How to perform a swiss ball bridge exercise with an image showing the move. Click on the picture to see the full sized image.
The swiss ball bridge exercise is a static move. There is no movement involved other than getting into and out of the correct position. The picture above is not a true animation; I am showing the move from a few different angles instead. When doing a swiss ball bridge, keep the following points in mind:
- You should maintain a straight line between your ankles, waist, and shoulders.
- Your forearms will support your upper body by pressing into the swiss ball.
- Your upper arms should be at an angle to the floor and perpendicular (about) to the swiss ball.
- Your weight will be resting on your elbows and toes.
- The exercise begins when you are in position and suck in your gut.
You will know that you have the right form when your abs begin to burn 10 to 15 seconds after you begin the bridge exercise. If you do not feel the burning sensation, then use a mirror or a friend to spot you and to let you know what you need to do to fix your form. The most common problem with a swiss ball bridge exercise is losing your balance and having trouble staying on the swiss ball.
A variation on the swiss ball bridge is to elevate your feet so that your body is parallel to the floor like a normal bridge, but you still have to balance yourself on the swiss ball. I am not a very big fan of this and do not recommend it. The added risk does not seem to offset any gains you might get from the exercise; I am not so sure that it is any extra work to begin with.
I recommend getting used to a normal bridge on the floor before you attempt to do a swiss ball bridge. That way, you will not have to think about how to do the bridge part of the exercise and can concentrate on getting used to balancing on an unstable surface.
- New weight program for the missus (Part II)
- How To: Bridge w/knee tuck
- Bridge Exercise on a swiss ball, Part II
- Bridge exercise on a swiss ball
- This Week Last Year: Swiss Balls and Transcontinental Relays
May 4th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
I LOVE the Swiss ball - but I have a really tough time keeping my balance on it!
May 5th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
[...] The other way to encourage muscle growth is by resisting the movement of a mass of some kind. [..] The natural inclination when you are on a swiss ball is to roll to the side. You engage your obliques to prevent your body from twisting, and the fact that you are trying to prevent your torso from rolling onto the floor is a great exercise in and of itself. You are training your body to do more than one thing at a time, and you are causing your muscles to learn how to work together to accomplish a goal. [...]
May 6th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
I like the way you are using photographs to illustrate the exercise. Our approach at Muscle Ventures is to use the camera’s video functionality and then do screen captures. This can really help in situations in which the exercise requires complex movement. you can do a sort of stop-motion photography effect.
You don’t need any of this for bridging exercises which are essentially static. It might be of interest to watch you hold it through the video, though. How do you get on? How do you dismount?
May 8th, 2006 at 10:13 am
Next time I take pictures I will have to try using the video mode. I have not used it before on my camera so I am not so sure how well that will come out. It would certainly make it easier to get a full range of motion through on the same repitition, though. Right now I do a lot of fudging and mix and match.
May 24th, 2006 at 6:08 pm
Blaine, I tried to track back but am not sure it worked. We posted a follow up to this video how-to here:
http://muscleventures.com/video/2006/05/bridge_plus_knee_tuck_with_swi.html
I think between our takes on these exercises, people will have a nice progression. BTW, I note that your original 4/18 how-to on the bridge exercise has gone missing.
May 24th, 2006 at 9:15 pm
[...] Bud Gibson expanded upon my normal bridge and swiss ball bridge articles to show how to do a swiss ball bridge with a knee tuck. [...]
May 24th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Bud, thanks for the heads up. I have no idea how it got set this way, but somehow the article was set to be private. It is fixed now; that was much better than my having accidently deleting it and then having to go through some backups to see if I could find it again.
Thanks for the link to the video; that is great. I can’t wait to try it.
June 23rd, 2006 at 11:27 pm
BOSU Jackknifes…
Nancy and I present the BOSU jackknife, an ab exercise that uses both a BOSU (a sort of Swiss Ball chopped in half) and a medicine ball. If you’re a fan of Blaine Moore’s series on bridge exercises, then this exercise might be a nice next step up th…
November 17th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
[...] As has been mentioned, though, you want to use multiple muscle groups together and avoid machines if you want to get real strength. The only machines I ever use are things coming off of a pulley; most exercises I do are either body weight, dumbell or barbell. One piece of equipment that I suggest that you get is a swiss ball. There are a lot of exercises that you can do with one that work things differently than just laying on the floor. [...]
May 5th, 2007 at 2:37 am
[...] continued my animated workout series with how to do a swiss ball bridge, which takes the standard exercise and makes it a little more challenging. The discussion about [...]