I went to the Sports store today.  I have been increasing my exercise lately
and wanted to add some variety to my tiny home gym.

Prior to today, I had a small room with my treadmill, a no frills weight
bench which does recline, a TV, assorted videos, an exercise mat, assorted
dumbbells and a pilates ring.  Today, I added to that a 55 cm exercise ball,
a jump rope and a 6 pound medicine ball.

So far, I only like the medicine ball.  I remember in high school, I could
skip rope like a professional boxer.  I embarrassed myself today.  It just
didn't feel right.  Still, I will work on it to improve coordination.

The big ball looks even bigger in my tiny gym.  It came with a tape of
pilates exercises.  I know I have seen more generic exercises such as
crunches, etc. and I will look for some of those on the web.  Pilates just
isn't for me.  It was challenging to just to maintain position while doing
simple curls, etc. and I used it to support my feet while doing pushups.  It
is a nice medium between 'girl' pushups and regular.  The father you extend
yourself on the ball, the harder it gets.  Much more variation than the two
choices between the 'girl' variety and regular.

My medicine ball brought me unexpected pleasures.  I do crunched to improve
my posture but I can never do anything with my legs lifted because it causes
my lower back to spasm.  Today, I was able to bring my knees to my chest and
lift my bottom far off the floor with no problem repeatedly.  I think it is
because of the additional weight physically pressing my spine to the floor.

I did some other exercises with it and like the feel and the concentrated
weight.  For instance, holding it high above my head and bringing it
alternate knees while doing crunches was a lot more challenging than my
regular ones.

If anyone has any ideas of how I can better use my new toys, please feel
free to post.  Also, keep in mind that I have a tiny room devoted to
exercise at my house but if you have any other suggestions, I am open.

j