Isokinetics ball chair is an improvement on the classic balance ball seat and it is an exercise chair in a true meaning of the word. If you’re anything like me, you don’t want to have back problems when you hit 60 just because you have to sit in the office for 8h+ per day.
Exercise ball chairs, including the Isokinetics ball chair, relieve back pain quite a bit. I found myself in this review in particular (click to enlarge):
The Isokinetics chair is great also because it can do something for me right now – I work on my core muscles with this exercise ball chair (you know, the ones that keep the whole body together) when in office. You might want to check out what can happen if you don’t work on your core – here is a lower back pain fact sheet from NIH. For more of a middle and high-back support, you should check out the best leather office chair reviews.
In this Isokinetics chair review, we’ll see that it has pretty much everything that a classic exercise ball chair has. We’ll also look at some reviews by people who use Isokinetics exercise ball chair later on.
To quickly pinpoint what is an upgrade that distinguished Isokinetics ball seat from classic balance ball chairs:
#1 – Adjustable both height and back support. The emphasis is on building core strength-working on your 6-pack while working in the office. Why do exercises for core strength if sitting can provide you with the same effect? (of course, doing those core exercises doesn’t hurt).
#2 – Wheels. Isokinetics ball chair opts for bigger wheels that enable you to move around the office with ease. And yes, that will involve you rolling around the office a bit more.
#3 – Metal Frame. That’s right! Not hard plastic like you’re used to with most of the exercise ball chairs. Metal frame gives Isokinetics chair the durability that is lacking in so many other chairs.
Isokinetics Exercise Ball Chair Review
We’ve also talked about the benefits of a balance ball chair in original Gaiam classic chair post (you should check it out if you have pain problems because of office sitting).
We talked about how exercise chairs help us with neck pain and back pain. However, Isokinetics chair is one step further: it is designed specifically to not only relieve pain but to build a strong core.
What ultimately convinced me to buy Isokinetics exercise chair (and I’m glad that it did – I wouldn’t be running marathons if I weren’t actively improving myself) was the reviews by people who actually bought the chair. Here’s one for an example:
A quick balance ball chair by Isokinetics review on our part is here (for those in a hurry, we know how tightly packed modern life is):
- Core strength centered
- Healthy for back and front muscles
- Wheels, metal and adjustable support are state-of-the-art
- Drastically improves posture
- Perfect for active people
- Advanced designed (not for 1st time users)
- Not for elderly (they should start with lower intensity chair)
- Some reviews say the ball is not properly inflated when you buy it
- It's hard to move it around the office
Why Is Isokinetics A Chair For The Active People In The Office?
Isokinetics has developed a balance ball chair that is perfect for active people in the office.
There are probably the ones who already rolled in their yoga balls but found out that nobody can really sit on it for 8 hours straight. Usually more athletic than not, people who move a lot around the office will love Isokinetics ball chair.
It is not only that you can increase or decrease the intensity by adjusting the back support. With Isokinetics ball chair, it’s all about the wheels (the 2.5” ones). This is a yoga chair with the biggest wheels.
If you have a carpet in our office, the ordinary office chairs are usually very awkward to sit on them. The bigger wheels of Isokinetics ball chair gives you the ability to just roll from one desk to the other; from the telephone to the computer and back again.
This exercise chair is a very active chair. You are supposed to tighten your muscles while sitting on it and still keep this stability while moving around. That’s the real challenge I experienced with it and loved it. It’s like a dance of stability of my core with the dynamics of me just rolling around the office without ever needing to stand up.
Features of Isokinetics Ball Chair
Ok, its down to numbers. Before I became a self-acclaimed expert these numbers were jibberish to me so I’ll try to explain it a bit. The important things to remember about Isokinetics ball chair are the wheels and flexibility.
- Bigger wheels (2.5″): This is the big one – no other balance ball chair has these big wheels. The industry standard is 2″. How does the difference feel? Moving around is as easy as pie.
- 4 leg height positions: This is very important to accommodate all heights. It doesn’t matter if you’re 4 feet 6 or 6 feet 10. Just adjust the leg height position and you’ll ease into the chair.
- 4 back support positions: This is the feature I love – is how you can get adjust intensity. Want more intensive chair? Lower the back support. Want to let your hairs down because your shift ends in half an hour? Raise the back support and relax.
- Colors!: Usually balance ball chairs are black, yoga ball and all. Isokinetics let’s just choose the color and if you buy it on Amazon they even deliver it to you FOR FREE.
- Ball Size: 52-55 cm: There is no reinventing the yoga ball. Isokinetics has a nice non-latex material that is durable and they make the yoga balls that go into Isokinetics ball chair out of it. The size depends a bit on how much you fill it with air (as a bonus they give you the ball tape with every purchase – quite useful)
- 300 lbs weight capacity
- 1 Year Warranty: I never had any problems with my Isokinetics chair but Isokinetics gives you a 1-year warranty on all their products which is quite nice. If anything goes wrong, you don’t have to worry about it much.
Design of Isokinetics Ball Chair
I always imagined all office employees with be psyched with this chair. The liberty to choose the ball color is quite useful, and if you work in a lively office it can just add to the whole environment.
The minimalistic design of Isokinetics ball chair is very appealing. Based on the design, I would recommend it for people who work in more chilled environments. For a strictly business one, I would rather opt for original Gaiam’s chair but that’s just me.
Intensity of Isokinetic Ball Chair
For me, the intensity of an exercise ball chair is the most important thing.
Too much of an exercise intensity and your abs and lower back will be sore. Too little and you’ll do too little for your core strength.
This is precisely why I choose Isokinetics ball chair as my 2nd exercise ball chair, after the original’s Gaiams one.
Isokinetics ball chair has 4 different leg settings and 4 different back support settings. This is perfect when you don’t know exactly how much you should increase the intensity.
I played with the settings a bit, trying a different combination, and found out that I can turn the intensity on quite a bit (I noted 0.3 in my intensity chart).
However, if you want to feel a bit more relaxed when the clock is after 4 pm, you can just add a bit of back support and experience -0.1 intensity.
It’s great because you can work your back all the time and when you want to let your hair down, so to speak, you can just do it in 2 seconds by adjusting the back support.
Price Of Ball Chair By Isokinetics
The sheer flexibility of Isokinetics balance ball chair is pretty amazing.I could start in the morning working hard and working my muscles hard, and after a while, I just switched the back support setting and chilled in the afternoon.
However, the price of Isokinetic ball chair is not that much higher than the classic exercise chair by Gaiam. There you’re looking at $70 or so, but just add $10 and you can have the active-person Isokinetics ball chair.
Here is a comparison of prices of difference balance chairs, the colored ones are Isokinetics ones:
My Take From Isokinetics Chair
What I really love about it that it turned me into an active person. With the large wheels, you just want to move around the office and do more things as one. I was stable all the time but I was active all the times, it’s quite incredible.
