Anybody want a balance ball?

[neadods]

I thought I'd try the balance ball exercise thing - it looked fun, didn't cost much, and would shake up the exercise routine - but in practice, it has turned into 101 Ways To Bugger Bad Knees.

One of the crunch exercises (put knees on ball, balance on outstretched arms face down, pull yourself into a downward dog position rolling the ball along your shins) really did do wonders for my abs, but it did horrors for my knees, to the point that I limped for two days. So I decided that I'd take the ball in and sit on it instead of a chair at work.

Would you believe that THAT has crapped my knees too? None of this "shift your core to stay balanced" thing, as I rolled around I used my legs as braces and brakes, meaning that both knees were bearing weight while bent. And that's the one thing that my knees simply cannot do.

Feh.

Comments

[ponygirl72.livejournal.com]

Heh. I use them for the horses to play with. I'd probably kill myself if I tried to actually sit on one.

[jennetj.livejournal.com]

Actually, there are a couple of good ball exercises which aren't weight-bearing http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/core-strength/SM00046 #s 3, 8 and 9 are good, but one of my favorites is sitting with one hip on the ball, my feet braced against the bottom of the wall and doing side crunches. Great core exercise and shouldn't hurt your knees, as your legs can be straight while braced against the wall.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

I'd take the ball in and sit on it instead of a chair at work.

I tried that once (management bought several of them for us to share) and my hips were screaming at me after about ten minutes. Ballet-induced joint idiosyncrasies for the lose!

balance ball?

[olivia-sutton.livejournal.com]

Is that the same thing you use for Pilates? I took some Pilates classes (well, one, at the Y) last summer and really enjoyed it. I'm actually looking for a MAT because trying to do the exercises at home to the DVD on the carpet HURTS darn it, but if I get more advanced I might use one of the ball things.
OTOH, the ones we used in class were small. Or at least, smaller than the one in the vid on your comments.
--Olivia
PS -- Email me or PM thru' this site or Facebook if you want my phone number or whatever. You're skipping Mediawest this year, right?