Stability ball workouts are great – if you want less than ideal results.
My good friend and inspiration Mark McManus just posted a great article about the effectiveness of a stability ball (e.g. bosu or swiss balls) in your workouts.
It seems that adding instability to a workout VASTLY reduces the amount of force/weight that can be used for an exercise. While you might argue that the stabilizer muscles get more of a workout when instability is involved, the fact that the ability to progressively overload the main target muscle groups is reduced due to the inability to add a decent level of resistance is a problem in my mind. Personally I have also found that adding instability makes it easier for the form of a movement to slip with a higher potential for injury as the forces go up.
Mark cites a study that shows almost 60% reduction of force output on an unstable surface compared to a stable surface. 60%?? No thanks!
I recommend taking this information and using it wisely. Experiment over time and find a technique that works for you. Personally this information makes me even more committed to my ab workout on stable surfaces with larger amounts of resistance/weight over time.
Related posts:
