Exercise Ball Over Rated
by Jean-Luc Boissonneault
The ball has been named exercise ball, physio ball, stability ball, Swiss ball (even though this ball originated in Germany). The ball is a great tool for certain exercises but is extremely over rated and was never called the miracle ball. The problem arises when people start making up their own exercises thinking it will improve there performance or strengthen or improve there balance. People are using this ball in ways that are not only ridiculous but they can hurt themselves. Let's take squatting on the ball with weight, if you want to save your knees don't do this! It causes damage to the ligaments in the knee specifically the ACL and the LCL because of the round surface of the ball the outside of your knees take all the pressure!
Unless your still between the ages of 6-14 which your not, then balancing on the ball will only make you better at balancing on the ball. The problem is that it does not change over to real life. So what is it good for? The ball is a good tool to change your body position on a exercise to modify the strength curve. It's also a good tool to teach someone how to arch there back during a squat. I find the ball to be a great tool to keep proper form during certain exercises like the barbell curl and it is great for getting that stretch in abdominal exercises.
So if used properly the ball can be a great tool just as long as your not trying to perform seal tricks and doing more damage than good.
