Ball exercises are extremely effective for enhancing your workouts. The challenge of maintaining perfect posture on a rolling surface helps you increase muscle strength and endurance, build or regain muscle tone and flexibility, and improve posture. Balls are especially good for targeting your abdominal and lower-back muscles, which are crucial to your health and well-being, particularly as you age.

Ball workouts also offer one unexpected benefit: great results in a relatively short period of time. That's because even while you're focusing on training other muscles, your trunk muscles are always at work stabilizing and balancing your body on the ball. It's like getting two workouts in one.

I think you'll find the following exercises fun, but be careful not to overdo them-you may find yourself working muscles you never knew you had. The movements may seem awkward at first, but you'll soon learn to balance and become more comfortable.

Get On the Ball
Fitness balls can be purchased through most major fitness-equipment retailers and Web sites. Follow manufacturer's guidelines to pick the right size for your height, or use these measurements as a rough guide:
·5'4" and under, 55 centimeters
·5'4" to 5'10", 65 centimeters
·5'10" to 6'4", 75 centimeters

When you inflate your fitness ball (a bicycle pump will do the trick), be careful not to overdo it; keeping the ball a little soft will provide more support and comfort if you're a beginner. When you can press your thumb into the ball with little resistance, you're ready to start exercising. Add more air as you become proficient.