[quote]FightingScott wrote:
Did Paul Chek invent the swiss ball or did he just popularize it? Is it even Swiss?
Swiss Balls are overused. There are a handful of exercises that you can do on the swiss ball that are worthwhile.
Dumbbell Bench Press.
That’s about it. Ok, so there’s only one. I still think the Swiss Ball Dumbbell Bench Press is an ok exercise. [/quote]
Except it won’t really be a Dumbell Bench Press, because there is no bench ;]
-dizzle
[quote]mazevedo wrote:
So what’s truly the benefit of doing them on the ball? I agree that 99% of the shit people do on them is worthless/ retarded but if there are actual benefits to some excercises I’d like to hear more about them. Thanks.
[/quote]
If I say Stability is a benefit, I know I’ll get kicked in the testicles through the internet. But how often do you get to push against something in the real world with a stable surface behind you? The answer is a few times a week…when you do bench press on a bench. Throwing, punching, and double fisted knife jabs are a different story.
The Swiss Ball Bench Press is a good exercise because it teaches you how to bench press with your entire body. Done properly, your upper back should be what’s in contact with the swiss ball. Your lower back and ass will need to flex to support themselves.
If the ball is the right size, you’ll also get some bounce out of the bottom. This will allow you to use weights closer to your conventional dumbbell bench press than you’d think.
The reason I called it a swiss ball bench press is because I didn’t want to be a douche and call it a supine swiss press. How gay does that sound?
pop them when no ones looking.
[quote]Curodd wrote:
Even louie simmons advocates some use of the swiss ball and westside are some of the badest fuckers around!
but i know thats not the point your getting at. Doing timed dumbbell presses on a stability ball vs one legged bosu ball cable woodchops is quite different, and i totally agree about the people rolling around in the ab/stretch room just doin the most rediculous shit they can think of because its “hard”
the only time people like this get to me at my gym is if your doing a full squat and these gaylords are supersetting smith machine squats with leg extensions and telling someone else(as though i dont have ears) that im gonna hurt my knees going that low. Whenever this happens i always make sure to point out to my training partner in a decently loud voice how harmful the smith and leg extension are and how full squats done properly are fine for the knees. These people usually just look raped afterwards[/quote]
louie doesn’t actually recommend them much anymore. He realized that the ball actually helps you lift the weight to some degre. He just uses a bench for timed dumbell work.
[quote]wukey wrote:
pop them when no ones looking.[/quote]
Or when someone is doing a “supine swiss press.”
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
wukey wrote:
pop them when no ones looking.
Or when someone is doing a “supine swiss press.”[/quote]
as far as mental images go, that one really cracks me up.
If i can get someone to film it that would definatly be worth me looseing my gym membership for. (its a shit gym anyway)
[quote]Dr.PowerClean wrote:
on edge wrote:
It’s not the Swiss Balls fault that morons like them. Get rid of the Swiss Balls and you will still have the same people in the gym doing something stupid.
Swiss Balls are a tool. They shouldn’t be a favorite but they have uses.
By the way, when I still worked out in gyms, I would line up all the Swiss Balls and separate them just the right amount. It was probably about 7 or 8 balls over about 40 or 50 feet. I’d get a running start and go Superman across the top of them. It’s pretty fun!
Oh yeah… I’m one of those morons…
Sorry, on edge, but we now have TWO threads which you could post this on, Squat Rack Curls, and SRC 2. Doc
[/quote]
Ahh, I see your point, Doc. I’m taking up all the Swiss Balls when people want to use them for important exercises. I was never aware of the people standing around saying “damn, that guy’s using all the Swiss Balls for Supermans when I want to sit on them while I do my curls”. I feel like shit now.
[quote]Chewie wrote:
Hagar wrote:
I’m big and strong and I am proud to use the swiss ball for some exercises. I
really don’t care much about being sexy in the gym except when there’s women around:)
I used it ala Charles Poliquin. He incorporates it in very useful ways. Mainly for abs, curls, and DB presses. I shunned the ball for many years but I’ll tell you, I was sore as hell after I used one. I was doing just a whole bunch of ab exercises and my abs never got sore. Then I tried the swiss ball, just a few sets, and my abs were devastated…sore for a whole week.
