5 Bosu ball exercises for a full body workout

If you haven’t used a Bosu ball before, now might be the right time to incorporate this exercise tool into your full body workout. This versatile equipment is great for training your muscles.

A Bosu ball is a balance trainer that offers an unstable surface to perform exercises, engaging several muscles at once. It challenges your balance and tests your strength by adding an extra element of instability to your exercises. Using a Bosu ball makes your workouts challenging by mixing things up.

So, are you curious about utilising this wonderful tool in your workouts?

Bosu Ball Exercises to Tone Your Body

Here' a look at five such exercises:

1) Push-up

Bosu ball push-ups are an amazing exercise to train your chest, triceps, shoulders (deltoids) and transverse abdominals.

Flipping the ball to stand on its bouncy side takes your push-up to a new challenging level. Just make sure to keep your shoulders over your wrists so that you can modify the exercise to a knee push-up any time you want.

Instructions:

Start with flipping the ball and position your hands on the edges. Assume a straight plank position. Put your hands at your shoulder distance.
Tighten your glutes and core muscles to prevent shaking your body.
Lower your body as you would in a standard push-up, and lift yourself up to the start to complete one rep.
Continue for the desired number of repetitions.

2) Bird Dog

This exercise works on your rectus abdominis, glutes and erector spinae and is great for people with lower back issues. However, performing this exercise on a Bosu ball is much more difficult than it might seem.

Instructions:

Place the flat side down, and get on all your fours on the Bosu.
Make sure your knees are below the middle, and palms are towards the top. Rest your toes on the floor.
Lift your left arm and right leg off the ball at the same time till they get parallel to the floor.
Keep your hips stable and neck straight.
Lower your leg and arm to the starting position, and raise the opposite arm and leg.
Continue for the desired number of repetitions.

3) Oblique Crunch

When doing an oblique crunch on the Bosu, make sure your hips are square, and leg is properly stacked on top of the other leg.

Instructions:

Take a side forearm plank position on your left arm, and rest your left hip on the Bosu.
Stack your right left over your left, and make sure to square your hips.
Place your right hand behind your head, and squeeze your right oblique lifting your legs to perform a crunch.
Bring your legs down, and continue for the desired number of repetitions.

4) Forward Lunge

Performing a lunge on an unstable surface requires great balance and stability. When performing this exercise, remember to go slow, and maintain good form.

Instructions:

Place the flat side down, and stand at least two feet behind the ball.
Lifting your chest up, take a step forward onto the Bosu, and land your foot into a lunge position in the middle while maintaining your balance.
Stand up, and bring your foot back to the start.
Repeat the movement with the other leg.

5) Mountain Climber

Performing a mountain climber on a Bosu ball offers a great dose of cardio and fires up your entire core muscles.

Instructions:

Place the ball side up, and take a high plank position with your hands on the edge of the flat side of the ball.
Tightening your core, start to bring your knees one at a time to your chest, and move as fast as you can while straightening your back and maintaining proper form.

Takeaway

The key to getting the most out of Bosu ball exercises is to keep your core muscles engaged, and maintain the correct form to prevent the Bosu from shaking.

Mix and match the above-mentioned Bosu ball exercises for a full body workout that’s sure to challenge your body. Initially, aim for three sets of eight to ten reps for each exercise before gradually increasing your reps as you become more confident.

You can perform this routine once or twice a week to add variety to your regular strength training.