Since the early 1990s, the SB has gone from the rehabilitation setting into athletic arena and now to the fitness world. Paul Chek, NMT, was one of the pioneers in the evolution of the SB and was one of the first to use the SB to rehab and condition elite athletes. For years in Europe, the SB has been used in schools as chairs. The reported improvement in focus, handwriting skills, better understanding of class material and better organization skills are so over whelming that there are currently several pilot studies being done here in the US using the SB in school settings.

Remember all physical activities require free-movement strength, this includes walking, something that exercise machines with fixed movements can’t provide and in some cases just down right dangerous. For example, lifting your bicycle over head to put it on the rack of your car, just maintaining this arm movement requires the coordination action of 48 muscles of the arms, shoulders, chest, and back, plus all their connective tissues and not to mention neuromuscular activity. To strengthen just the biceps or triceps in an isolated machine and not the rest of the muscles put you at an injury risk waiting to happen. This is what makes the SB so unique?  The SB utilizes the neuromuscular system in a way that no other exercise equipment does! It incorporates the use of: multiple muscle systems, neurologically induces muscular responses. In short it allows for strengthen of all these muscles and then some, conducive to how you use them in real life. Not to mention its direct recruitment of the main muscle TVA (transverse abdominus) responsible for flattening that problem tummy area.

There are so many exercises and benefits from using the SB that I could write an entire book. Despite this, it is still being marketed to the general fitness minded individual as a fad “crunch machine”. That’s like buying a Ferrari and driving it 5 mph!

So let just take one traditional exercise and do it on the ball. Push Ups! The stabilization required maintaining a push-up position (i.e. hands on the ball feet on the floor), recruits and develops the stabilizers and neutralizers of the shoulder girdle/joint in a way that a chest machine cannot. If you can’t perform a push up on the SB just hold the position for 20 or 30 seconds and be amazed. The improved joint function, due to this stabilization work, results in increased joint integrity, decreased injury potential and increased efficiency in force production. If done correctly chances are you have just done your first of many truly beneficial exercises on the SB.

As a former professional athlete I have been training with the SB for some 10 plus years.

It is the corner stone piece for all high profile athletes. Our trainers have been using the SB here with clients at our facility for 6 years now and have watched the SB help clients with back, shoulder and muscle imbalances and injuries caused by old traditional training.  We accredit this to work done on the SB and other functional modalities. If your goal is to truly be fit, the SB should be your corner stone equipment piece. Take the initial step and learn more about SB training. And you will be on your way towards building a healthier functioning body for life. Until next time happy training!