It’s time to change up your abs workout program and add some variety to it. Today’s guest post from my colleague David Grisaffi, author of Firm and Flatten Your Abs, reveals many of the big reasons why you absolutely must break out of your boring ab training routine and it includes 5 great stability ball abs exercises. There may actually be a few that you’ve never seen performed before.

I have been following David’s abs workouts for the past six years and have incorporated many of the exercises into the programs that I have designed for my personal training clients.

Firm and Flatten Your Abs is unlike any abs workout program out there. It focuses on training your deep core muscles for a healthy, strong, and sexy midsection.

These exercises have helped my clients flatten their tummies, but the most common feedback that I have heard from them is that they no longer experience lower back pain. That’s the benefit of working much more than just your rectus abdomins muscle (6 pack).

Enjoy today’s guest post and the 5 exercises for your abs…

Multi Dimensional Ab Training

By David Grisaffi
Author of Firm and Flatten Your Abs

In some of my previous articles, I’ve written about why you need to change your ab programs frequently to avoid muscle adaptation, repetitive pattern overload injury, muscle imbalance and of course, boredom!. But those aren’t the only reasons you need exercise variety.

The functions of the abdominal and core muscles are so numerous, so varied and so complex, that entire textbooks have been written on functional anatomy and kinesiology without even scratching the surface.

What this means to you is that since there are more actions and functions of the abs and core than any other body part, there are more possible exercises you can do for abs and core than for any other body part.

With literally hundreds of ab and core exercises to choose from, the irony is that most people are STILL doing workouts that revolve around only a few exercises such as crunches, sit ups, leg raises and maybe some ab machines…

This is what I call “training in only one dimension“… and that can spell “trouble”

One dimensional training leads not just to progress plateaus and muscle adaptation, but also failure to engage all the functions of the core region, to strengthen thoroughly in every plane of movement, or to develop the proper neurological link to the muscle.

The end result is muscle weakness, muscle imbalances, injuries, a distended lower abdominal area and or and a not so impressive midsection.

The Firm And Flatten Your Abs program includes about 50 exercises which allow you to train every muscle in your core region in every “dimension.” These dimensions include:

Flexion
Extension
Stabilization
Rotation
Side flexion
Prone
Supine
Seated
Standing
Quadruped
Stable
Unstable

One way to enter a whole new “dimension” of abdominal training is to start using a Swiss ball – also known as a stability ball because a ball is an unstable surface. Training on an unstable surface flips the switch on your nervous system and activates stabilizing muscles that are weak in most people due to sitting at a desk all day long and or doing too much machine training.

Here are 5 of my favorites:

Here are the exercises and descriptions for the 5 abs exercises:

Prone Ball Roll

Place your breast bone or sternum on the apex of the Swiss ball and wrap your arms around the ball. Slowly roll side to side, holding your end position. As you gain more strength and stability you will be able to roll farther out and hold the position longer.

Supine Lateral Ball Roll

This exercise improves many things in your body at one time.

Lie on your back on a Swiss ball. Position your body so that your head is comfortably supported on the ball, as well as the area between your shoulder blades. Extend you hip upward until your knees , hips and shoulders are all in the same horizontal plane.

Place your tongue on the roof of you mouth just behind your front teeth, a position that can be found by swallowing.

Extend your arms outward and turn the hands so the palms are facing upwards. Place a dowel rod in you hands.

Begin to roll laterally. Throughout the exercise, hold the alignment of you body exactly as it was before moving, with the exception that you may move you feet in a small shuffle keep them in alignment with the body as you shift laterally.

Go only to the point that you can hold the alignment for the count of “one thousand and One”, then return to the opposite side, repeating the sequence.

Swiss Ball Side Flexion

The Side Sit requires simultaneous contraction of the internal and external Obliques, as well as the quadratus lumborum. This exercise is used to improve core strength and your back.

Place a Swiss ball under your hip and anchor one or both of your feet along the bottom of a wall.

Hold your top leg as straight as possible and in line with the torso, shoulders and head, then lie over the ball to stretch the oblique abdominal muscles. Beginners should place their arms at their sides. Progress to placing your arms across your chest as shown, and then to having your fingertips behind you ears.

From the bottom position, initiate the side flexion movement from the trunk.

Side bend the spine one level at a time until the shoulder and head come up.

On the way down, the spine should dies flex over the ball one segment at a time starting from the bottom up.

Prone Jack knife

The prone jack knife is used to strengthen hip flexors, abdominal muscles and the shoulder girdle.

In a push up position, place your feet on the ball

Hold your spine straight and maintain head and neck alignment

Draw your legs under your body over the duration of two seconds

Return to the start position over the duration of two seconds

Repeat the exercise for the prescribed number of repetitions

Forward Ball Roll

The Forward Ball Roll strengthens the abdominal, hip flexors and shoulder Extenders. This exercise is very good for everyone to improve stability in the spine and shoulder girdle.

From a kneeling position, place your forearms on the ball with your palms facing each other.

The goal is to maintain good spinal alignment as you roll forward. Good spinal alignment is indicated by not exaggerating any of your spinal curves.

Take a deep breath and draw the navel toward your spine just enough to slim your waistline slightly.

Begin rolling forward, moving from the hip and shoulder joints equally. The movement should terminate at the instant you feel you are going to lose spinal alignment. You will know you are losing spinal alignment if the curves in your spine increase and the stick falls off.

Just stop at the point at which you start to lose your ability to keep good form.

I realize if you’re not familiar with Swiss ball and core training, that some of these exercises may look unusual or even “weird” at first.

You might look at them and say, “David, it looks to me more like “rolling around on a beach ball than training.”

Yup… that’s what a lot of people said… until they tried them and their abs started showing for the first time!

By expanding your arsenal of ab and core exercises and working them in every capacity and function for which they were designed, you will…

And maybe best of all..

You can learn more about this concept of multi dimensional training and also see dozens of new core and ab exercises in the Firm And Flatten Your Abs Ebook:

About The Author

David Grisaffi majored in physical education and is a certified high performance exercise kinesiologist with the CHEK institute. David holds a total of 6 certifications, he is a high school wrestling and baseball coach as well as an independent trainer and strength coach, known especially for his work with professional boxers and golfers. David is the author of, Firm And Flatten Your Abs an online best seller which teaches you how to lose body fat and develop “six pack abs’ while improving strength, function and athletic power at the same time.

I hope that you learned something new today from David’s guest post and that you are encouraged to try some new abs exercises. In the next few days I’ll share some more abs exercises with you that will train them in a way that they’ve never been trained before.

Until then, keep on ROCK’n!

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant