I can recommend these books from my own library as great resources to help you with your exercise program.
October 1, 2008
September 13, 2008
July 24, 2008
Stability Ball Primer
I can not yet recommend Spark People dot com but might later. Let me check them out. This is a good primer. She fails to mention if you are very small, an adult under 5′ 2″ you can buy a 45cm ball which may be better if you have short legs for your height. If you are 5′ or under definitely buy a 45 cm ball.
Stability Ball Squats
This combination exercise is for advanced exercisers. Just doing the squat is enough. Start with 5 squats 1/2 as low as the man in the video. After 5 lower and hold for 10 seconds. Do one set every other day for 2 weeks before adding more repetitions or another set of repetitions. Listen to what he says - weight on back 2/3 of foot, not toes and keep knee over ankle by placing feet out so you lean back into the ball. Never squat in any position so your knee extends past your toes.
This is also a demonstration of a “curl”. Jenny recommended using soup cans or 1/2 gallon jugs with handles. I like jugs because you can vary the weight with more or less water. I have people lean against the wall to do curls so they only use the bicep and not use momentum to do the curl. Never strain! Go slow and easy. Feel like you did not do enough rather than ever feel like it was too much.
Stability Disc example
The girl on the left, standing on the blue disc is using the stability or core disc I recommend. You don’t need any weight initially, just learn to stand on it. The ball exercise for your calf is a basic one and is safe to try. Remember start low and go slow. Better to do a little regularly and slowly to build both a habit and progress rather than get hurt or too sore.