As you know, I'm on a mission to get back into shape, a mission which took on a new intensity after I saw a photo of myself in a swim suit.
So far I'm still doing a 35-minute fast walk home from work four days a week, which has done good things for my thigh muscles but less-than-impressive things for my office look (I wear my powder-blue walking sneakers with everything). If The Little Madam is still napping when I get home, I do my sit-ups, half push-ups and leg lifts before I even let myself near the fridge door (although today was a complete bust, because TLM decided to have a 40-min catnap and was already waiting for me to entertain her when I got home.)
And now I have an exercise ball. (Up until now, I've always known these giant rubber beach balls as Swiss balls. However, a Swiss friend of mine - who actually owns one of these things too - doesn't understand why everyone here refers to them as Swiss balls, whereas everyone in Switzerland just calls them exercise balls. So in deference to someone who ought to know, I've stopped calling them Swiss.)
Actually, I've had my exercise ball for about three weeks now, bought on TradeMe. Unfortunately for me, I didn't notice that it would be in a deflated state at time of sale, and I didn't have anything to pump it up with. It was just as well that my Swiss ball-owner (not Swiss-ball owner, mind!) had a little air-pump thingy that accompanied her ball. Yay..an excuse to go visiting...
Did you know that, once an exercise ball is fully deflated there is a very good chance you won't be able to get it into your car (unless you drive a van, an SUV or a truck)?
When I carried my now fully inflated orb to my Toyota Echo I realised there was a real chance that I'd be carrying it back into my friend's house and pulling out the pin. There was an audible sigh of relief (as opposed to an audible sigh of a giant balloon leaking air) when, with only a small amount of grunting and pushing, I manoeuvred my object of hope into the back seat, next to my very curious toddler in her carseat.
By the way, I still haven't gotten around to using the darned thing. I think I bought too big a ball.
7 comments:
I recently inflated my own exercise ball. I sit on it most of the day instead of loafing on the couch. If you feel your ball is too big you can deflate it a bit. You want to be able to sit on it comfortably.
That's what I'm going to do - sit on it while I'm at the computer. Although I'm too fond of lounging on sofas to to watch the telly whilst perched on an over-sized ball. So do you feel it's made a difference to the strength of your torso?
I have been thinking about getting one. Let us know how it goes when you get to use it.
Good luck on the exercise I need to get some myself
michael c: Well apparently lots of the guys at the boy's work sit on one at their respective computers, and swear by 'em. And mine's a little too big to put to full use. So I reckon you should just get hold of a second-hand one, or borrow one, and try it anyway.
angela: I'm sure that pounding away at people's backs is plenty exercise!
I have a large exercise ball as well ... the kids get great value out of it pushing it up and down the stairs :)
elizaf: well, at least someone's getting exercise out of it :-)
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