* * * Your first workout will be inflating the ball * * * For some reason I thought this would ship inflated. Boy was I dumb! This comes in a small box (please see pictures), with a pump and two stoppers. The instructions are worthless. I read them a few times and finally went online, where I found excellent advice from professionals. Here is what I learned: 1) DO NOT inflate the ball right away (oops! I did that). Pull it out of the box and out of the plastic bags. Gently spread the ball out. It is a bit sticky and needs to be "aired out" for about 20 minutes. This helps ensure proper inflation and minimizes the chance of damaging your new ball when you inflate it for the first time. It also reduces the smell. Also, your exercise ball will look like an old tire. This changes later. 2) Okay, so after at least 20 minutes (at room temperature), grab the black pump and just start injecting air into the hole in the ball. Do this until the ball looks "full" but is not stretching a lot. You want your ball to be round and plump, but not stretched. The experts recommend "80% full" to avoid your ball taking on an egg shape. I inflated mine to about 50-60%, but it is nice and round. This allows the wrinkles to work themselves out (see pics). 3) Go do something else. Go play. Have a beer. Take a drive. Whatever—just put your ball somewhere at comfortable room temperature (anything around 60-80 degrees is fine) where it can "rest" and take on its round shape. Come back in 24 hours. This is especially important to get your ball shape just right. If you haven't inflated your ball to around 80%, this is a good time to do that, then let it rest. 4) Has it been 24 hours? If so, then "great"! Grab the tape measure that came with the ball (see pics) and gently tug the white plastic stopper out of the hole, reinsert the black pump, and start pumping until you get to 75 cm (see words below). Okay, once you have done that, wait one more day, and then your ball is ready for use and will give you years of use in your home gym. This ball is "gym quality," but it is not "gym certified," so it is perfect for around the house use. NOTES: The instructions on this thing are completely worthless, but it does come with a nice poster (folded and creased) of example exercises to get you started. The way to measure how much your ball has been inflated is to run the (paper) tape measure around the ball. Put the edge of the (paper) tape measure with the round hole near the inflation hole for the ball (see pic). In my pic that is where the white plastic stopper is. Please note that I did not push the plastic stopper all of the way in yet. This is super important. Once you shove that thing in, it gets stuck in there. It is much easier to stick it in until the ball stops deflating, and save full penetration for when you are done inflating. When you are inflating your ball for the second time (to full inflation), you might want to scotch tape the end of the (paper) tape measure by the hole and just keep an eye on the other end. You are measuring HALF of the circumference of the ball. At first I thought I was supposed to measure all of the way around the ball. Kinda dumb, but the instructions just weren't exactly clear (5 stars for quality, 2 stars for written instructions). The rest is pretty simple: Inflate the ball part way, let it sit; reinflate to full capacity (75cm, not "until it explodes") and shove the stopper in, and you are good to go. The ball won't leak air, but it is good to keep the extra stopper and pump somewhere in storage in case you ever need to deflate and reinflate your exercise ball in the future. The groves (see image) really help you get traction, so that you don't end up sliding off of your new exercise ball. Being from Adidas, you know this is top-notch, even if the stickers are a bit cheesy. It is best to get a book on exercise balls or watch some professional videos online (Youtube anyone?) to get the most from your exercise ball workouts, but the poster is at least motivational. Anyway, thanks for reading—hope this helps you avoid improperly inflating your ball(s) and ending up with eggs instead of o's.
