I USE THIS 07: Balance Ball (good for workouts AND parenting!)

Yes, yes, yes... we all know there are a lot of good "balance-based" exercises you can do with a balance ball or a stability ball. Sometime, I should have Pharmie take photos of all the different moves I do with our balance ball - I can get a decent workout with just that ball in our living room. And it engages lots of good (sometimes under-trained) stability muscles.

Just 2 days ago, I did some push-ups with knee-tucks on our balance ball, which made my pecs and core GO NUTS! It's the last exercise listed in this article about "workouts for swim power."

And here's an example of a butt / hammy exercise my last PT gave me:

Image source

ONLY she had me do this with my arms across my chest (so you can't balance yourself with your arms on the floor), and I had to do it SLOWLY and IN CONTROL with my knees moving only in straight lines forward and back. Try it. It's hard. And awkward. Like a baby's erection.

Anyway, I'll take a lot of photos of the different core / pec / leg / PT exercises sometime, and I'll share them with you all. I think many of you would like some of the moves I do.

IN THE MEANTIME, YOU ALL MUST KNOW ABOUT OUR NEWEST USE FOR OUR BALANCE BALL:

Pharmie was talking with someone as she was cheering for me and her Evotri teammates at the Life Time Fitness Triathlon. Henry was only 4 weeks old, but he was already showing plenty of signs of colic. (And since then, he's been officially labeled by his doctor as "colicky." He's often called "Cranky Hank" in our household.) Pharmie was at the race and rocking Hank back and forth in his stroller. This woman that Pharmie was talking to said "Oh, my daughter had a baby that needed to be bounced. She sat on one of those exercise balls and bounced all day long!"

Pharmie's mouth dropped and her eyes lit up. "Thats. A. Great. Idea." she thought. We started bouncing with Henry THAT NIGHT. It's SOOOO easy to bounce while sitting on a balance ball; it takes very little work from the "bouncer." And most colicky babies LOVE the motion!

Pharmie's sisters keeping Henry content on our balance ball.


My Dad bouncing Henry on our balance ball at our family vacation.


Me and Hank on our family vacation bouncing on the balance ball.
(Little-known Widely-known fact: Stenzel men hate wearing shirts!)


Bouncing with Henry a few weeks ago just after
getting home from the Waseca Triathlon.

We've also started "tummy time" on the balance ball! No, I just don't throw Henry on the ball - I put him on my chest as I "slide down" the ball:

Note that I'm wearing the old, beat-up shoes
I wrote about in the first "I USE THIS" post.

And in the last 2 weeks, I've done something where I start in the position seen in the photo above, and then I "roll down" the balance ball until I'm up on my toes and I'm sitting up at about a 45 degree angle (if that makes sense). Then I put Henry on my quads, and we flirt and bounce:

So whatever you do with your balance ball is fine with me - whether it's for exercising or for calming crabby babies. Just please, do NOT do this:

There are bad ideas, there are horrible ideas, and then there's this.
Sheesh.

Back with more in the "I USE THIS" series shortly. And CLICK HERE to see everything in the "I USE THIS" series of mini-reviews that I started a few weeks ago.