Issue 051
July 2009
Most people will have one of these lying around the house or gym. Stability balls, Swiss balls, exercise balls, fit balls: whatever name they go by, nearly everybody will have access to one.
They were one of the big fads of recent years, and were poisoned by images of scantily clad fitness models sitting on them performing bicep curls with 3kg bells. This was incorrectly and scandalously (in my view) called functional training.
I’m hoping that this article will change the thinking of the combat athlete and that the image described above will be lost forever. The fact is that a stability ball can provide a great training aid to any person’s fitness regime. You just need to know how to use it effectively.
The following routine can be used as a warm-up protocol or as an aspect of a workout, a type of mini-circuit if you like. All of the athletes I train use this routine or one like it.
The drills are as follows:
- Push-ups (hands on the ball)
- Push-ups (feet on ball)
- Squat thrusts (feet on ball)
- Slalom skis (knees on ball)
- Hyper extensions
- SHELCs (supine hip extension leg curls)
- Stability ball grapple
The idea is to move around on the ball while maintaining as stable a core as possible. Your best bet is to perform each movement for reps e.g. ten reps per movement, then grapple with the ball for a set period, ensuring that you keep in control of the ball and always look to gain top position. You can perform this for a five-minute period to mirror your round structure. Repeat as needed.
This will feel strange at first but stick with it, as your midsection will gain a newfound strength that will show in your grappling and clinching. The overall coaching point for the entire set of movements is to keep your midsection and glutes tight. This helps to guard your spine and keep it in a strong position of alignment. It will also help to keep you stable on the ball.
The above movements will help your fight game enormously; the muscles of the posterior chain will be taxed with the SHELCs and hyperextensions, your striking and wrestling muscles will be taxed with the push-ups, squat thrusts and slalom skis, and grappling with the ball will improve your spatial awareness. All of the above is secondary to the hit your core will take. This will translate into a kind of reactionary strength that will carry over into all aspects of your fight game. A strong core equals a strong fighter.
Once you get used to these drills add more reps, more time or more instability (by letting air out of the ball). A useful thing to remember is the instability factor can be increased by performing one-arm or one-leg variations, but these are best saved for the advanced athlete.
