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The modern day Fitball was created in Switzerland in the early 1960's as a treatment device to assist children with cerebral palsy improve mobility. Today, Fitballs can be found in gyms and home gyms around the world and are a common, yet valuable piece of workout gear.

One of the most amazing things about the Fitball is its versatility. It can be used to supplement exercises in a workout routine in order to make them more challenging, or it can be used in place of an office chair to engage core abdominal muscles and improve posture during the workday. Because of this multi-functional ability, the Fitball has become instrumental in the fitness industry.

Adding a Fitball to your exercise regimen can give you some amazing results. Because the Fitball can make old school exercises much more challenging, adding some simple moves to your everyday routine can help you rev up your fitness results. The Fitball is great for all of your core exercises because it stabilizes your back and encourages proper posture during and after the exercise, lessening the possibility of injury due to performing abdominal exercises incorrectly.

One of the best core exercises to do with a Fitness ball is the reverse ab curl. You do this by lying on the floor with your hands placed in-between your lower back and the floor. Picking the ball up in between your legs and holding it in place, you will lift your tailbone off of the floor and move it toward your ribcage. Repeating this several times will tighten and tone your abs much faster than sit-ups alone.

Another great core exercise to practice with a fitball is a push up, fitball style. You do this by placing your shins on the ball, and moving into normal push up position, extended out over the floor, while your legs remain balanced on the ball. Then you use your arms and move up and down in a resistance motion, maintaining the ball's position with your core muscles. It doesn't take many of these to feel how quickly they are working in your core and your arms.

Oblique curls on a Fitball can be a great exercise as well. These will work off your love handles in no time at all. Lie face up with the ball underneath your hips, lower back and mid back. Plant your feet firmly on the floor, bend your legs to a 90-degree angle and align your knees over your ankles. Bend your arms, place your hands by your ears and move your ribcage to the opposite side of your pelvis, and lift your back off of the ball. Repeat this several times on each side every time your work out and you will see results quickly.

Fitballs can be used for a plethora of other exercises as well, to tone and strengthen your back, arms, legs, and overall level of fitness. Based on their design, Fitballs not only help you improve strength and add challenges to normal work out moves, but they help to improve your balance and hand-eye coordination, and constantly engages your core, which helps you to become stronger and more agile with each workout.

It looks like a beach ball, feels like a kickball, but is actually one of the best and most versatile tools you can introduce into your hum drum fitness routine. If you have been looking for a simple and effective way to enhance your results and chisel inches off of your abs, the Fitball is the perfect answer.

Learn more about this author, Shauna Zamarripa.
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