Gym Ball

So, I went and got a gym ball. Or balance ball, or yoga ball, or whatever you want to call it. You know the ones.

(Why do they have so many names? It’s like those USB thingies…)

Mostly I got one as an experiment to see if it could be a satisfactory replacement of my back pain inducing home office chair. I always thought the gym-ball-as-a-chair thing was one of those silly fads, but then I met some people online who actually used a ball as a chair and recommended it.

And then I read this article full of well-considered, thoughtful reasons why using a ball as a chair was a bad idea, followed by loads of comments from people who just love their ball and what it’s done for their backs.

Hm, I thought, that’s interesting.

Unfortunately, the ball I got (although recommended for my height) is a bit low. Or perhaps my desk is too high, but either way, more adjustments will be necessary to make this work.

The ball came with two DVDs with workouts, too, though, so I can start there while I think about what to do about the desk. One of the DVDs has a peppy instructor from LA with two models, one of whom grins in a very disturbing way. But I still think I prefer that one to the vaguely yoga-ish one with the footage of a mountain stream, tinkling musing and a lady who says “breathe” a lot.

Both of them, and, frankly, the whole idea of having one of these balls in the house, pokes my what am I doing button. I want to take care of my body. I get that if I don’t want to be in pain most of the time, I had better start moving.

But everything about exercising and working out and gyms and all this stuff is just so… so not me. It’s a real problem. There’s more to say about this, but I’m going to leave it here for today.

And bounce for a bit.

Tagged as: Care of the machine