Interesting finding

Last week one of my teammates was doing handstands against the wall on a bosu ball for rehab. I thought it was sweet and tried doing it freestanding. As soon as I got on, the ball and I started to bounce pretty violently up and down. I discovered that the way I push in a handstand is like a pulsation. Each small push corrects for the time that I'm not pushing. After a few tries it started to level out and the bouncing stopped. I've done 2x30sec HS on it a couple days now and have noticed a huge difference in the stability of my freestanding HS. I've also noticed that my forearms are incredibly tired after just 30sec.

Just thought I'd share with fellow HS enthusiasts.

Lemme know if anyone tries it or has done it before.

Interesting! Unfortunately I have nowhere to try it...

That is a very interesting idea! It would be excellent for the rotator cuff in stabilizing the shoulder.

One minor quibble with your post, when you make new topics can you come up with a relevant title that gives an idea of what to expect when opening the thread? E.g. Bosu Ball Handstand Observation

Just dont tell Poliquin!!!

As useful as it may be... I am on a crusade to destroy all bosu balls and stupid crap like them and replace them with sqaut racks, so I cannot support this idea. Sorry.

Nick_EOD said:

As useful as it may be... I am on a crusade to destroy all bosu balls and stupid crap like them and replace them with sqaut racks, so I cannot support this idea. Sorry.

And for the reasons you want to destroy them you are absolutely correct! Another grossly misused piece of fitness equipment.

(BTW Nick i just found that our basement has a squat rack free for all members of the building and i am now undertaking a 2x week squat morning. In fact in addition to rings, PB bars, a squat rack is high on the list of items for our 'yoga' studio. It needs to be there!)

Anyway - for legs an unstable surface it just wrong! All the top guys agree on this. Awhile back though i watched an excellent Erik Cressy seminar and he has found that the rotator cuff actually responds to an unstable situation. With this in mind i suspect the OPs exercise could actually be of use.

Nick_EOD said:

As useful as it may be... I am on a crusade to destroy all bosu balls and stupid crap like them and replace them with sqaut racks, so I cannot support this idea. Sorry.

You mean something like this?

b_KHh_c6Ha4

The problem is... you go to the gym and see people really doing silly stuff like that...

Or 1,000 different curl variations...

or sets of 100 on every single machine in the place...

I am so glad I work out at home most of the time. Gyms make my head want to explode

Noted on the title thing.

**I'm an idiot and forgot to mention the bosu was turned upside down so that my hands were on the flat surface.**

As for your quest to destroy bosu's and things of that sort... why?? If it's a cool toy that can potentially increase athleticism (and used safely of course), I'm all for it!

Until ~2 months ago I'd only worked out in gymnastics gyms. Couple months ago I started doing some prehab lifting with a teammate at our rec center... most people are so ignorant when it comes to exercise that I almost feel bad.

Nick_EOD said:

The problem is... you go to the gym and see people really doing silly stuff like that...

Or 1,000 different curl variations...

or sets of 100 on every single machine in the place...

I am so glad I work out at home most of the time. Gyms make my head want to explode

We should get rid of squat racks too, in that case. What do people use those for at gyms? Curling? Check. Crappy quarter squats where they only bend at their knees? Check. Ass to grass squats with good form? Not so much. There are probably as many people who use a squat rack right as their are who use the unstable surface products for good uses.

acegerter said:

As for your quest to destroy bosu's and things of that sort... why?? If it's a cool toy that can potentially increase athleticism (and used safely of course), I'm all for it!

Because 99% of the people are doing something retarded like toe squats, or 1-legged "deadlifts" while holding 5lbs pink dumbbells, or trying to bench press on one, or any variety of other stupid things.

