Powerball
By which I mean one of those little exercise gizmos with the gyroscope inside, and which has comprehensively defeated all my efforts to make it function as advertised. I'm not helped by the instructions having been written by someone from Bizarro World. To wit:
"... begin to rotate your wrist in a slow circular motion as if you were slowly stirring a large pot with a long wooden spoon or waxing a car. The proper motion required to do this involves absolutely no movement of your arm - just the wrist joint."
Now in my experience stirring a pot or polishing a flat surface involves a lot of arm movement and very little wrist movement, so these instructions defy reality. As it is, having pulled the starter cord and got the rotor spinning, whether I subsequently roll, pitch or yaw the wrist, all result in a singular lack of response from the Powerball other than a swift deceleration to inactivity.
Can someone provide more helpful instructions in the correct wrist action to get this gizmo going? I don't have Broadband and so I can't view video clips, which would otherwise be the best method of understanding the correct technique.
"... begin to rotate your wrist in a slow circular motion as if you were slowly stirring a large pot with a long wooden spoon or waxing a car. The proper motion required to do this involves absolutely no movement of your arm - just the wrist joint."
Now in my experience stirring a pot or polishing a flat surface involves a lot of arm movement and very little wrist movement, so these instructions defy reality. As it is, having pulled the starter cord and got the rotor spinning, whether I subsequently roll, pitch or yaw the wrist, all result in a singular lack of response from the Powerball other than a swift deceleration to inactivity.
Can someone provide more helpful instructions in the correct wrist action to get this gizmo going? I don't have Broadband and so I can't view video clips, which would otherwise be the best method of understanding the correct technique.
Post edited by Battle Bunny on
Comments
Twist your fingers really fast - it takes time but once done you will be able to do it every time.
No, he means this:
http://www.powerballs.com/
Did the instructions not tell you to roll the cord around the ball, and then pull it fast to start the spinning? The thing will not work at all if you do not do that first - you have to get some momentum going with the cord for it to speed up when you rotate the thing with your wrist movements.
[EDIT]
It does help to read your post in detail! D'oh!
It does take a little practice, but the motion of your wrist sshould simply be circular. But I find that which way you rotate your wrist determines if it speeds up or slows down.
I made a mistake. Don't have a go at me.
Erm, no I was saying that to myself, not you! :D
You have to work against the gyroscopic precession force to make the ball rotate faster. I had one of these years ago before they had neons and heart-rate monitors in them. It is very tiring on the forearms if you really whizz it up.
Basically, rotate the wheel in the middle at a fairly high pace. You should then feel that attempting to tip or twist the ball is easier in some directions than others. The paths of least/most resistance are actually circular. What you have to do is sort of find a balance between those two paths where, like sitting on a swing, you add energy to increase the speed. Don't try to increase the speed too rapidly, work it up gently.
It takes a few minutes practice, rather like a yo-yo or those clapper-ball things from the 80's. :roll:
The "not moving your arm" thing refers to the way that it is purely flexing your wrist. You could, in principle, operate the device with your elbow on the table, but your forearm will still need to move a bit. Pretend you're whisking an egg! :lol:
That's okay! I still don't get it though! What the hell is all that about!
It's a device that has a weighted spinning ball inside another container, and when spun up goes faster when you rotate it in a cetain way. because of it, the strength needed to keep the momentum going exercises your muscles in your wrist. ideal for people who are in sports that require good strength in your hands/wrists/arms.
http://www.powerballs.com/videos/movie_clips/starting_movie.html
What do the different colours mean, are they different stengths??
Andrew.
That's a very clear and helpful description, which makes sense to my brain but is still proving beyond the capacity of my hands to implement. I don't think that I have sufficient muscular coordination in my bad arm to operate the confounded thing effectively. I suppose then it's back to the boring spring-loaded hand-grips. :-(
Then, don't try to accelerate it, just gently rotate it such that it retains it's original speed. This requires minimal effort or speed of movement. 8-)
I tried to find my powerball last night. It's buried in some cupboard or drawer somewhere, but I'm damned if I can find it. :cry: