The stability ball has been in the news lately and it hasn’t been good. An NBA star recently broke an arm on the ball. Don’t get me wrong, we still use stability balls. However, we never allow athletes to use them in conjunction with weights. We may occasionally mix a ball and a weight vest but, never dumbbells. Years ago we did but, as the first anecdotal evidence began to come out about balls bursting, we stopped lifting on them. Word to the wise. A stability ball with a nick in it will behave less like a burst resistant ball. Always check your stability balls and replace them if they show signs of wear.
Another thing you haven’t read about yet is stability balls and treadmills. I should have written this up when it happened but, our “incident” was in the pre-blog days. Gyms now often have both stability balls and treadmills in the same space. Do not let your stability balls anywhere near your treadmills. 3-4 years ago one of my players inadvertently kicked a stability ball in the direction of a treadmill that was on. If you had asked me to guess what would happen next, I would have said the treadmill would tear the ball into pieces. Lucky for us the treadmill was running with no one on it. The ball went under the treadmill and tilted the treadmill up on a 30 degree angle. However, the treadmill kept running and the ball did not burst. Scary stuff. I hate to think what would have happened had someone been on the treadmill.
Word to the wise stability balls don’t mix well with weights or treadmills.
Michael Boyle's Strengthcoach.com Blog 