For the majority of the people who venture into the fitness world, when they think “ABS”, the first thing that comes to mind are “crunches.”  Yes, crunches do have their benefits, if all you want to work is the upper part of your mid-section and are looking for that not so impressive “4-pack.”  With incredible advances that have been made in the fitness industry, your basic crunch has more or less gone by the wayside.

Today, fitness professionals everywhere are coming up with new ways and modifying old ways of activating and stimulating your “core” or “midsection.”  (By “core” we mean not only your abdominal but also your low back muscles which are vital in spine support and keeping “us” standing upright.)  Thus, increasing your chances of transforming a once mediocre looking stomach to a jaw dropping, carved from stone, 6-pack.  These methods that I am talking about involve several exercises performed on the “Swiss ball.”

The Swiss ball is highly versatile and an inexpensive piece of equipment that can transform a simple workout that involves little effort, aside from lifting the weight, into a total body effort that forces you to activate muscles that you wouldn’t normally use while performing the same exercise on a bench.  Exercises that can be performed on a Swiss ball vary from beginner to expert.  I recommend that if you have never used a Swiss ball in your exercises before that you begin at a lower level of difficulty until you are able to strengthen the muscles necessary to perform these exercises correctly using proper form and technique.

By using the Swiss ball in your workouts you will notice increases in core strength thus allowing you to perform other exercises such as squats and bench press with greater ease with dramatic increases in overall strength.  Take a look at a great video to help you learn more about this incredible fitness tool.