Core Corner – Quadruped on Stability Ball
By Elizabeth Towe
Objectives: Quadruped will refine your ability to find your center, so that you can hold core stability and balance in any activity. It is a great dynamic warm up for any exercise or activity and allows you to check in with stability of your center and bring focus inward. This will also improve balance of torso for bike handling skills, stable torso for swimming and balance on uneven terrain for running.
Exercise:
- Start by bringing the stability ball against the shins and knees, with knees about hip width apart.
- With hands on the ball, begin to lean shins and knees into ball until your bodyweight is distributed evenly on all 4 points on the ball(your hands and knees) drawing your focus inward—your feet should come off the ground so you are balancing on top of the ball.
- Be sure that you brace your abdominal muscles and allow the bracing to balance your center over the center of the ball. Hold a neutral spine with maximal length from the sitting bones to the crown of the head.
- Hold the balance and focus on slow, steady breathing for 30-60 seconds.
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Elizabeth Towe is a runner and a cyclist and the owner of Balanced Movement Studio in Carrboro. She graduated from East Carolina with a degree in exercise and sports science and has been personal training for over 20 years. Her ultimate goal for all of her clients is to help them realize and achieve the optimal quality in their life—and to remember to have fun doing it.
