One of my favourite pieces of equipment to use is the BOSU and this week I’ve been using it a lot with my clients to provide them with a really challenging and fun workout. For those of you who haven’t heard of a BOSU before, it’s an air filled dome that is attached to a flat base (it looks like half a swiss ball). It creates instability when performing exercises on it which means that your core muscles are constantly working hard to keep you stable. Your body and muscles have to shift and contract to stay aligned which burns more calories and enhances coordination and balance.

The BOSU is incredibly versatile as it can be used either with the dome side facing up or facing down, providing you with two platforms on which to exercise on. If you’re bored of doing stationary squats, deadlifts and lunges in your workouts, I’d definitely recommend trying all of these exercises on a BOSU (dome side facing up for the slightly easier option or dome side down to make it harder) and you will instantly feel your quads, hamstrings and glutes working twice as hard. Similarly, upper body exercises like press-ups, tricep dips, crunches, mountain climbers and side planks can be done on the BOSU to add an extra element to your training and really activate and engage your muscles. It’s also a great tool for injury rehabilitation work. I have multiple clients who suffer from weak glutes as a result of previous injury. Every session I make sure that we use the BOSU to do a few sets of one-legged squats – the instability caused by the BOSU really enables the glute muscles to fire and strengthen.

The BOSU can be used to create an exciting whole body workout and is an excellent way to burn fat and get a lean and strong body. So next time you’re in the gym give the BOSU a try!