Exercise Ball

Curtis gave me one of the extra exercise balls that they had around the house. He found it while he was packing things up in preparation for the inside work that the contractors will be doing soon.


Today I decided to blow it up and use it. When I injured my back at work a while ago, I did physical therapy and chiropractic rather than surgery; my boss' wife hurt her back around the same time and did surgery. She was back without pain quicker than I was but a few years later she was in pain again and needing more surgery. My back took longer to heal but it stayed pain-free and stronger longer. Sitting on an exercise ball while I was at the computer helped a lot to strengthen the small muscles between each of the vertebrae to help stabilize my spine.

I started pumping up the ball with the pump that came with it. It seemed inadequate for the job. When I do certain activities I try to use my non-dominant arm to give it a workout; like carrying grocery bags, I flex my arm slightly so the muscles are getting a mild workout. Today I started out using my non-dominant hand to pump up the ball. There is a white tape they tell you to use so that you don't overinflate the ball. There were 2 holes on the tape; I did the math and found one was for a 26" ball (which this one is), the other was for a 29" ball. Not sure why they give you a tape with 2 unmarked holes including one that is larger than what they want you to blow it up to.

After 5 minutes of pumping.

10 minutes.

15 minutes; my right hand, which was keeping the pump attached to the ball, started cramping.

20 minutes.

25 minutes.

30 minutes; its getting fuller, so air now leaks out through the pump if you stop pumping.

35 minutes; I'm using the plug to keep the air in while I take the photo.

40 minutes.

45 minutes.

I took a break after 45 minutes of pumping; my alarm went off reminding me that I needed to get lunch started for Dad. Both my forearms were sore. Before I started up again after lunch I decided to see how much more I had to pump the ball up. I decided I had enough exercise for today; I'll finish it off tomorrow.

The top of the tape is at 26"; they probably give you the white tape so that you know that you have to keep pumping!

This evening after dinner I started weeding the olena and mountain apple bed in the front yard. I only got the area around the olena done before it got too dark to see. Tomorrow I will complete the area around the mountain apple. I also checked out the volunteer papaya that I had found in the compost pile. It seems to be struggling now. And the unknown plant now appears to be a weed; there are no fruits on it at all.


Happy Birthday to Danny, Lillian, & Heather!