related injuries. Many people use core strengthening exercises to get six pack abs, but the benefits of core training extends far beyond this.

One of the newest ways to exercise this group of muscles is to use a Bosu ball for core muscle training. This is a ball that resembles an exercise ball cut in half – the flat surface is placed downwards which provides a padded dome for performing exercises. It was developed years ago to help train the U.S. ski team. The theory behind using a Bosu ball for core training is the belief that doing exercises on a domed surface adds additional instability that forces the muscles to contract harder to compensate. Whether you’re doing squats or exercises using hand weights the belief is that standing on an unstable dome makes the muscles work harder.

Using a Bosu Ball for Core Muscle Training: Is It Effective?

If you’re considering purchasing a Bosu ball, you may want to save your money. A new study performed at Eastern Illinois University showed that using a Bosu ball for core muscle training was no more effective than doing the exercises on the floor. In fact, they may even reduce the amount of muscle contraction with each repetition – making the exercises less effective. Plus, using a bozu ball for core muscle training can increase the risk of injury since it’s an unstable surface. One benefit of using a Bosu ball is that it may improve balance, but there are other ways to do that which don’t require this expensive piece of equipment.

Using a Bosu Ball for Core Muscle Training: The Bottom Line?

There’s little doubt that it’s important to train the core muscles. Having a strong core helps to reduce the risk of back injuries and makes it easier to carry out every day functional movements; but there’s really no need to invest in a Bosu ball which can cost up to $125.00. A less expensive way is to invest in a good core training DVD that you can do on an exercise mat – or better yet check one out of the library. Bosu balls may be the latest fitness trend, but they don’t necessarily give you a better core workout.

How Effective Are Abdominal Training Aids for Firming the Abs?

You see the smiling face of the girl with the beautifully toned abs smiling back at your from the glossy page of the ad touting the latest abdominal exercise gadget. The ad promises you a similar set of abs in just four weeks. Sound too good to be true? Just how do those fancy and sometimes costly abdominal training devices stack up against traditional abdominal exercises? What are the best abdominal exercises for building a set of six pack abs?

It would certainly be gratifying if an abdominal gadget could be purchased that would make abdominal training both fun and effective, but the reality is it takes hard work and focus to build toned abs and the best abdominal exercises in the world won’t work if they aren’t done regularly.

Interestingly enough, a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research compared a variety of abdominal training aids with the old standby, the tedious, but effective abdominal crunch to determine the best abdominal exercises for building stronger abs. The abdominal training devices they looked at included the Perfect Abs Roller, the Ab Swing, Six Second Abs, Ab Scissor, and the Torso Tuck. To get an idea how each training aid compared to the traditional abdominal crunch, they measured the muscle activity in the rectus abdominus and external oblique muscles during activity.

What were the results of this interesting study? They found the muscle activity in the abdominal muscles was higher when performing a traditional abdominal crunch than it was with any of the fancy abdominal training devices. These results are supported by previous studies that show that the traditional abdominal crunch is more effective than abdominal training aids.

So, are you wasting your money purchasing an abdominal training device? While it appears you can get comparable and even superior results doing traditional abdominal crunches, you have to be willing to do this exercise on a consistent basis to see results. If crunches are difficult for you to perform, you’re probably not going to devote the time and effort needed to mold an impressive set of abs. If an abdominal training aid makes it easier for you to stick with your ab sculpting routine, it may be worth purchasing one despite the results of this study.  

When considering the best abdominal exercises to sculpt abs, remember you also need to engage in a regular calorie burning activity to reduce body fat so you can see those freshly sculpted abdominal muscles. Even if you sculpt them, they won’t show if they’re covered by a layer of fat.

The good news is if you’re looking for sculpted abs, you don’t need fancy gadgets or abdominal training devices. The solution may be as simple as pulling out an exercise mat and doing some power crunches.