A Fun Way To Strengthen Your Arms & Wrists

I first found out about this product when walking into a Sharper Image store in the mall. The unique looking ball caught my eye, so I picked it up and messed around with it. At the time I didn’t know what it was, or what I was supposed to do with it. Being curious, when I got home I looked it up online. I was very interested when I found out what it was! It’s a unique hand gyro that is an actual piece of exercise equipment. What also further interested me was that this product claims to help with the prevention/rehabilitation of Repetitive Strain Injury and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Being a guitarist, and a computer user, I worry about eventually getting Carpal Tunnel or similar problems. After seeing many written testimonials, praising the product, I knew I *had* to get one.

So I went back to Sharper Image and bought one. I paid $42 after tax. The version I bought is a more expensive one that can reach higher speeds (thus giving a better work out), and has built in LED lights. Sharper Image doesn’t carry any of the cheaper Powerballs; so you’ll have to order them online if you want to get one without the LED’s; or one that doesn‘t spin as fast.

The whole concept of how this product works, is there is an internal rotor that spins as you rotate you wrist. You need to give it an initial starting spin to get it going, then you start rotating your wrist to get it to spin faster and faster. Your wrist motions can keep the rotor spinning indefinitely. The faster it spins, the more torque that it puts out. A maximum of 38lbs at 13,000rpms is possible! So pretty much, your muscles have to work to get it to spin, and also to hold the ball as the gyro puts out a “force”. You can do as powerful, or as light of a workout on your wrists/arms as you want.

I quickly was able to figure out the motion that it takes to spin up the rotor. It’s hard to explain, but you have to keep trying till you feel it “pulling”. Within about 5 minutes, I pretty much had it. To get the rotor to start its initial spin, a red string is supplied with the ball. You place the end of the string in the hole on the rotor, wind it up, and give it a pull. One word of caution! Be VERY careful with how you wind and pull it, if the string slips out of the little grove, it is VERY easy to get the string tangled with the LED’s and everything else in there! The ball can also be started without the string. By either flicking it with your thumb, or running the top of the ball on a surface to get to spin. It is quite difficult to do at first, but I was able to learn it the first day. Just keep practicing different ways until you find something that works best. I purposely made sure to learn how to do it, because it’s more convenient, you might end up losing the string, and plus you won’t take a chance of accidentally tangling up the string inside the ball. (Another word of caution, do not run your ball against a fabric like a rug, because fibers of cloth might get inside and eventually mess with the proper operation of the gyro. Try to use a somewhat soft surface, like a book.)

Now about the actual exercise part! Since this is exercising muscles that aren’t used to the being worked so hard, GO SLOW! This ball is FUN to use, and you’ll want to keep using it, and going faster… trust me. Please go slow! Even myself made the mistake of over doing it the first few days, and it makes your wrists really sore! What I found very interesting about the ball, is that it just doesn’t work your wrists! It works your entire arm, fingers, and even your shoulders! It all depends on how you hold it, and your arm positions. Like to work out your fingers, you hold the ball with the tips of your fingers, and move them around as the gyro is spinning. To do your shoulders, you hold your arm out to your side completely straight, and have the gyro spinning. The manual, although not really *that* in depth, tells you the basic positions to work out fingers, forearms, biceps, shoulders, and wrists. It is very fun to do the exercises, and you’ll feel a nice burn after using it!

This model is the lighted LED model. It has a little internal generator, that uses the rotor speeds to power the LED’s. No batteries are needed, just use it, and it’ll light up the faster you go. Now let me tell you, I was amazed when I first seen how bright this thing gets! VERY cool and fun to look at! It adds even more fun towards using it. It’ll also definitely amaze people when they see it. But that’s not all this model has unique to the other Dyna-Flex Powerballs. Like I said, this one has a higher maximum speed. And also there is a removable cap on the bottom. The cap is where you would put an optional RPM counter (not included). I do not have one, so I cannot really comment on it. But it would definitely be cool to have one. It’ll allow you to track your progress and tell you how fast you going, and what is your maximum speed. Some of the cheaper models they offer do not have a spot for a counter at all.

Now the only things that are worth noting are that, at $39.99 it is *somewhat* expensive. If you’re on a budget, a non LED version for around $30 might be more appealing. I definitely think the LED lights are worth the extra money, but it’s not a necessity. Also, this thing isn’t exactly quiet. Although it isn’t exactly loud either. It gives off a “wooshing” sound that can be a little annoying if you try to use it while watching TV or something. That’s about all I can really think of.

All in all, this is a wonderful product. It’s great to help prevent injuries, and to help strengthen your arms and wrists. It’s really fun to use, and you’ll love the feel of using it! It’s a really well made product, that will last a long time, as long as you take good care of it. Although, I hate to admit it, but I think if you drop it on a hard surface while using it, I’m not to sure if it’d survive it. So take care of it! It’s not a toy (although you’ll have just as much fun as if it was a toy!). Also be careful of placing your fingers on the open exposed spot, to not get burned or hurt. I personally have touched it while it was spinning at a somewhat fast speed on accident, and I highly doubt anyone would ever get hurt by one of these things. But just thought I’d mention it. This is the perfect gift for someone who loves “gadgets”. It’s a wonderful product that not only is unique, and fun, but has great benefits from constant use! You’ll love it!