Why Stability Balls Will Give You Strength Crunches Never Will

You can't just do sit ups and call it a day, not even if you do 200. Crunches are no doubt a fundamental exercise and should be performed when building beginning core strength.

BUT, they lack targeting of surrounding muscles. The core is composed of your entire mid-section and that includes, pelvic muscles, glutes, obliques, and the muscles supporting your spine.

Your abdominals are laid out in a grid because that is the strongest structure to resist tension, twisting, and bending. 

Crunches are one dimensional and don't work your abs the way they're designed to move. I've seen plenty of individuals pull their necks forward, which adds unnecessary strain, and results in bad posture. 

Not to mention, when your knees are bent, your hip flexors tighten, and everyone's hips are tight enough from sitting at work all day. Moral of the story? Avoid or minimize crunches.

Exercises with stability (or swiss) and medicine balls are much more effective at building core strength. Using them to stay balanced takes a tremendous amount of strength and focus. All the workouts I do are centered around them. Here's why:

• Upon propping yourself up on a ball, you will have to flex your ENTIRE core just to keep yourself from falling off and protecting your lower back.
• Then, you'll have to take your abdominal flexion to another level while performing the actual movement.
• You can get creative with new challenging movements and they're more fun.
• Other parts of your body will benefit; your wrists, shoulders, back, and glutes will get stronger.
• These dynamic movements are much more representative of how your core is used in everyday functions.

For swiss balls, the smaller the diameter, the more challenging the exercises will be. I recommend the SPRI 45cm, otherwise 55cm will do. I've used many different kinds and SPRI has the most durable ones. Cheaper brands have thin walls and compress too easily.

For medicine balls, I recommend a SPRI 6-8 lb ball with a solid rubber walls so that it will not compress under weight. A more economical alternative is this one from Amazon.

With these pieces of equipment, there are tons of exercises that will have your core firing on all cylinders. For starters, try these basic exercises.