Fitness Meals WeightlossNutrition Tips FitnessSkinny Food WeightlossFitness Diet RecipesWeightloss FatlossplanWeightloss Food RecipesMeal Prep For WeightlossWeightloss DinnerMeal Prep Recipes HealthyForward25 Healthy Dinner Ideas for Weight Loss That Take Less Than 15 Minutes to Make! Benefits of Using an Exercise Ball By now, you’ve probably seen an exercise ball. They’re those things that look like giant playground balls that you see people rolling and stretching on at the gym. If you’re like me, you’re probably hesitant about using one of these balls. You may be worried about looking silly or can’t actually figure out how they work. Well, next time you’re at the gym, why don’t you try one out? You’ll probably find the benefits well worth it. Here are different ways an exercise ball can help you out: What most people consider to be the biggest benefit of using an exercise ball is its ability to strengthen your core muscles. These are the muscles in your abs and back;
the muscles you work so hard to tone up with crunches. When you do exercises on a ball, your abdominal and back muscles are constantly working to make adjustments and keep you balanced. Unlike traditional exercises, the ball works the muscles on the front and back of your body at the same time, promoting a more balanced and healthy physique. Even if you’re targeting a different area, your core muscles are still getting exercise. Plus, there are tons of exercises you can do on a ball that focus on strengthening and toning these muscles even more. Helps Your Posture and Upper Body Soreness If you slump at a desk all day and find that your back, neck, and shoulders are sore at night, you can definitely benefit from an exercise ball. By toning your core muscles, exercise balls can do wonders for your posture. When your core is toned, the muscles keep working after you’re done working out, helping you sit up straight. You can get this benefit even without working out by replacing your desk chair with an exercise ball.
This way you to maintain proper posture to stay on the ball and work your core at the same time! If you don’t think your workplace will allow you to sit on an exercise ball at your desk, they make exercise ball chairs that provide the same benefit with a more professional look. Helps Improve Your Flexibility If you find it hard to bend, move, and even touch your toes, an exercise ball can help you improve your flexibility. It can help you stretch yourself farther, but it can also provide support so you can stretch certain muscles more safely. Their ability to help stretch you out is one of the biggest reasons physical therapists swear by these balls. So what are you waiting for? With all these benefits you can’t afford to not go out and get an exercise ball today. Check out Gaiam's selection of stability balls: Gaiam Website Previous Post Are You Forever Dieting? 8 Awesome Tips for the Perpetual Dieter Next Post 7 Ways to Boost Your Weight Loss Willpower
Sign up or log in to customize your list. Here's how it works: Anybody can ask a question The best answers are voted up and rise to the top How many calories are burnt per hour sitting on an exercise ball? I have seen a number of 350 calories extra per day being tossed around on internet with no evidence or explanation. I assume thats the max that has been claimed. SO it would be around 45 calories per hour (claimed)... Does anyone have any evidence/information about this?I have read comments/articles on the negative aspects of replacing a chair with an exercise ball. Thats a different question, i am just interested in average calories burnt per hour for male/female. According to this paper, about 4.1 kcal per hour above what you would have burned sitting in an office chair. Sitting on a therapy ball or standing may be a passive means of this study was to determine the energy expenditure and liking of performing clerical work in various postures.
Subjects included 24 men and women employed in sedentary clerical measured while word processing in in an office chair, sitting on a therapy ball, and standing. ranked their comfort, fatigue, and liking of each posture and were asked to perform their choice of 20 min of additional clerical work in one of theEnergy expenditure was 4.1 kcal/h greater (p on a therapy ball and standing than while sitting in an office chair. There was no difference in energy expenditure between the therapy ball and standing postures (p >or= 0.48). Subjects also liked sitting on a therapy ball as much as sitting in an office chair and liked sitting on a therapy ball more than standing. Compare to walking fast, which can consume about 5.0 kcal per minute. I did some small, very unscientific testing myself. I sat on a chair and ball for 2x30 minutes and averaged the heart rate and kcal/5 min. The bump at the beginning was caused by me drinking coffee.
As you can see the heart rates are very similar and the difference in kcal is pretty negligible too. On average I burn about 1-1.1 kcal / minute, which is pretty low given that my 2hr run yesterday burned an average of 12 kcal/minute. So while your mileage may vary, I'd probably burn somewhere between 60 and 90 kcal/hour regardless on what I'm sitting. To get 45 kcal more, you'd probably need to be in some very unbalanced position. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google Sign up using Email and Password Post as a guest By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service. Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged calories exercise-ball or ask your own question.Burning calories and staying fit is a very important concern all over the world today. Sedentary lifestyles are pushing up the levels of obesity, heart disease, and other major illnesses. Research indicates that lack of exercise is a major factor that contributes to our increasingly ill society.
Let us understand in simple terms what it means to burn calories. When we eat we consume calories. The body uses up these calories as energy to function smoothly on a regular basis. Contrary to what one may think, the body burns calories even during a sedentary state like sleeping or sitting. However, the amount of calories burned is tiny compared to the amount burned while taking part in intense physical activity such as aerobics or swimming. In order to stay fit, we must use up the extra calories that will be otherwise stored as fat. The number of calories burned during various activities will depend on a lot of factors. The weight of the person, the age, as well as the duration of the exercise will collectively determine how many calories are spent. On average, 81 calories are burned per hour of sitting. This is usually not sufficient to take care of the extra calories consumed, and one may need to include exercise to take care of the rest. Burning calories sitting at a desk will also depend on the factors discussed earlier.
We usually burn between 53 to 78 calories during the time we are at work. The range is about the same for number of calories burned sitting. Spending long hours sitting at work is proving to be a direct factor that leads to many illnesses. People are coming up with unique ways to change this trend. Sitting on an exercise ball instead of a chair at work can help to burn at least 50 extra calories per hour. This is because sitting on an exercise ball requires more effort to balance. This makes our muscles do more work and thus, results in more calories burned. Sitting in heat or using the sauna is another popular method that advocates the loss of calories. However, experts tell us that the weight lost through this method is only because of the loss of water due to perspiration. The body can easily gain this weight back without any benefit to the individual.Ultimately, proper exercise is the only way to keep fit and lose the extra pounds. There is no shortcut to maintaining a healthy body.