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Q. When I go to my gym, I’ve seen one or two fitness instructors getting their customers to perform various exercises on Swiss balls or wobble boards. Do these things work any better than normal training?

A. The use of stability balls and Bosu balls is becoming very popular in gyms these days. Working out on an unstable surface is claimed to help your stability and develop the core musculature.

There are some exercises which can be made better if you do them on a ball. Studies show that abdominal crunches on a Swiss ball, by way of example, boost the amount of work performed by your abdominal muscles compared to the same exercise done on the floor.

But there are some movements that aren’t suitable for doing on a Swiss ball.

We’ve seen certain individuals performing movements such as the bench press and shoulder press on a ball. The concernis the fact that you’ll need to use a far lighter weight than normal, as you have to put so much effort into staying balanced.

Remember that muscle tissue grows larger and stronger once you push them to perform additional work, either by working out with a heavier weight, or by doing more reps using the same resistance. For more information about progressive overload read this.

The outcome of doing these movements on a Swiss ball is that your muscles will lose out on the growth stimulation they require. Remember that you only have a limited amount of time and energy to spend in the gym. Don’t throw away half of it attempting to do squats while standing on a Bosu ball.

Q. I’m guessing you’ll be able to stop a debate about squatting that I have been having with 2 buddies. One friend claims you should never go beyond parallel, while a different friend states that you have to go to the floor. Which one of my friends is right?

A. How deep to go during the squatting movement has been debated by strength athletes and coaches for years. One notion is that full-depth squats (when your upper thighs are beyond parallel to the floor) enables you to place more focus on your rear thighs.

To answer the issue of how squatting depth affects muscle activation, scientists from South Carolina, performed a scientific study using seasoned bodybuilders.

Making use of electromyography (EMG), the scientists assessed muscle activity in the quads, hamstrings, and glutes of the lifters during partial, parallel, and full-depth squats.

They found that as squat depth increases, the gluteus maximus became more active during the upward stage of the lift. Surprisingly, the contributions of the other muscles tested were not altered by increased squat depth.

This study indicates that that full-depth squats may not be as good at emphasizing hamstring growth as some people believe.

Q. The only real opportunity available for me to exercise is for half an hour when I have my lunch break. Is this long enough?

A. In case you find it hard to spare the time to exercise, why not try supersets.

Supersets are simply two movements joined together and done back to back without any rest in between.

You can combine an upper body movement with a lower body move (for example pull ups accompanied by the leg press) or 2 opposite muscle groups (such as the dumbbell bench press followed by the bent-over row).