Would You Use A Body Ball As A Chair?

So you have a desk job. You sit there for 8 hours every day, making excuses just to get up from your chair. Chugging water and coffee like its actually the job you are getting paid to do, now you are out, so you need to get up and get more, and then oops, its time for a bathroom trip. Anything to get you away from your monitor for 5 minutes. You could even take up smoking for that 5 minute break every hour or so, allowing you to day dream about being somewhere else. Maybe you would rather be hiking, camping, running or on the golf course. But let me recommend something else: Change your chair to a Body Ball.

Gear Fire came up with 10 great reasons to convert:

1. Forces proper spine alignment. Because an exercise ball is not stable, your body needs to try to balance itself on it. The perfect spinal posture is coincidently the easiest to balance with. Thus, your body will automatically try to align itself into the proper posture. This helps improve your spinal health, and decrease back pains.

2. Causes you to frequently change positions. An exercise ball causes to you to change your position often to balance. For example, if you turn 45 degrees to face the phone, your body will assume a new position. This helps reduce damage caused by prolonged sitting in the same position.
3. Fitness is at your fingertips. Another great thing about using this alternative to a chair, is that you can do stretches or mini-workouts whenever you want, without getting up. If you’ve ever stuck waiting for a minute or two, you can make productive use of that time with a quick workout or stretch. Because it’s much more convenient, you will probably do it more, thus resulting in better health.

4. Improve your balance. This one is very understandable. Sitting on an unstable surface all day will improve your sense of balance, as well as the reactions of your muscles. The result? An overall better balance, that can be observed out of the office.

5. Get that 6-pack you’ve been wanting. Your body primarily uses your core (abdominal) muscles to help compensate for changes in balance. Thus, your essentially getting a low-key abdominal workout. This may not sound like a lot, but consider the amount of time you spend on your computer at the office, or at home. Those hours can build up, and result in a strengthening of ab muscles.

6. Improves your circulation. Using an exercise ball will keep the blood flowing to all parts of your body, throughout the day. A desk chair on the other hand, reduces circulation to some parts of the body after prolonged use.

7. You’ll feel more energetic. It has been proven that staying in one position, will make you more tired, while moving around and being active with give you more energy. With an exercise ball as a chair, you will feel much more energized after you finish your work.

8. Burn up to 350 calories per day. More movement during the day = more calories burnt. Burning 350 calories per day = losing one pound of fat every 10 days. You may not burn quite 350, but nonetheless, it will help you stay fit.

9. Really cheap. Specialized exercise balls designed for sitting usage can range from $15 to $80. Much cheaper than buying an ergonomic chair, which can range anywhere from $100 to $400 and up.

10. C’mon, its fun! Who doesn’t like the idea of bouncing around on an exercise ball all day. Exercise balls are an exciting alternative to chairs, and may just give that spark of fun to your day.

Strengthening those core muscles, especially giving them better stamina, along with a better posture can help with a wide array of activities, my personal favorite being your golf swing. Rock Bottom Fitness has a bunch of them for even less than previously quoted starting at just $9.99! And with a price like that, what do you have to lose? Give it a try and let me know how you like it. If worst comes to worst at least you will have a body ball to do some core work with at home if you don’t like sitting on it.

Just so you don’t think this caveman is a hypocrite, I am currently sitting on an Altus 75cm 600lb Body Ball and I am absolutely loving it.

What do you think Rock Heads, Would you give a body ball chair a shot?

~Scratch