A Radiance Gear & Gadget Review.
The Bender Ball is one of those infomercial fitness gadgets I would never have looked at twice; however, it became one of the tools in my Trainers toolbox after a series of events.
I received a Bender Ball as a Christmas gift shortly after meeting a Bender Ball Method Master Trainer. (Absolutely no link between the two people or events).
A few Bender Ball Pilates classes later, and I put in an order for a couple more to use with my personal training clients, and now I have a pretty large repertoire of exercises I can use it with at home.
I am as shocked as you, especially in light of the Bender Ball informercials true-to-late-night-form of cheesiness & deceptiveness. Here’s why I like it and how I use mine.
What is a Bender Ball?
It’s so simple it’s almost laughable that they built an entire lifestyle around it, but I am only going to talk about the ball here. It’s a 9-inch inflatable squishy green ball. That’s it. Leslee Bender, an accomplished fitness professional, developed it.
Why do I actually like it?
- After 15 years of core training myself and hundreds of personal training clients, it’s always good to incorporate new and different exercises into the mix for variety’s sake. I have enjoyed the variations and new twists that the Bender Ball provides to classic core exercises. It just spices things up a bit.
- It is a beneficial, simple, and easy-to-use transport tool for use when working with small groups of 2 or 3 clients.
- It is rated burst-proof to 400 pounds, so I am not afraid to sit, lay or kneel on it.
- The 9-inch diameter is a good size to wedge into the nooks and crannies of the body.
- It is super squishy so you can lie on it and it compresses instead of jamming into your ribs or poking your lunch like a firmer ball does.
- It can be inflated instantly so it can be packed in a gym bag or suitcase.
- It’s a fairly economical gadget for the multitude of exercise you can do with it.
- It does offer the classic crunch a greater range of motion plus instability for added core muscle work.
My fave Bender Ball exercises
Myotatic crunch with hands overhead
Oblique twists
Hip flexor stretch
Bridge + alternating leg raise
Reality Check
- Of course you are not going to radically change your physique with this ball, that’s pure silliness. Instead, it is a simple tool to add variety to your hardcore workouts for an exercise or two, then return it to the gadget bin and go back to lifting heavyweight and high-intensity interval training.
- If you find you are dancing around with it in your hands or using it for more than 5 minutes per workout and you wonder why you haven’t lost weight or toned your muscles, mystery solved.
- Any core training exercises are potentially injurious if you don’t understand and can first stabilize with transversus abdominis. Most people do not.
- Most exercises are mat-based and will not have much transference to sports conditioning or athletic performance unless a faulty core stabilization strategy is first addressed.
- A 408% increase in core activation (according to the ads) isn’t really a valuable metric since 100% of us don’t really need crunches anyway.
- Sure, you could make do with your kids’ beach toys, but I do like the size, the squish-ability, and the burst-proof rating.
- I was at a bit of a loss about what to do with it when I first got it, so taking a class with a Bender Method Master Trainer was extremely helpful.
Bender Ball Core Training Retail Kit
Happy Training,
Shari
Talkback Questions
What is your favorite Bender Ball exercise?
I started pumping iron and drinking green smoothies in my teens. Now a 40+ mama with 25 years of experience working in the fitness industry, I do things differently. What I discovered during my personal healing journey made me pivot in my approach as a personal fitness and wellness coach. Now I teach people how to sweat, nourish and glow from an entirely new perspective.