Baoding balls facts for kids

Baoding balls (Chinese: 保定健身球; pinyin: Bǎodìng Jiànshēn Qiú) are special metal balls that fit in one hand. People also call them Chinese exercise balls, Chinese health balls, or Chinese meditation balls. You use them by rolling two or more balls around in your hand. They are meant to make your fingers more skillful and help your hand relax. They can also help you get muscle strength back after an injury or surgery. Baoding balls work a bit like stress balls.

What Are Baoding Balls Made Of?

As metalworking got better, "iron balls" became very popular. Most Baoding balls are hollow. They often have a small chime inside that rings when a tiny inner ball hits the outer shell. Many modern balls are decorated with colorful cloisonné designs and brass wire. These pretty ones are mostly for decoration. They can chip easily if dropped or rubbed together too much. Baoding balls can also be made from solid materials like jade, agate, marble, or other types of stone.

Hollow balls are usually lighter. This makes them good for therapy or gentle exercise. Heavier balls made of iron, steel, or tungsten carbide need more effort to rotate. These heavier balls are mostly used to build strength. They help with resistance training for your hands and forearms.

How Do You Use Baoding Balls?

The main way to use Baoding balls is to hold two of them in the palm of one hand. You then roll them around, making sure they stay in contact with each other. You switch their positions as they roll.

Once you get good at this, you can try to roll them faster. Eventually, you can learn to rotate them without the balls touching each other at all. Some people even learn to use more than two balls. For this, you usually use a finger, like your index finger, to keep the balls separate.

Most people start with balls about 45mm (1.8 inches) wide. As your hand muscles get stronger, you can move up to 60mm (2.4 inches) balls. There are even larger Baoding balls, from 70mm to 100mm (2.8 to 3.9 inches). Keeping these bigger balls separate while rotating them is a very advanced skill.

You can change how you use the balls to work different parts of your hand. You can alter where they roll in your palm. Or, you can change their path to put more force on a certain finger or finger joint. Some famous strongmen have even used shot put balls like Baoding balls. They did this to make their forearm muscles stronger and improve their grip.

Baoding Balls and Health

Baoding balls are often used in physical therapy. They help exercise the soft tissues in your hand, wrist, and arm.

Some people believe that Baoding balls can also help improve brain function and reduce stress. This idea comes from alternative medicine. It suggests that the balls stimulate special points on your hand, similar to acupuncture points. However, there isn't much scientific proof to support these specific health claims.

See also

In Spanish: Esferas chinas para niños

Images for kids

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  Inside Baoding balls: a wire and a marble

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  Baoding balls in use