What Muscles Do Stability Ball Pike Handstands Target?

Stability balls change the dynamic of a pike handstand by adding instability to the exercise. This instability causes non-targeted muscles to engage, keeping your body on the ball. Not only does this increase the effectiveness of the exercise, it lessens the number of exercises required to work the muscles that make up the front and sides of your mid-section.

  1. Stability Ball Pike

    • Getting your body on the stability ball is the first hurdle you face when performing a stability ball pike. To get on the ball gracefully, kneel down on the floor with the ball sitting in front of you. Place your abdomen on top of the ball and roll forward until your hands contact the ground. Walk forward on your hands, while allowing the ball to roll down your legs. Stop rolling when your toes sit on top of the ball. This places you in a plank position. Contract your abdominal muscles as you lift your legs, the ball will roll with you as you move. Continue lifting your legs until your head points toward the ground and your hands elbows and waist sit perpendicular to the floor. Hold the position for 10 to 15 seconds and then slowly lower your body to the plank position.

    Core Muscles

    • Your rectus abdominus muscles begin to work from the moment you begin walking your torso away from the stability ball and continue working throughout the movement. Since the ball moves with your movement, your oblique muscles engage to keep your body from moving side-to-side as you lift into the pike position, but your front core muscles are not the only muscles engaged throughout the movement. The erector spinae muscles that run along both sides of your spine engage to control the movement of your waist as you raise and lower during the exercise, making the stability ball pike a thorough workout for core stability.

    Latissimus Dorsi

    • As your body lifts into the inverted-V shape of the pike handstand, the latissimus dorsi, or lat muscles, located beneath your armpits activate. They raise your weight and stabilize your body by assisting your shoulders as you pull through the movement. Focus on your armpit area during the workout and note how your lats work as you move.

    Shoulders

    • Around the outside of each shoulder sits the anterior, medial and posterior deltoid muscles. The responsibility of providing the flexion movement required for the stability ball pike falls on both the anterior and medial delts, but the anterior delt provides most of the movement. These muscles do not work alone; your pectoral muscles assist your delts as you raise and lower your body.