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Stability Ball Leg Raises

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Muscles Worked

Abdominal Muscles

Leg Muscles

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Leg raise have been done, done again, and overdone. But, the key is variation! The more you do any single exercise, the more your muscles develop "memory" for that specific movement. The more muscle memory you develop for a specific exercise, the more limited your workouts will become.

Adding a stability ball to your leg raises will engage all of your core stabilizing muscles. After all, during the exercise you'll have to balance yourself while also doing the leg raise. Sounds fun, right? Good!

Let's Give it a Try, Shall We?

I would recommend performing this exercise in a gym where you have stable items/bars/machines to stabilize yourself with. You can do it at home if you have a weight machine.

First, find something to hold on to, preferably something very stable that will hold your weight. Place the ball on the ground and sit on it with your stabilizing device directly behind you.

Lay backwards and position the ball under your upper back. Reach backwards with your palms up and grab the stabilizing device (the squat bench rack, in this example). Grip the barbell with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width.

Using your hip flexors, slowly bring your legs off the floor and straighten them so that your legs are parallel to the floor. No bending!

Now, use your abs and hip flexors, slowly bend at the hips and point your toes towards the ceiling. Keep those legs straight! I would advise not performing the exercise if you have any lower back problems.

Step 1: Position your exercise ball in front of your stabilizing device. Lay down on the ball and grip the bar with your palms up and hands shoulder-width apart.
Step 2: Now, slowly flex your hips and raise your legs up until they're as close to perpendicular as possible (to the floor).
Step 3: Slowly return to the starting position.

Go slow! Come back and tell us how it went. :)

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