Stability Ball Knee Tucks Step-By-Step Guide 2023

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Stability ball knee tucks are the most effective exercise in targeting the major muscles of the core (abdominals and back). As you roll the ball, your quadriceps engage to keep your body steady, and your triceps maintain your high plank position.

In addition to its advantages, many people perform this exercise incorrectly. Rather than paying attention to their upper-body form, they focus only on their legs. As a result, the exercise becomes more difficult and could lead to possible injury.

So, keeping all these factors into account, I have shared a complete step-by-step guide on stability ball knee tucks which will surely help you to do this exercise properly.

So without any further ado, let’s jump into it.

Stability Ball Knee Tucks Step-By-Step Guide

Read and follows the below-mentioned steps carefully to do this exercise correctly and properly:

Step 1: Placing On The Ball

Place both feet and hands on the floor, hip- and shoulder-width apart while lying prone (on your stomach) on top of a stability ball (one that compresses approximately six inches under your body weight).

Step 2: Starting Position

Take a deep breath, contract your abdominal/core muscles to stiffen your torso, and slowly lift your legs off the floor.

Continue walking out until your front thighs or knees rest on the ball. Keep your torso rigidly aligned with your legs.

Your shoulders should be pulled back and down. Hands should be directly under the shoulders. Make sure your legs are straight and pressed together.

Congrats! Now you are in the starting position. So let’s start the exercise.

Step 3: Curling Phase

Exhale and slowly pull your knees towards your chest. Then roll the ball forward as your hips move upward and your knees tucked under your torso.

Keep moving until your knees are positioned under your hips, and your shinbone lies over the top of the ball. After that, pause in this position for a few seconds.

Step 4: Lowering Phase

In the last step, you must inhale and push your knees away from your torso to bring your body to the starting position. Keep moving until your body return to the starting position.

Bonus Tips For Performing The Stability Ball Knee Tucks

Hopefully; now you should be aware of the proper way of exercising. In this section, I’ll discuss some bonus tips for this exercise. Surely, these tips will help you a lot.

• Once you’ve balanced your legs, ensure your neck is neutrally aligned.
• Don’t sag your lower back, shoulders, and neck while balancing.
• Before you start the knee tucks, make sure that your body should form a straight line from head to toe.
• Don’t drop your hips. Lift them slightly as you engage your abdomen and draw your belly button toward your spine.
• Always keep the ball closer to the tops of your shins than your feet.
• Try separating your feet slightly— roughly hip — apart when starting. 
• Never roll the ball in and out too fast because this may result in losing your balance.

Common Mistakes To Be Avoided 

Keep these common mistakes in your mind when performing this advanced exercise. Doing the knee tuck with the proper training is essential to make it more effective and safer.

1. Sagging (Arching) Neck And Shoulders

You should avoid the first and most common mistake: not sagging your neck and shoulders. You’ll need to hold a perfect plank position with the help of your legs balanced at the top of the stability ball to do this exercise correctly.

It will be more challenging than performing a plank with your legs on the ground due to the ball’s instability.

Remember that most people focus on keeping their legs steady and ignore their upper-body form. If you allow your neck to hand between your chest or arms to collapse between your shoulders, you’re setting yourself up for possible injury.

This is because you’re failing to engage your chest and shoulder stabilizers.

Once you’ve balanced your legs at the top of the ball, check your upper body. Ensure that your neck is neutrally aligned and your body forms a straight line from head to toe.

2. Dropped Hips

Secondly, you’re most likely to forget to engage your hips, low back, and abdomen while maintaining the balance on the top of the ball. This could cause your hips to drop and your low back to sag.

As it is an abdominal exercise, you must correctly engage these muscle groups. Additionally, you could strain your low back if you allow your hips to drop.

So keeping this mistake in mind, you need to lift your hips slightly as you engage your abdomen and draw your belly button towards your spine. If done correctly, this will helps you maintain a proper balance.

So, before you start this exercise, check your body in the mirror and make sure that it forms a straight line from head to toe.

3. Positioning The Ball Too Far Away

Next, the most common mistake people make is placing the ball too far away from their knees. Always remember that the farther the ball you are placed from your knees, the more challenging it will be for you to maintain balance.

Avoid this mistake and keep the ball closer to the tops of your shins than your feet. This will let you master the movement with amazing stability. 

4. Feet Too Close Together

Keeping your feet and legs together on the top of the ball makes a narrow-legged position which makes the movement more challenging. 

Maintaining balance becomes more difficult when the ball is positioned farther down your body. So always try to separate your feet slightly when starting.

This broader support base makes it easier to keep the ball moving in a straight line as you roll it.

5. Moving Too Quickly

Rolling the ball in and out too quickly increases the chances of losing balance. Conversely, a slow and steady pace always helps you to ensure that you’re focusing on engaging the deep muscles of the low back, core, and hips.

With the slow pace, you don’t need to rely too much on the extraneous muscles (shoulders, quad, chest, triceps). This will help you maintain your balance.

Also, try counting as you roll the ball toward and away from you. This aims to take at least two to three seconds for each phase of your movement.

Safety And Precautions

Follow these safety measures to avoid any serious injury:

• Pay close attention to your form throughout the exercise.
• Keep a slow and steady pace while drawing the ball to and from your torso.
• Don’t place the ball on slippery surfaces like tile or treated concrete. This will cause the ball to pop out from under your feet.
• Always choose a surface with greater friction, such as grass or carpet. Also, you can use a yoga mat for extra traction.

Benefits Of The Stability Ball Knee Tuck

Following are some major benefits of the stability ball knee tuck exercise:

1. Stability ball knee tucks target the major muscle groups of the core (back and abdominals).
2. It also engages your tricep and quadriceps muscles.
3. Additionally, this exercise targets the chest, hips, and shoulders stabilizing muscles. 
4. It develops anti-rotational core strength. 
5. With this exercise, your core is better prepared to engage, and your spine is protected.
6. It helps in preventing low back pain and injuries.
7. This exercise also improves sports performance as well.

FAQs

How Do You Do A Stability Ball Knee Tuck?

The stability ball knee tuck includes four steps:

1. Placing on the ball.
2. Achieving the starting position.
3. Curling phase.
4. Lowering phase.

What Muscles Do The Stability Ball Knee Tucks Work?

Stability ball knee tucks target the major muscle groups of the core (back and abdominal). It also engages your tricep and quadriceps during the exercise.

How Many Knee Tucks Should I Do?

This depends on your core strength. It is recommended that you should perform from 10 to 20 reps of seated knee tucks for 3-4 sets.

What Are Knee Tucks Good For?

Knee tucks are a plyometric exercise that provides powerful results. It can challenge your muscles in ways other exercises can’t. Also, it helps burn calories quickly and increase your strength and endurance.

Wrap Up

After going through the above guide. Hopefully, you will be cleared about the stability ball knee tucks exercise. I’m sure that now there will be no issue for you, and you’ll correctly perform this exercise.

This guide and tips are based on my experience and deep research, and I’m sure you’ll benefit greatly from it.