VIDEO: Swiss Ball Jumping

Can you say BALANCE? I found this YouTube video while searching for the below link.

I first saw this during an interview with Olympic snowboarder Graham Watanabe on 02-15-10. Watanabe called the ball a "medicine ball" during a discussion of his training. We know it to actually be an inflatable "Swiss ball." Try this link to the Watanabe video on NBC.

Nothing says "I'm gonna split my head open," quite like jumping on a Swiss ball. I started by trying to simply stand on one next to a wall or pullup bar to stabilize myself against. My plan was to then freestand. Then progress to hopping up and down on it, without my feet leaving contact with the ball. Then work on getting some air between my feet and the ball's surface. Then get more and more vertical. It might be a long time before I land a jump from the ground to on top of a Swiss ball.

Yeah? No. I landed flat on my back within about half of a second on my one and only attempt to date. I have a new plan that includes an above-mounted pullup bar for support instead of the wall!!

Try at your own risk.