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Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 January 2010 )
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Introduction One simply cannot help but admire the way in which the Bender Ball is marketed. Most of the weight loss programs out there will use fancy language and many statistics laid out in visual form to make their pitch and to be fair there is quite a bit of that in the way the bender balls are sold to you as well. However, there is one very real difference between the marketing method for the bender exercise ball and most of the other programs out there and that is something that is missing from a lot of the other Bender Ball reviews available online. Quite simply put, the Bender Ball marketing argument not only tells you why they think the Bender Ball is good, but they also tell you why they think a grab bag of other methods out there are bad. Most weight loss programs will do this for their main competitor, but Bender Ball is far more comprehensive in their criticism. This doesn’t mean that you can necessarily sculpt beautiful abs with Bender Ball however; to learn the answer to that question, we need to dig a bit deeper.
The Bender Ball ClaimAs previously mentioned, the argument put forward by the makers of the Bender Ball is that their product is better than most of the other products available on the market today. Whether you want 6 pack abs or a sure fire way to target abdominal muscles that might be giving you problems, the Bender Ball claims to have your solution. In making this claim, they discuss alternatives such as standard crunches , small balls that are not bender balls and large balls that are not bender balls.
Their argument against standard crunches is that they do not allow for proper flexion (i.e. keeping your muscles tight while doing the exercise) or proper extension (i.e. keeping your muscles extended so that they can gain the firmness you are aiming for). Their argument against small balls that are not bender balls is that the elasticity of the Bender Ball combined with its slip-resistant surface allows you to do a consistent workout with the ball staying in the same place throughout, something they claim does not happen with the small balls. With the large balls, their argument is that the large size is actually inefficient and that the Bender Ball has the ability to concentrate all of your effort onto the target area, resulting in much better and quicker gains.
Evaluating the claims of the Bender Ball – Standard CrunchesThe Bender Ball makes so many different claims for itself that knowing where to start in an evaluation can be a difficult thing to do. Because of that, let’s start with their arguments against standard crunches as those arguments are the easiest ones to discuss. The arguments made against standard crunches are arguments that are not new in the abdominal exercise industry and indeed they are arguments that have been made both in marketing and academic circles before.
There is research to back up the assertion that crunches are not the most efficient exercise technique out there because a lot of energy is lost and a lot of force is unfocused. What the placement of the ball does is it forces a person, even at their rest position, to make an acute angle between their upper and lower body. This in turn forces them to maintain a modicum of flexion and extension throughout the entire exercise and as a result the force is localized in the abs a lot better. Because of this sound scientific backing, we can confidently conclude that the Bender Ball will return better results than the standard crunches, all other things being equal.
Evaluating the claims of the Bender Ball – Other BallsAs previously mentioned, the Bender Ball marketing campaign does not just go after crunches, but it also attacks other ball products that are sold on the market as exercise aids. The first of these is the group known as large balls and these include many of the classical medicine balls that people can picture. In regards to the specific issue of abdominal exercises, the creators of the bender exercise ball do have a point that the larger balls cancel a lot of the efficiency gain that balls can provide versus ball-less crunches. Furthermore, larger balls can actually have the potential to cause harm because of the hyperextension they promote and therefore should not be used in abdominal exercises at all. They are great in other areas, but this is not their forte.
And that brings us to the last major claim of the Bender Ball which is that it is better than the small exercise balls as well. Just to refresh your memory, the Bender Ball claims that because of higher elasticity in the material and slip resistance in the covering, it is better than other small exercise ball products. It is true that one of the major problems with small exercise balls is that they tend to slip, making it hard to get a consistent exercise rhythm going. Unfortunately, there were no studies available at the time of writing from an independent source regarding the slip resistance prospects of the material used to make the Bender Ball, so at the end of the day the only source that has this information is the Bender Ball website. It is often wise to take things said on a website marketing a product with a grain of salt and for that reason the only real conclusion that can be reached regarding a comparison between Bender Balls and other small exercise balls is an inconclusive one at best.
Final Thoughts on the Bender BallThe first principles behind the Bender Ball insofar as abdominal exercises are concerned are sound. They have criticisms against larger exercise balls and standard crunches that are valid and should be looked at closely by you because the Bender Ball is a more effective exercise tool than either of those two approaches. Where the logic breaks down however is when bender balls are compared to other small exercise balls. Here, it really is more a matter of personal preference than anything substantive either for or against the claims that they make.
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Wednesday, 06 May 2009 |
