Hello there. I am your gym ball instructor, Asami Sugita.
Gym balls are also used for aerobic exercise, increasing muscle strength and help stretching different part of your body.
When you are using gym balls, you constantly need to balance yourself out!
You may find it difficult at the beginning but this helps you to use your inner core muscles, which is necessary for horse riding.
You may think this is just a ball but you can see obvious results when you using it for a while!
①Place a gym ball behind you. Put one of your legs on the ball and stand still.
Don't place too much weight on the leg placed on the ball.
If you struggle, you have an option to hold yourself against wall.
②Pull the gym ball backwards, bend your knee slowly and bring your upper body straight down.
Ensure to keep your upper body stay straight.
It may cause backache if you lean your spine forward.
Also, your knee should stay behind your toe whilst you are doing these squats.
Do this exercise 10 times.
When you are riding a horse, you constantly use your legs to control horses, send them signs and you need to sit down and stand up as following horse's movements.
Therefore you need strong leg muscles – gym ball help you increase the strength in your legs.
In addition to regular gym ball exercises, you can also avoid using lifts or escalators and use stairs instead.
Or why don't you get off the train one stop before and walk to home/work?
Having good strength in legs is always recommended to being fit in general.
Make sure there is no hazard around you before starting this exercise, as you will easily loose your balance on this one.
①Lie down on your belly, place your hands on the floor and lift your legs.
② Hold yourself with your arms; bend your legs slowly to sit down on top of the ball.
③ Keep balancing, remove your hands slowly from the floor. Straighten up your upper body.
If this is too difficult, place your ball next to the wall and keep holding yourself against the wall with one hand and practice until you are confident enough to balance on the wall solely.
Once you get used to it, try to stay sit on the ball as long as possible!
You may find this exercise complicated, but enjoy and keep going!
Gym ball instructor, ex child minder
Based in Saitama area, she is organizing gym ball exercise sessions.
She puts a great emphasize on 'good feelings' after exercising, particularly using gym balls.
Based on her own experiences, she is aiming to write about how body and mind are connected, how she sees the world in the everyday life and how woman can live more freely.
Read her blog from here: http://s.ameblo.jp/cyaaaaami/
