Push-Ups With Feet On An Exercise Ball

Execution

1. Brace your abs and glutes hard, keeping your hips level with your shoulders and heels the whole time.
2. Inhale and lower yourself slowly, elbows about 45 degrees from your torso, eyes on the floor in front of your hands.
3. Lower until your chest is nearly at the floor, keeping the ball steady under your feet by squeezing the hamstrings and glutes.
4. Exhale and push the floor away back to the top, hips and chest rising together, not the hips dropping first.
5. If you lose your balance mid-set, drop your knees to the floor right away instead of forcing the rep out.

Quick cues

• Squeeze the hamstrings so the ball stays put.
• Hips, shoulders, heels in one line.
• Elbows at 45 degrees, don't flare out.
• Lose balance, drop the knees at once.

Common faults

• Fault: The hips sagging low or piking up above the shoulders

  Fix: Brace the core and glutes before you lower; if it still breaks, use a fixed low step instead of the ball until you can hold the line.

• Fault: The ball rolling backward, the feet sliding off it

  Fix: Squeeze the hamstrings and glutes hard to pin the ball in place, and start with a firmer-inflated ball to reduce roll.

• Fault: Elbows flaring straight out to 90 degrees

  Fix: Tuck the elbows in closer to about 45 degrees so the shoulder is not pinched.

• Fault: Cutting the range short, chest stopping high above the floor

  Fix: Lower until the chest is near the floor; if you cannot yet reach that range, remove the ball's instability first.