Unstable training has fallen out of favour in recent years,but there are still some benefits to be gained by incorporating it into your training regime.
Over ten years ago, in a fitness land before Instagram belfies, gym balls muscled their way out of the rehab room and onto the gym floor. They were heralded as the key bit of kit for developing your core strength. But in recent years the popularity of unstable surface training has had a bit of a wobble.
The argument against them is that they often require you to drastically reduce the weight you can lift, making them less than ideal for adding strength and size. There is some truth to that but before you deflate your ball, consider these five instances where they can have a positive impact on your training.
STABILISE YOUR SHOULDERS
Gymballs aren’t great at directly building strength because the instability means that you can’t lift as much weight as on a more solid surface. They do, however, challenge your smaller stabilising muscles, so if you can work on one you’ll gain the structural integrity that will allow you to train with heavy weights consistently and stay injury-free – which is crucial if you’re going to get bigger and stronger.
KEY MOVE GYM BALL PRESS-UP
This story is from the May 2017 edition of Men's Fitness.
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This story is from the May 2017 edition of Men's Fitness.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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