I realize that they may be an effective way to help train handstands, but beyond that, their use is pretty limited. I just hate fake fitness. I hate personal trainers who don't have a clue. I hate people who exercise because "you're supposed to" and have no real goal. Actually, I hate a lot of things, and am generally a spite filled person

trianglechoke7 said:

We should get rid of squat racks too, in that case. What do people use those for at gyms? Curling? Check. Crappy quarter squats where they only bend at their knees? Check. Ass to grass squats with good form? Not so much. There are probably as many people who use a squat rack right as their are who use the unstable surface products for good uses.

Or we could just get rid of the people?!?

Edit: I should probably note that this has not been a great morning. And it is easier to take things out on the internet than people who outrank me, but don't know anything...

donn't worrry.... bee happyyy

From the research I've seen, unstable surfaces for upper body can be beneficial, not for lower body. Nick: floors should be removed so people don't lay down and do their god damn stupid crunches.

Razz said:

From the research I've seen, unstable surfaces for upper body can be beneficial, not for lower body. Nick: floors should be removed so people don't lay down and do their god damn stupid crunches.

agreed. I tend to levitate everywhere I go anyway, so floors are unnecessary for me.

Sure bosu balls are over-used. I actually witnessed a trainer having a guy do curls on bosu ball and when he asked what does this work his answer was "Don't worry, it's functional." You can't make this sort genius up.

So as much as I hate bosu balls, there is still use for them such as rehab. Ankle injuries, serratus activation work, throwing it at the guy in the squat rack doing curls etc.

People abuse a bunch of equipment in stupid ways it doesn't mean it needs to be thrown out.

I did curls with the squat rack bar yesterday >_

acegerter said:

I did curls with the squat rack bar yesterday >_<

In the squat rack? I really hope someone didn't want to squat then.

Nick_EOD said:

acegerter said:

I did curls with the squat rack bar yesterday >_<

In the squat rack? I really hope someone didn't want to squat then.

Unless of course he can curl more than the guy that wants to squat , actually seen this happen.

Still, there are usually other places to curl in the gym. And if he can curl more than he can deadlift there is a problem...

The only other place to squat is the power rack. I would rather see someone squatting deep in a squat rack than not going to good depth because they are afraid of getting stuck under the bar regardless of the weight.

haha there weren't many people there at the time.

I actually have no clue how much I can squat, never mess with it really. My events are PB, HB and vault so besides vault, it works to my advantage to have small legs and big upper body. I also put meat on my legs very easily so I try to avoid heavy lifting. My leg conditioning usually consists of tabata circuits with squat jumps and various rehab exercises (1-2x a week). Occasionally I'll put on a 20-40lb weight vest and do toe raises in a deep squat.

Has anyone tried doing a handstand on a slackline? Now there is an unstable surface. I am not going to be the first one.

I saw Cirque du Solei's Ovo a couple weekends ago. There is a little chinese guy who does one arms on it, super crazy stuff. He also did HS flags to get the wire swinging and proceeded to walk down the swinging line. Then he did flags again to stop himself from swinging. I was in awe the entire act.

This is the most entertaining thread in weeks, at least!

I'm going to check out the bosu balls for HS, that's a very good idea. Much the same, at least in concept, as the rings are, but a totally different kind of instability. Great idea!

Outside of trying to specifically train for balance, I agree that doing squats on things like Bosu balls are a bit silly and not in the best interest of most trainees. I understand they have some benefits for skiers though... but that's beyond my immediately available memory to recall and is certainly not a huge portion of training time in any case.

You know, I think people should be able to curl in the squat rack if they are using 135 or more. If it's less than that a bosu ball cannon should unleash its fury until they run away in fear and shame! They should also have to sign a very large "Jackass" list that is posted on the front door of the gym.

Also, as far as squat racks go... they waste space that could be taken up by a good power rack! Seriously! I hate those squat racks. Short people can't even do full ROM squats in them!

slizzardman said:

Also, as far as squat racks go... they waste space that could be taken up by a good power rack! Seriously! I hate those squat racks. Short people can't even do full ROM squats in them!

but they look so cool, especially when painted bright yellow