A Few Minutes a Day

Resistance exercises should be completed after a five- to ten-minute warm up that may consist of a combination of cardiovascular exercises and mild stretching.

When resistance training, complete the exercise eight to 12 times in one set. Complete three sets with 15-second rests between sets.

Keep your movements slow and controlled through the whole lift. You should breathe out on the most difficult part of the lift and inhale on the least difficult part. If you are unable to complete eight repetitions, your weight resistance may be too heavy. If you are able to complete eight to 12 repetitions without much trouble, you may want to increase your resistance.

-- Ensure you have proper posture before beginning. Even though you will be using the ball for this exercise, your head, shoulders, hips, knees and feet should be properly aligned.

-- Start out in the incline base position on the ball, with the ball under your shoulders and your knees bent at 90 degrees, shoulder-width apart.

-- Tighten your abdominal muscles and maintain your posture.

-- Hold this position for as long as you can.

-- Repeat three times.



Next week: Stability ball reverse crunch