Same here.
Now what are those half swiss ball things with a board on the other half. Those are ridiculous. [/quote]
Hey now, I’m dead serious when I say that those things function as the BEST lounging device on earth. Just put it ball side up on your floor and sit down in front of it and lean back. Nice squishy chair for playing some vid games or resting between sets.
Also good as a trampoline to jump off of until you rip every tendon in your ankle.
Also, get a regular swiss ball and fill it half full of water for a great place to sit and lay on. Nice soft water pillow/chair.
-chris
[quote]mazevedo wrote:
Curodd wrote:
gaylords
LOL I haven’t seen the word “gaylord” used in a long time. But it’s a perfect adjective to describe soy consuming soccer mom swiss ballers.[/quote]
haha i think its because you need to do a decent amount of work to be deemed a gaylord. It cant just be one gay act. That just makes you a gay. It has to be either a bunch, or 1 single repetitive gay act that earns you the title of lord of the gays
At my gym there are no less than 10 fitballs on the lower area and probably 6 or 7 on the upper deck. BOSU balls? Those little half ball half platform things? I think they have 8 or so.
The worst part is that I’ve seen trainers there use them exclusively for entire workouts. It’s so rampant that I’ve gone to the fitness director and threatened to come in one night with a Philips screwdriver and plunge it into every one of their $100 each BOSU balls.
Here’s my two favorite retarded moves I’ve seen performed (somewhat) by a CLIENT shown the move by a TRAINER to stood there nodding in approval like a retarded bobblehead.
So the trainer has the person do the squat, no big deal. Then has her do a wall squat (which takes away some of the effort and balance) while STANDING on a BOSU ball, so she can “work her core and balance”.
It looked like pink sweat-suited hippo bouncing on one of those inflatables that kids play on. And she was PAYING for this crap.
But it gets even better. He then handed her a pair of dumbbells and…I can hardly even type this…she had her doing JUMPING lunges switching legs in mid-air and LANDING both feet onto two separate BOSU balls repeatedly.
It looking liked this: jump, wobble, jump, lead foot fall off, jump, fall backwards, jump, bosu ball scoots back because all of this is being done on carpet so it slides…
Unless that kid was trying out for Circ de Sole WHAT THE HELL???
And they are paying for this so-called instruction at around $50 an hour…poor bastards.
couldn’t think of a funny caption, but theres one here somewhere.
I just thought of the perfect antidote to the Swiss Ball-The Swiss Army Knife.
Actually, I have to come clean here, about four years ago, at the advice of several PT's, I bought one of these wonderful "pieces of exercise equipment." I was rehabbing my beat up body after a car accident. The instability of the damn thing drove me crazy as every false move jolted my herniated discs and shot radicular pains everywhere.
The whole time I was using it, my Great Dane was nearly crying with desire, as he thought it was a giant toy. I finally gave it to him-oh, the joy of seeing him rip it to shreds kept me smiling for months, and the endorhins this elevated decreased my pain! Doc
Theres nothing wrong with swiss balls - they just get ‘overused’ by the uninformed.
JMO.
I stopped in one day at the local gym for a workout, since I usually go to the university gym, and near the front desk is a bulletin board with “Exercise of the week”. The featured exercise was “wall squats w/ swiss ball”. After looking over my shoulder, I ripped the piece of paper off the board, threw it in the garbage, and happily went about my work out. 
“…But it gets even better. He then handed her a pair of dumbbells and…I can hardly even type this…she had her doing JUMPING lunges switching legs in mid-air and LANDING both feet onto two separate BOSU balls repeatedly.”
Couldn’t help but to slowly break into a cold sweat of shock the further I read that post…
They do work well for rehab purposes. I have a few exercises I have to do on the ball that can’t be done on anything else, I feel stupid but ya gotta do watcha gotta do.