Doing yoga on the ball can benefit anyone, including:

1. Yoga beginners. Moving into poses with the ball's support builds confidence and can help your muscles gradually stretch and strengthen as you improve your yoga routine.

2. People recovering from injuries. Some injuries create muscular weaknesses that make it difficult or painful to do yoga postures such as backbends or Warrior poses. A ball can ease you into a pose comfortably and with less risk for re-injury.

Work Those Abdomens!

Abdominal work is only part of the story. You may be surprised to learn that even more essential to your core stability than a set of six-pack abs are tiny muscles that run along the spine and support the body's joints. Normally we associate a strong body with the large muscle groups.

But, what really improves overall body fitness is the strength of these tiny muscles. They're the ones that keep you from falling, wrenching a disk in your back, or spraining your ankle when you slip on a patch of ice.

Elevated Pushups for Pecs, shoulders, triceps, and abs

How to do it: Place the front of your knees on the ball and your hands flat on the floor (your whole body should be parallel to the floor). Look down at the floor and lower your face to within a few inches of it, then push back up to the starting position.

To Inflate the Ball

1. Attach the yellow piece to the pump by screwing into place.

2. Before inflating, use a yard stick or tape measure to mark the size of your ball in centimeters (55, 65 or 75) on a wall or floor.

3. Inflate the ball as much as possible, without over inflating.

4. With use, the ball will stretch a bit and can be further inflated.

5. Add more air as necessary, never inflating the ball larger than the centimeters in diameter indicated on the box.

The balance ball rolls around easily, so core strength and balance are required to keep it still. The challenge of keeping the ball still makes the ball an excellent tool to teach stability and rehabilitation. The simplest movement can become a huge challenge when you do it on the ball. Using a ball can give your workout a little more variety and extra challenge. You can try these exercises after your Pilates mat work.