I bought a balance ball at Target because it was on sale.
Ok, maybe that's not the only reason I bought it, but I admit it played a big part. I'd been reading in a magazine about all the cool exercises you could do on one and how it helped to strengthen your core muscles (my which whats?? I'm not even sure I have those installed!) ...so I bought one and managed to get it inflated (through a long series of vaguely inappropriate gestures with a hand pump). Voila!
But here's the thing... I'm totally addicted. I think there's only been a night or two since I started using it that I haven't found something to do with it... It's remarkable the things I can do on it... I had a lovely long phone conversation earlier in the week and managed to do 3 or 4 different exercises on it while I was talking! (I should point out that I'm happy that videophones aren't all the rage just yet...heh. My friend would have laughed a lot to know the weird stuff I was doing... :) I've actually found myself rationalizing, "Ok, well, yeah it's 11:30 p.m., but I could still do a little something on the balance ball before bed..."
And then I wondered if maybe this wasn't a really nice metaphor -- in addition to a handy piece of exercise equipment... Maybe as I gain balance in those elusive core muscles (which, I should report, do in fact exist...I know this because of the ouch...), I'm also gaining balance in my life...which is a path I've been seeking for a long time.
On the whole, this whole business of balance seems like a very, very good thing.
6 comments:
Hey, I got one too! I haven't figured out much to do with it, though, other than bounce on it when I watch TV (which I like to call "exercise"), and some vague lying on it. Fun, if a bit unfocused.
Yeah, mine came with a DVD, but I haven't quite bothered to use it just yet...I'm kind of playing around right now...doing arm work while balancing on it (it's like a prolonged situp and bench pressing in one)...also I figured out that I can do isometric work on my inner thighs by squeezing it (which sounds vaguely naughty...but isn't :)...
Woohoo! Balance ball party!!!!!
I've actually watched the little exercise DVD that came with it, but I'm incapable of remembering the exercises. (Or can't be bothered.) So instead I just bounce while I watch Firefly.
I used one in a class I did with my wife at the gym. We did two kinds of pushups on it that made me grimace - holding the sides of the ball with our feet on the ground, and hands on the ground with our toes on the ball. If you'd like to not be able to push yourself out of bed in the morning, I recommend them.
Oh! Oh!! JBro commented on my blog!! Woohooeeeee! :)
(ahem)
I've actually tried doing some varieties of push ups on the thing...I think they can be hard or not quite so much depending on where you balance yourself on the ball... Then again, I didn't have anyone standing over me correcting my form or anything, so who the heck knows... :)
I bought a balance ball for labor and delivery. Of course, I hardly touched it until after I had Little Miss, but it turned out to be a lifesaver.
When Little Miss was an infant I learned that she liked to be bounced and would fall asleep when I bounced her on the ball. By about 6 months we were bouncing her about 50 hours a day. I know, it sounds impossible, but try holding a 15 lb sack in your arms and bouncing for an hour and you will see how time stretches to unbelievable lengths. We bounced her so much I was afraid she'd get shaken baby syndrome! We finally gave up the ever lengthening stretches of bouncing time and let her learn to sleep on her own. (Yes, yes, she cryed it out! Get over it Dr. Sears, I am a bad mother and she'll be in therapy someday. I've accepted it, why can't you?)
I still have the ball; it is mostly used to crash into various pieces of furniture and get black eyes now.
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