Swiss ball?

Hey guys still waiting for my uni to arrive! however I’ve just had a revelation! When I tried my friends unicycle (the reason I’m wanting to buy!) It took literally an hour before i could ride it 30 meters and only 3-4 hours before i could ride it consistantly for however long i wanted, By the end of the day i tried doing some hopping and juming onto and off of the curb and didn’t find it hard, i seemed to find the balance fairly natural/easy(ish) I’m wondering if this quick progress had anything to do with my Swiss ball training and abilities I’ve used Swiss balls in training for rugby and water polo for 5 years and I can now stand on a Swiss ball whilst juggleing and feel perfectly stable (I’ll get some pictures for you 2nite or 2morrow), could it be that the key to balance on a unicycle is down to good core stability? built from training core muscles either through swiss ball use or hours of uni practice!>? Or is it official I’m a natural born clown!?
Wot do you think?
Josh
IDEA man how cool would it be if someone could balance on a unicycle ON TOP of a swiss ball! hmmm i feel an injury coming on!!! :smiley:

Do it. Make sure to video though, I want to see the wipeout.

you learnt very quickly. I would bet that the ball had something to do with it. I am assuming that what you are calling a swiss ball is the same as what we call a balance ball - an inflated ball about 1m in diameter used for exercise and balance.

you can stand up and juggle on one of those? wow :astonished:

having never been on one before i was able to kneel on the ball and feel compleatly stable. other people seemed to have real problems with this.

I figure that the balance involved in unicycling and using the swiss ball are quite interchangable.

keep up the good work!

ERIC

I sure can lol and yes that’s what I mean by Swiss ball hehe I can stand on the ball indefiantely and juggle for short periods :smiley: as juggleing requires your eyes to be moving and not focused on a fixed point making extreme balancing difficult!
Cool so you think he core body stability from the ball had an effect on my uni ability! :smiley:

Il put a short video together now lol

There’s someone in the Chinese State Circus who balances on a big wooden ball, on a giraffe unicycle, and does some one footed idling, whilst throwing cups onto her head with the other foot.

I have a swiss ball, I used it as my desk chair for a year or two. I don’t know if it improves your balance or anything just doing that, but it’s oh so comfy. I can’t stand up on it or anything clever though.

Joe

How do i Upload a video? lol done a short clip! :smiley:

VIDEO!!! haha sorry for fairly low quality its recorded in my bedroom on my webcam lol enjoy the music and the video! :smiley:
[URL=“http://media.putfile.com/Swiss-Ball-Skills”]
Cheers guys
Josh

http://media.putfile.com/Swiss-Ball-Skills

well swiss balls are easy for me to ballence on now (I already uni), so I would say yes being good at ballencing on one of those should help.

very impressive, good song choice.

The video is now on my myspace hehe


You might enjoy my crazy traction kiting video too :slight_smile:
Have Fun
Josh

Hahaha I love the power kiting video.

what are swiss balls/ where can you buy them?

Any sports shop they should only cost about £5-10 anything more and you’re payig or a brand name! So I gues that aound $10-20 for you right?
A Swiss ball Is designed to strengthen Core body muscles to allow for a higher level of core stability, balance and power. Its great for increasing sporting power for contact sports as a strongr coreis requird to convert power from the legs into upper body power for driving or handoff’s, it also improves balance and agility by working all the muscle grops in your core simiultaiously forcing them to make minor adjustments for balance and stability on the ball. There are so many exercises you can do with them you can work your entire body with them :smiley: Most professional rugby teams swear by them and plyometrics as training with them focusses on functional multi directional, dynamic power as opposed to weight training whch puts on bulk but gives straight single directional power which isn’t useful in a sporting situation, This is why body builders don’t make successful sportsmen. Sorry about the essay hehe I’m doing A Level PE hope that helps!
Josh

Oh yeah and sizewise when you sit on it your knees should be at 90degress or slightly straighter, no more bent than 90 though :slight_smile:
Hope that helps
Josh

Hi Josh, I just wanted to thank you for posting about this swiss ball. I managed to get my hands on one and have been sitting and kneeling on it for a week now. Can’t really balance very well yet, but it has helped my unicycling: today I felt I was balancing better, my legs were less stressed than usual, and I rode more than five miles on a 24" with no fatigue whatsoever! (in the past I’d start feeling tired in the waist and the thighs after just a few blocks)

I think this swiss ball idea has some merit. :slight_smile:

Cool excellent news! :smiley: If you want some exercises that would be helpful any hints and tips or any questions answered drop me an email at joshuapitman@btinternet.com Glad it’s helped!
Josh

I like using balance boards, because it’s scary for me to try things that have a good chance in ending in a UPD, because I frequently don’t land on my feet:(
Check out: Indo Board, Bongo Board, etc.

You can make your own ballance board.

Here’s a link to a turorial I made on making one.
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?p=784452#post784452

ha, i alreadsy have made afew.