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New ways to exercise are always being invented, but there is a new game in town that is all the rage - gym balls. Some of the reasons for the popularity of this type of exercise are that it is very portable, it is very low impact (therefore it is particularly quiet), it doesn’t require much space and it doesn’t cost much.

One of the most popular exercise balls folks are using at the moment is the Swiss ball. It is an inflatable ball usually around 65 or 75 cm diameter. Quite a lot of folks just replace their work chair with a Swiss ball. when you are sitting on a Swiss ball, it feels quite natural to make small rocking movements rather than just sitting still which works the core and provides a small amount of exercise even while just sitting there.

But when it is used in the course of normal exercise the Swiss ball is an amazingly versatile piece of kit. Most of the exercises using the Swiss ball primarily work the core but all of the exercises work the secondary muscles at the same time and you can also emulate the same kind of exercises that you can do on home gym equipment.

The first time I encountered a Swiss ball was at the gym where the instructor showed me how to do press ups with my feet balanced on the top of the ball. While doing this, the feet attempt continually to roll off the top of the ball, therefore as well as the usual benefits of doing press ups, you are also continually working the core which is trying to stop the feet from rolling off the sides of the ball.

Most Swiss ball exercises use the same principle - some part of the body is balanced on the top of the ball and gravity tries to encourage this part of the body to dismount from the top of the ball. this may not sound very technical and you might assume that there are only a handful of exercises that can be done in this way. But you only have to do a quick search on youtube for the phrase Swiss ball exercise and very soon you will probably find that there are literally tons of different exercises that you can normally do on a Swiss ball.

In fact, once you try doing these exercises and learning new ones you will most likely begin creating your own original ones before long. Going back to the press up with your feet on the Swiss ball, once you attempt this you will notice not only that it works on the core, but it also adds a new angle to the upper body toil that you do. As you will discover during press ups the whole of your upper body will eventually start to quiver and shake due to the forces transferred from the feet all of the way down the body to the arms. This is one of the many reasons why using the Swiss ball for exercise is so effective.

As mentioned, there are loads of floor exercises that can normally be carried out using the Swiss ball. But if we jump ahead to the advanced level one of the most difficult but most advantageous ways to use the Swiss ball is to do exercises while standing on top of it. This is not recommended for beginners as it can normally be very perilous. Once one is ready to try these complex exercises, you should first learn to kneel on the Swiss ball. Then once this has been mastered, one can progress to standing up on it.

Again, by looking on youtube you will discover some great demonstrations of exercises that you can normally do while standing on top of a Swiss ball. When searching, you will find that they have a variety of names such as Swiss balls, balance balls and exercise balls. The most important thing to bear in mind while trying to master the skill is that when the ball throws you off the landing can normally be quite painful, therefore safety mats should be used to start at all times. Obviously, the natural tendency is for the legs to slip off the side of the ball which is the equivalent of your feet going from under you - such as when slipping on ice. Please consider this because the main reason for exercising in the first place is to improve your health, not to damage it.

Once you have mastered standing up on a Swiss ball, you are a Swiss ball master and will have developed incredibly strong core and legs and an incredible ability to balance.