10-Minute Mini Exercise Ball Basics

Welcome to get healthy UTV. I'm Kate Lang, and I'm here today for your 10 minute, beginner, mini ball workout. So, if you don't have a mini ball at home, grab a pillow, grab a yoga block, or even a towel, and make this workout work for you. We're gonna start out with just some basic range of motion. I want the toes out, heels in, and find a nice plié for me.

So bend down, and lift up squeezing those legs. We're just going to warm up that body before we get going. So we've got this 10 minute workout that is really gonna target all different muscle groups. Give me two more here, and last one looping up and around. Big arms circles.

Motion is lotion opening up those joints. Two more! Last one. And now twist through your center, rotating that spine. Big breath guys, inhaling , exhaling to twist.

Getting a nice stretch with that mid-back, opening up the legs. Here for two more, and last one. Great job! Find a wall, everybody has a wall at home. Use your mini ball, bring it to the middle of the back, toes apart, heels together.

If you don't have a ball, no problem. Just slide down against that wall. Toes out, heels in, slide down trying to keep the pelvis neutral. Okay? S0 that means nice and balanced.

No tipping, no flaring, belly tight, lift up using those pelvic floor muscles and inner thighs. Inhale down. Find that nice plié, squeeze the lift. Big breathing here . This is a nice low-impact workout that you can really do anywhere.

Add this onto your cardio workouts, maybe you're doing some walking one day. This is a great addition. Four, we're gonna to do 10 more. So sink a little bit lower than you think you can. If you want to add on from here try going into a relevé lifting those heels up and lowering down.

I call this a spider squat, really using the back sides of the legs, inner thigh, those adductor muscles. You are doing awesome! Let's go three deep. Squeeze the lift. Two!

And last one. Awesome job! Grab that ball, or a block, and let's head to the floor. So coming down to the mat, we'll begin with a bent knee today. So knees are bent, the ball is just gonna rest on top of those thighs, in that little crevice.

We'll roll all the way down to the mat. Arms go overhead. Think of connecting the rib cage, roll up, grab the ball, bring it back down, and switch. Let that ball go. Curl up, release.

Crunch up, return. Doing great guys, nice and slow with control. We don't want to use momentum here, and we gently keep the chin nodded towards the chest, so far, so good guys! Keep it up. Four more here .

Methodical movement, working smarter. Whoo! And last one, bring it all the way down. Circle those arms around and down to your mat. The ball comes a little bit deeper below those knees, and let's fire through those inner thighs, and get those glutes burning.

Reach long through the fingertips. Anchor the spine to the mat. Squeeze the ball in, and shoulder bridge. Release to lower, so the glutes come to a hover right above that mat. Awesome job!

Squeeze, the lift. Really feel those inner thighs working. The neck is relaxed . Whoo! You can feel those thighs on fire!

My hamstrings are working, my glutes are working. We've got 10 left. Great job! Now, you can always do these without the ball, if this is a little bit too much for you. If you're a beginner, you could also try putting the ball underneath your tailbone and just doing a baby lift.

Three more. Time goes quick! You guys are crushing it at home. Keep it up. Two.

Last one! Nice job! Round your spine down to mat. Nice and slow. Grab that ball for me.

And let's try the legs in a tabletop position. Okay? Bring the right leg to tabletop, and left. Super-glue those inner thighs together, chin to chest, and curl up. We'll reach side to side of those knees.

So kind of like you're doing a little arc over the tops of the knees. Great! Exhale as you reach. This could also be done with the head down and the legs long towards the ceiling. Just really engaging those lats.

Keep it up! Four more here! Really wrap that rib cage as you rotate. Ooh! And last one.

Whoo! Okay. Hands to head, lower and lift, two different variations. We'll start out here because this is a beginner workout. Bring your hands behind your head, and curl the head off the mat.

Reach the toes out, out, out and down to the mat, and lift back up. Out and down. Mini squeeze to lift back up. If you're a little bit more advanced feel free to extend the legs long, and lift and lower. Again, head could come completely down to the mat.

We don't want to strain those neck muscles. We want this firing up. So continue with whatever variation works best for you. We have five left. Doing great!

Big breathing. Two! Stay with me. Last one. Ooh!

Lift it up. Great job guys! Hands behind the knees. Roll yourself up. Bring that mini ball to the mid-back.

So for you ladies at home, right about that bra line. Place the ball down, feet come to what I call "froggy feet". Insides of the feet together, knees splay to the sides, hands back behind that neck for a little bit of support. So we inhale and lengthen the spine. Exhale, curl up, and I can feel my rectus muscles really engaging here.

Inhale. Exhale up . Perfect! It's not a huge movement, is it? But you should feel the tops of the rib cage really firing.

Your rectus muscles run from the bra line, or breast bone, down to your pubic bone , like a straight long sheet of muscle. And we're really firing through those abs, making sure to not pull on the neck with the hands. It's just there for some gentle support. Awesome! Don't forget to breathe.

Whoo! How about three left? Counting down guys! Two. Last one.

Hold it for me. Hold it, hold it. Hold it. Reach your right arm and left arm out long. Little pulses, for eight, seven, six, digging deeper, five!

Four! Three! Two! And last one! Whoo!

Nice job! Take that ball from behind the spine, roll down to that mat with control. All the way down. And lastly, we're going to take the feet and do a little balancing act. So bringing the feet on to your ball, squeeze the inner thighs together.

This is a lot of hamstring, and a lot of balance. We peel the spine up, and I want you to hold, hold right here. We're gonna hold for a solid 30 seconds. Squeeze those inner thighs together. If you're like Kate, this is child's play.

I could do this all day long. Roll out an inch, in an inch, hamstring curl, in an inch. You've got this! We're going hard today! Whoo!

Oh! Squeeze, those legs. Feel the back of the legs firing. Six left! Oh!

Three. Two! Last one. Now, take a big inhale for me . Roll that spine down to the mat with control.

Great job, you guys! Rock yourselves up. Nice and slow. Take that ball into the hands. Separate your legs, and let's cool things down with the spine stretched forward.

So I say you wanna mobilize, warm up the muscles before you work out. And then after you do need a couple stretches even if it's just 10 minutes of a workout, you still need those stretches. So sit up nice and tall, pull the toes back towards your chest, and spine stretch forward, like you're peeling away from a wall push down into your ball, let that belly get tight to the spine, and then roll it back up for me. So we're giving that back a nice stretch, but we're still using our abs, so I kind of snuck another one in there. Chin to chest, roll away.

Whoo! Bring it back up, taking time to wind down, and cool down those muscles a bit. And last one. Press it all the way out. Roll yourself, all the way up.

Nice and tall. And that's it. Your 10 minute, mini ball workout for beginners. See you next time.