Stability Ball Rollout

This exercise provided courtesy of Billy Polson, founder and co-owner of DIAKADI Body training gym, voted best personal training gym in San Francisco by CitySearch in 2006.

Benefits
Tired of crunches? Do them upside down. The exercise is simple: You'll roll a stability ball slowly away and then back toward you, using your abs instead of your arms.

Muscles Worked
Abdominals

Starting Position
Kneel on the floor behind a stability ball and place your hands on top of it, palms down. The ball should be far enough in front of you that you can reach it only with fully extended arms when your hips are above your knees (see Photo 1).

Exercise

1. From the starting position, roll the ball slowly away from you as you open your hip angle and reach with your shoulders into an extended position. Keep your chin down. Your head will be down in between your arms (see Photos 2 and 3).
2. From the fully extended position, contract your abdominals and, still keeping your chin down, bring your hips and shoulders back as you roll the ball in toward you, returning to the starting position (see Photo 4).
3. Repeat for a full set of 20 rolls, keeping your abdominals engaged throughout.