Help Finding a Truly 75 cm Stability Ball

judegirl

Cathlete
My husband and I have decided to purchase a second stability ball so that we can work out simultaneously, and we are having the worst luck finding a ball to match the one we currently have! Our current ball is a blue, 75 cm Gaiam ball and is made of kind of a translucent rubber-y plastic material, not the "bumpy" opaque rubber that seems to be on all the other balls these days. We've had it for probably 3-4 years, and haven't looked at purchasing them since.

So we went to Target and bought a supposedly 75 cm ball there. We brought it home and blew it up and it was WAY smaller than the 75 cm one we have here. We even took a measuring tape around the outside of each ball, and our current ball was, indeed, 75 cm, while the new one was between 60-65 cm. So we took that ball back and went to Sport Authority and bought a second "75 cm" ball. Same situation there, it was much much smaller than our current one, so we returned that one as well.

Finally we decided that if we bought another 75 cm one from Gaiam, the same company as our current one, it should be the same size, right? Not the case! It was fairly expensive to get ($30!), but we thought it would be worth it. Turns out it was just as small as the others, and made of that newer, bumpy material instead of the translucent smooth stuff that's on our current one.

So I guess that was a long story. :p

We're just baffled as to how to get a second ball to match our current one, which is what we like. The "75 cm" balls we've bought are all too small for us (I'm 5'11" and he's 6'2"). We could probably make them work, but I'm just not really comfortable on one that small. The biggest mystery is why all of these different brands are selling balls that are supposed to be one size, but in reality when measured are much smaller. What is going on? Has anyone else noticed this?
 
Thanks, that's a good idea. I think we'll just go ahead and get the 85 cm one, and hopefully that will end up being around the 75 cm that we're looking for. Since we've tried three separate brands and none of them were the size advertised this time we'll err on the side of it being too large. :)
 
Hope it works for you!!! :) I love it when tall people have problems, LOL!!! (I'm 5'2" and I swear the world is made for you taller peeps!!) ;)
 
Your problem is the math. A 75 cm ball is not 75 cm around- it is 75 cm "tall" (do not confuse this with the diameter). I use a 55 cm ball, and the circumference is 173 cm. You need to go online and find the formula for finding the circumference of a sphere, and then plug your measurements in. Then you can air your ball up to the proper circumference, checking it with a soft measuring tape.
 
To clarify, I mean to say that my 55 cm ball is truly 55 cm "tall" when the circumference measures 173 cm. Do a search for the circumference of a 75 cm sphere and you should find the right formula.
 
Same thing happened to me. It would seem that Giaiam changed the rubber/plastic composition. I HATE the newer ones. I bought one about 4 years ago that was see-through plastic, but then my kids attacked it with a push pin. I haven't been able to find a suitable substitute since then.
 

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