Do you struggle to keep to your exercise routine? Making time for regular workouts can be a challenge, but here’s a solution: exercise at your convenience with a simple soft ball. To clarify, we do not mean a softball or baseball, you need something light in weight and hard enough that it doesn’t immediately squish under pressure, but soft enough that it won’t break that prized vase. It can be any size and made of any soft material, and you can buy one for just a few dollars. With this versatile prop, you can exercise different parts of the body and keep toned up from head to toe.

Try these six ways for starters:

1. Throwing and catching
   If exercising indoors, choose a working area and remove any breakable items so you and the ball can move freely. Throw it up to the ceiling and catch it, then see how many times in a row you can repeat this. Now aim the ball at the furthest wall and run to catch it before it falls. If it’s bouncy, see how many consecutive times you can bounce and catch it. Every throw and catch will involve stretching, and you’ll also be twisting, bending, leaping and crouching in your efforts to sustain the sequences.
2. Rolling
   Put the ball on the floor and move it along with your foot or a stick. Set some pointers or goal posts and time yourself as you try to propel the ball towards them. Have fun steering the ball around your furniture or between back yard features, as in a crazy golf challenge. Again, you’ll be using your whole body, heart and lungs included, in this run-around.
3. Balancing on feet
   Lie on the floor with your arms at your sides and the ball at your feet. Cup the soles of your feet around it and raise it up as high as you can. When you have the ball securely suspended in the air, hold the position as long as you can before lowering it to the floor again. Repeat the procedure until you start to ache. This activity will exercise your stomach and thigh muscles, also toning up the rest of your body.
4. Balancing on hand or fingers
   Lay the ball on the flat palm of your hand and walk around, balancing it. This will involve twisting and shifting your body to keep it steady. Increase the challenge by balancing the ball on just two fingers, then one. How fast can you walk like that? Try jogging, then running. Now squat down and rise again, keeping the ball in place. When you’ve mastered that technique, repeat it ten times. You’ll be so busy trying to keep the ball steady, you’ll barely notice your fast-pumping heart.
5. Rolling with stomach
   Lying face down on the floor, raise your upper body and place the ball underneath. Roll it in different directions, controlling it with your ribs, belly, and hips. Now devise a route to coax the ball along, down the passage or around your flower border, perhaps. Keep yourself raised up on your arms, tilting and contorting your body to steer the ball along. If your stomach and hips feel tender next day, you’ll know you exercised well.
6. Playing baseball or football
   Kick your ball through your rooms and grounds. Take it to the park or nearest open space and play baseball with anyone who’ll join in or bring some friends. It may not be the fastest game ever, but it’ll keep you on your toes, and you’ll soon be out of breath. In fact, the weaker the ball, the harder you’ll have to work to maintain momentum, so be ready.

More keep-fit tricks

You’ll find yet more ways to use this little fitness aid, once you start experimenting. Lie on the floor and roll it down your back, sit on it and take a ride, or throw it up the stairs, so you have to go and fetch it. Then you can pair up with a friend and pass the ball through your legs or bat it across with your hand.