The 100-pounder is just slightly larger than the 45-pounder, which is about the size of a basketball. Both of them can go slightly non-round, because they're not fully inflated, so they don't bounce, not even when you slam them down to the floor with all your might, hence the term slam ball. Although, the heavier they get, the more common it is to call them dead balls rather than slam balls, and the less common it is to actually slam them. Slamming a ball expends much more energy than simply lifting it, and very few people actually slam dead balls which weigh as much as 100 pounds. Lifting them is plenty of work.
Lifting a 100 pound ball is much more difficult than lifting a 100 pound dumbbell. I have made many visits to a local used-sporting-goods store, looking for a good deal on a heavy ball, and they usually have 100 pound dumbbells, and I can lift them with no problem. Several reps with each hand of a 100 pound dumbbell row:
-- is not a big deal for me. Lifting this 100 pound ball with both hands has been a big deal. I can do it, but after doing it once, I put the ball down again very soon and really, really don't want to do it again. Several dumbell rows on each side leaves me feeling refreshed and energized and pleasantly tingly. Lifting the 100 pound ball off of the ground with both hands and holding it off of the ground for just a couple a seconds makes me hurt all over and want very badly to take a long nap.
This is good. This is how muscles get stronger.
I found the wooden box containing the ball standing on the sidewalk in front of my house in the pouring rain today. I don't know whether Fedex even tried to get it up into the porch. There are are only 2 small steps up from the sidewalk to to the porch.
At first I tried to get the box into the porch using a dolly, but one of the dolly's wheels fell off, so I just lifted it up and took a step or two and set it down inside the porch.
And that's been about the extent of my workout with this "beast." "Beast" is a very common term used appreciatively to describe dead balls which weigh 100 pounds or more -- or even 50 pounds. What I mean when I say that that's been about the extent of it, is that I've lifted it off of the ground several times, using the correct technique so that I lift with my legs and don't hurt my back. I haven't even tried yet to lift it higher than knee-level. I will do many more such low-level lifts, just getting the thing off of the ground, before I even try to get it to chest level. After chest level comes onto the shoulder. Then pressed overhead. Then maybe slamming, or maybe that would just really be an absurd thing to try. Anyway, it will be a while before I have to decide whether or not to slam a 100-pounder.
My readers: are you beginning to feel the awesomeness of this sort of fitness equipment? Or do you suspect that there may in fact be nothing awesome about balls as compared to dumbbells or barbells, and that I may be wrong to think otherwise? You know what? You may be right. Then again, maybe I'm right, and in any case, I'm having a lot of fun, and getting stronger. I strongly encourage you to see for yourself. Medicine balls can be had in every conceivable weight from 1/2 pound all the way up to 300 pounds. Compare a ball of any weight to a dumbbell or barbell of the same weight, and immediately you'll see what a huge difference the different shape makes.
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