Here are some great stretches that you can do with this ‘magic’ little Red ball to turn your day around!
Place the ball under your sacrum and lie flat on the ground with legs out long on ground.
- – Legs long and pelvis is neutral so the ball isn’t anywhere in your low back or too far down at your tailbone. You should feel your pelvis opening up..Hold for approximately 45 seconds
- – One knee up toward your chest so the other hip flexor can stretch out. Hold same amount of time
- – Switch
- – Bring both knees up to 90 degrees and hold for one minute. You should feel your abdominals in this isometric ab exercise. Feel your chest melt and your ribs relax. Let your femurs drop into your hip sockets to help your hip flexors relax and allow your pelvic floor to engage more.
- – To challenge more: straighten legs up to ceiling without bringing them closer to your chest. On exhale see if you can lower your straight legs down slightly and on inhale raise them. Repeat 5 times without moving the ball or coming out of neutral pelvis. Also do it alternating legs up and down like scissors
- – Marching. Knees bent just alternating one foot down at a time in a marching motion concentrating on moving from your core and not your quads. Hips really still.
Ball placed between shoulder blades:
Lie on your back with the ball between shoulder blades. Pillow under your head and arms extended out to the side for a pec stretch. Hold for 1 minute
- – Arms up to ceiling. With straight arms, reach them up to ceiling and then let them sink back down. 10 times
- – Snow angels. Try with knees bent so you don’t arch your back as your arms reach back behind you. Start with arms out to side and drag them, on ground if possible, (making a circle) behind your head, then up to celing, down by your side and repeat. Then reverse directions. Do 3 times each direction
- – Interlace hands behind head. Legs straight on ground. Inhale, and on exhale slowly nod your chin forward (keeping an imaginary tennis ball under you chin) while your ribs wrap together letting them float your upper body up toward a half roll up. (the red ball is still touching your back but you pull up to just on top of it) The funneling down of your ribs allows the upper body to bend up but the pelvic floor connection pulls you up. It’s a great exercise to help you isolate the lower abs that are so hard to get.. Inhale as you lower, Exhale as you come back up.
- – With rotation, do the same exercise, but once you are up, inhale, then exhale and add a rotation to one side. Keep the hips still and keep your chin over your sternum so your obliques are really doing the small twist, not your head. Try 5 on each side.