Fitness for Kids - Using a Bosu Ball for the Core

My name is Margie Weiss, and this is Kids Cardio Conditioning. We are using the bosu ball here. We can not only use it for bouncing but its a real versatile piece of equipment. We can also use it for core strength and for balance. So, what we have the girls doing now is sitting right on the bulls eye at the top. They are going to put their hands on the ball first because this is the easier option. Assume that the child is going to fall off, so, dont have pieces of furniture nearby, you may want to have carpeting rather than a hard floor, but what they are doing is just extending their legs and bending up. The slower they move, the easier it is for them to do, because you are not rocking the ball up and down. As they do this, what they are working is core strength and when you work core strength, you are upping your metabolism because it does make you move, it does make you breathe harder, belly button to the back bone and they are just extending and bending. So, we are doing a lot of core strength which is critical for strength overall. Then what we are going to do, if they can do with their hands on, thats easy option, we are going to try with their hand off. Watch the difference, first just hold the tuck with your feet off, even that is hard and they are going to fall off. Notice that they are wiggling around, they are having to find their balance all the time when they are doing it, which is a good thing. Bending the knees one they kind of gotten the hang of that, lets just take one leg and extend it, bring it back in and the other leg. Always remember you have hands, if you are going to fall off put them down, if you got feet, if you need to, put them down. Dont crack your head into the floor because you shall busy trying to do this v-sit. So, it's a hard exercise, if they can get through three or four of them without falling off, thats a good thing, dont expect 10 or 15 of them at the same time. Once they get the idea of that, if they want, they can do extending both legs and coming down and again slower is easier, because it doesnt bounce the ball quite so much as you move, but you always have the floor with either your hands or your feet.

Really good core exercise and it doesnt take long to get your core tired which means that you are not in the gym, forever. Adults, this is great exercise for you too; dont just let your kids do it. You can get right on to the other one and do with it them or alternate with them, see who can do the most. You may find your child does more than you and thats a good thing because you can praise for having done something better than you.