Those exercise balls that you blow up and sit on

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IbDhaWDLu0

Good luck with that.

Thanks jinglej x

nanny my DD used hers when she was in labour with her youngest, your not planning that are you

I fell off one in the gym and hurt my back

Oh glassortwo --- you are so funny. Most likely I will fall off it and hurt my back like susiecb.

I use one of those nanny1 and it's great. Good for doing abs exercises and supposed to strengthen the 'core'. Might be best on a soft floor in case you fall off - thanks for link jinglej - I'll take a look at that later

thanks jogginggirl

BTW nanny1, you don't blow them up. () You get a pump.

Ah! Duh! Me bit dumb sometimes jinglej

Wondered why it was taking so long!

You being sarky?

Once blown / pumped up you can lie over it or even better I find lie on the floor with your legs on it and gently roll your legs from side to side. Eases the back a treat . You can also sit on it and gently roll down bone by bone until your hands touch the floor. As with any exercise though I'd suggest getting advice from a physio or trainer so that you won't hurt yourself because everyone is different in what their body can do.

Good tips goldengirl and good advice re: physio or trainer............Pilates is very good too (especially for us ladies of a certain age) - perhaps you can find one locally........

Ha ha jingle I wasn't being sarky... honest... I really did think you had to blow it up!

Hey... didn't offend you did I?

You can sit on it like a chair while using your laptop. Balancing helps core stability. Best of all my gd liked sitting on my knee and being boucned up and down.

nanny1! Definitely not!

I was worrying I might have offended you!

I have used an exercise ball from time to time but I also fell off mine and finished up with a carpet burn on my knee which took 3 months to heal! One of the best and easiest exercises that the physio showed me is to sit on the ball with a straight back, knees bent at 90 degrees and lift one of your feet off the ground for a few seconds, then the other one. You can feel all those little muscles in your back working, trying to keep your balance.

Well they are a great way of giving young babies "Tummy Time" in a relaxing way - particularly if they protest when put on the floor. You can gently roll them back and forth. As your granchildren grow you can find lots of ways to them to use them including bouncing them on it and laying them across it either on their back or tummy. It's not just young babies that should have "tummy time" but once children start to toddle the opportunities become limited and they love playing on the ball - if young obviously with an adult and if older independently. All of my three grandchildren from 6 years to 18 months love time on the ball. They can experiece being upside down as the ball rolls over and they are held on.

It's great fun for two people to put the ball between them - either back to back or front to front and exert gently pressure and move the ball around. It acts like a massage.