Rotate toward abdominal strength

Spice up your ab workout with the big and small workout balls you see around the gym. The large exercise ball challenges your core stability muscles while the weighted medicine ball increases intensity by adding resistance. Maintaining correct alignment is essential to effective abdominal training, so remember to keep your abs contracted and your shoulders back with chest lifted throughout this move.

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1 Sit on a stability ball with your knees bent, shoulder-width apart. Place your feet flat on the floor with your ankles below your knees. Hold a weighted ball in front of you close to your rib cage. Be sure to keep your abdominal muscles tight to support your spine as you lean back to a 45-degree angle.

2 Rotate your torso to one side without moving your pelvis. Bring the ball next to your hip. Make sure you don’t let your knees collapse inward during the rotation. Using a fluid motion, rotate to the other side, bringing the ball next to the other hip. Keep your head facing the direction of the ball as you alternate sides. Continue until you have done 15 reps on each side.

Karen Voight can be reached at kvoightla@aol.com.

Karen Voight