I am a fitness enthusiast. I bought my ball on this web-site over a year ago, and I use it 2-3 times per week on average. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND this trainer for people middle aged or older to do BALANCE TRAINING. What do I mean by "balance training"? Stand on the ball! Here's my journey.When I first "met" this ball I had not bought it yet. I saw it at the gym, and thought: "what do you do with it?" So I put it in the middle of the floor in the stretching area and stood on it (both feet). I'm reasonably fit, so my reaction was "no problem, what's the big deal?" So then I tried to stand on it with one foot and the light bulb went on! Whoa! This is DIFFICULT! Not only is it difficult I could see right away the benefits of improving the muscular strength and stability of the muscles in the foot and lower leg. Here are the basics: Put the ball round-side-down, and it is a bit easier. Put the ball round-side-up and it is more difficult! Also, if you PUMP the ball up more, it is also slightly more difficult (at the gym I go to there is always one ball somewhat "flat = easier" and one ball "round = harder").So when I first started out, I went all-in: round-side-up. I would try to stand on the ball with one leg only and I found it quite difficult to do 20 seconds at a time. My feet and ankles were wobbling all over the place, and I had to use my arms and the non-standing leg for balance. However, I quickly improved. Within a couple weeks I was up to 30-40 seconds consistently and would occasionally go a whole minute without falling off. I would try to do 2-3 minutes cumulatively on each foot before I switched sides (falling off multiple times during the 2-3 minutes). I made a game of it. I would get FRUSTRATED if I could not last at least a whole minute at least once on each leg during my session.Fast forward 6 months or so and I'm now doing 5 minutes (cumulative) on each side, twice for 10 minutes per leg or 20 minutes total. I'm now (usually) able to do a full 2 minutes consecutively on each side without falling off - or at least I'm very frustrated if I cannot do the 2 minutes at least once on each leg. I have to concentrate very hard to maintain my balance - when I do this at home it helps if I have music on, and I let my mind wander but I (used to) put a dime or a penny on the floor and try to focus on that so I would not get distracted. I CANNOT watch TV while doing my balance training (I can, however, listen to the TV while I stare at the penny on the floor).Fast forward to 12 months and I'm still improving: I'm now able to do 5 minutes on each side (twice each, total of 20 minutes) and I rarely fall off anymore. I'm thinking: "wow, what progress I've made in one year! " My balance has improved so much I'm thinking I'm ready to be the next Great Wallenda (the people who walk on tightropes between buildings - ha ha). So I'm at the gym and I see a young woman pick up the Bosu ball and I have to watch her: She goes over, puts the ball down, does a couple squats on it and I'm thinking: "big deal!" Then she flips it over (round side down) and stands on it with one leg like I do. Then she raises her leg up behind her, grabs it with one of her free hands, and does a yoga pose! My Mind is Blown! So now I have my mission for the next year. I''m working on doing the yoga pose with one leg - MUCH more difficult than just standing on the ball with two free hands and a free leg to balance with. The progression is the same though: at first 20 seconds seemed nearly impossible, now I've progressed to (regularly) doing 60 seconds without falling off. Hopefully by the end of this year I'll be able to do it and hold it for 5 minutes at a time. I love this ball!
