Exercise Plan – Quadricep Workout with a Resistance Ball

    Published: 06-16-2009
    Views: 17,155
    Fitness expert Margie Weiss demonstrates quadricep exercises using a resistance ball.

    Margie Weiss


    Margie Weiss: Hi, my name is Margie Weiss and this is the quad video. The most basic quad exercise that you can do, the safest one, the one that you would start with. If you hadn t done quads before is to use a resist-a-ball. You can buy one of these at any sports store. There are two sizes 55 in cms and 65 cms. The smaller one tends to be little bit more versatile, but what this is going to allow you do to is the perfect squat position without injuring any parts of your body. So, what Janis(ph) is going to do here is we are going to put this ball against the solid surface, not a mirror but a solid surface. She is going to walk her feet out just a little bit and she is going to have the ball in the center of her back. With her belly tucked to her backbone, just like we talked about in the safely issues and her head neutral, she is going to just bend her knees down to 90 degrees. Notice that because she on the wall her knees automatically are behind her toes.

    So, it safeguards her body. Her belly is going to be pressed backwards and she is tucking under, just a little bit, shoulders are low and as she comes up at the top, she is going to keep her knees just slightly soft, because you don t want to hyper extend or walk out your legs at the top of the squat, bad for your joints. So, as she bends -- she is squatting here, now on the hard part which is coming up that s when you want to breathe out. So, she ll breathe out here. She will breathe in as she drops. She will breathe out as she comes up. Notice also that her feet are about shoulder width apart. That s a basic squat exercise. You are getting the main quad muscle. The reason that the muscle is called a quad, quad meaning four since there are four muscles within that quad group. By doing the basic shoulder width apart squat, you are getting the main muscles. You are also getting the ones along the side, but you are really working that main muscle. Now, if she wants to work a different part of that muscle, she just has to turn her toes out, just a little bit, so that as she squats, it kind of feel like a demi-plie, if you took ballet. Now, she is getting a little bit more on the inside of her quad. She is still gets to the main quads but she is also accenting the inner one. A third position is as if she were to put her feet together, heel to heel, toe to toe. Now when she squads, she is getting more of the outer quad. So, one exercise three different feet positions, is going to get the entire range of the quad, and you want to work all of those muscles, not just the main quad muscle, because you want them to all work together in functional exercise, when you move or when you jump or whether you slide whatever activity or sport that you are in. So, this is a basic squat.