When I say that Southaven Second-Graders are on the ball, I mean that literally. The second-graders at Greenbrook Elementary School in Southaven were in for a surprise when they walked into their classroom on the first day of school and found that instead of chairs, there were exercise balls at their desks. Rachel Anglin (2nd grade teacher) sought the donation from the DAC-Southaven in order to promote fitness and good posture among her pupils.

Now, when I think of these exercise balls, added with a bunch of second graders, I just know that chaos will ensue. But from the pictures on the internet, it looks like the kids are being pretty well behaved and are using them as regular chairs. If one misbehaves, they’ll lose their ball for the day and have to sit in a chair. Many straighten up pretty quickly because they want their balls back. I still wouldn’t take those chances though, lol.

Exercise balls are actually pretty beneficial, and not to just help second-graders to get the wiggles out. Apart from providing you with balance training, almost every exercise that you perform with the exercise ball strengthens your core by working them, and they exercise multiple muscles at the same time while you are forced to balance your body while performing them. Even just sitting on them helps with posture.

If you’ve always wanted to “get on the ball” so to speak, replacing your desk chair with an exercise ball is a great idea. There are multiple reasons why this could be beneficial such as it helping your posture and balance, and having you move around more rather than sitting in one spot all day.

Exercise balls are exercise and fun at the same time! Have you ever used an exercise ball in  your workouts? If not, throw one into the mix the next time you’re working out in the Church Lake Apartments fitness center.

photo credit: Wikipedia, Wikipedia