FITBUG FRONTROOM WORKOUTS

Posted 09 February 2007

In the coming weeks, we'll be adding more and more home workouts to fitbug.com. First up, we're kicking off with this beginners' Swiss ball programme.

If you've heard of a Swiss Ball, but aren't sure why you should be using one, here are five key reasons:

1. Muscle speeds up your metabolism because it uses more energy than fat
2. Good posture can give the illusion of being up to 10lbs slimmer
3. Improving core stability, can protect you from lower back pain and give you a flatter stomach
4. Swiss balls are totally versatile so you can train every muscle in your body
5. You can use them in your own home or deflate them and pack them in your suitcase to exercise while you are away.

Swiss balls are an effective, inexpensive piece of kit that you can use in your own home. They work by adding instability to your your exercise so that your core muscles - the ones in your tummy and back that form a corset round your middle - have to work much harder than if you were doing the exercise without the ball.

You'll notice that some of these exercises asks you to use hand weights. If you don't have any you can still do the exercise by improvising with tins of beans, bottles of water or anything you have.

Although this programme is for beginners, we'd advise you to proceed with caution when you first start out - it's harder than it looks!

	Wall Press Ups chest and arms		Ball Circles shoulders
	Wall Squats legs and bum		Bicep curls upper arms
	Supermans abs, back, bum		Russian Twist lower abs

Don't have a Swiss Ball? Pick one up in the Fitbug shop