#435 Yossi Montrose: From Bullied Child to Standing Tall on a Stability Ball

Yossi Montrose
[Speaker 2] (0:02 - 0:48)
Welcome to the speaking podcast you can find all our episodes on speakingpodcast.com. Today my guest Yossi Montrose. Yossi is the founder of Performa Ball and has spent more than two decades developing a physical coaching methodology built on controlled instability and stability ball training.

His work looks at how balance, composure and adaptability shape the way people perform under pressure and it is aimed at founders, executives, leaders and speakers who need to stay steady while circumstances change. He's also a posture and confidence coach and has given many talks while standing on the ball and he's doing it at the moment. Yossi, welcome to the show.

[Speaker 1] (0:49 - 0:54)
Thanks so much for having me and thanks for your listeners. Hello.

[Speaker 2] (0:56 - 1:07)
Very good. So I mean like we're obviously getting into the ball, but I suppose let's kind of learn the story of kind of your kind of career and then how this came into your sights.

[Speaker 1] (1:08 - 7:27)
Yes, of course. I was born with a hearing problem. So back in the 80s, I was born in 1980 and I didn't have these that cool technology hearing aids.

So I had to wear these old clunky hearing aids. I'm not sure if you've seen what they look like. They go around your ear and they have this massive piece like and you look kind of very like an alien, like wearing those things.

And I had to wear it because I couldn't really hear much. And I came to school and because I was the only one wearing it, the kids came to me like a shark sees blood. And boy, did they come at me.

I got verbally abused from day one. My posture completely collapsed. I was so miserable.

My confidence was completely, completely destroyed. I couldn't speak to anyone at all, especially in public. I was isolated and I didn't want to be around.

And not only that, because I was, I made myself small to protect myself. My back hurts so badly. My knee hurts so badly.

My neck, because I was always in this fetal kind of flex position and I had no, I had nothing to stand on. I was beat as can be. And I don't know how I got, managed to get through all those years of schooling.

But as soon as I did, I went to the gym one day and I saw the stability ball that I am sitting on right now and bouncing. I'll bounce a little bit like that. And I just took to it like I had nothing to lose.

And my body actually, it felt intuitive. So I started using it and I went back because it was fun. I always loved sports.

But the problem was, I was not really good because my back, I was focused on too much pain and my posture was terrible. So my balance wasn't great. So I kept, you know, swinging too hard or overbalancing and cause, you know, and just messing up left, right and center.

But as I got onto the ball and started using the ball, I noticed something shift. I noticed all of a sudden, I wasn't in this fetal round shoulder position anymore. I improved my structure.

So my posture started improving. All of a sudden, I could actually breathe a lot better. And my confidence started shooting up.

I started playing sports again, like, you know, I continued playing sports. And all of a sudden, I started beating the people that I never thought I could beat. The overbalancing dropped dramatically.

I was really balanced. My power improved, my reaction improved. And I was able to start speaking, people asking me, I was like, I don't know where this newfound confidence came from.

And I started speaking to people in groups and then in public while standing, you standing the ball over a few years. And like, where all this confidence come from. And then I realized that I managed to not just improve my posture, so I can regulate my breathing.

But I could help have a bigger presence, I had took up more space. And one day I went to this transfer the confidence in my body from the ball transfer to other areas of life. So one day, we went I went to the lion and rhino nature reserve in South Africa.

And there was a crowd of about 30 people or so. And the person like it was, you know, a fully grown lion. So it's used to humans, but it's still a wild animal.

And you still, you know, if an animal doesn't know, you got to be, you know, cautious. So he pointed straight at me and said, Come, I can see you got the energy, the presence, the lion doesn't read your CV, it reads your energy. And that's what I want.

That's what I'm looking for. So I went in and learned how to from the years of training on the ball from on my body, I learned how to regulate myself, I learned how to self regulate and the lion sense that. And then the person said, Okay, now, what I want you to do is I want you to get the lion jumping onto you.

So it's paws on my shoulders. And just let it let it jump, don't try and pull away and relax. I just had to take a deep breath.

And I let the lion jump onto my shoulders. And then the lion is looking me straight in the eye and then I put its mouth on my jugular. At that point, I was like, Wow, hold on this high lines how they kill their prey.

I could have freaked out, I could have panicked. But instead, I learned because I learned all the years of a training to regulate the unstable surface surface like the stability ball. I regulated it just put down gently didn't but by to just close the straw gently like a kiss, let go and looked at me and kind of like nodded.

And it's like you did good. And that moment to me was the most memorable and one of the most memorable and amazing experiences. Because not every day you have a fully grown lion, literally with your mouth on the neck and able to survive it.

And how does that relate to other people, especially when it comes to speakers because people speaking in public, when the pressures on when someone asked them a curve ball question or challenges them? What are they going to do? What are they going to have?

They're going to react? Are they going to collapse? Are they going to just speak quicker?

Are they going to say, you know, I don't know and get flustered and then kind of walk off and lose the audience? Well, they're going to be able to self regulate under pressure. And they're going to be able to think about it for a few seconds, pause, breathe, and then respond and not react.

And that is my background story of how I get leaders and speakers getting that self regulation under pressure to have a better presence and better confidence.

[Speaker 2] (7:28 - 7:56)
Excellent. I think if a lion did that to me, I'd have to change my underpants and I'll be like, there's different sides because I was asking because we've spoke previously and I was asking about the size. So do you get the ball a certain size?

Because I think like you had said 65, but does it based on your height? How you assume which ball is better for you?

[Speaker 1] (7:57 - 8:35)
Yes. So it's based on according to height. So if you look the 65 centimetres gets the majority of adult population.

If you're really tall, like over six foot three, then you need a bigger ball that's 75 centimetres. And if you're shorter than five foot two, then you need a smaller ball, which is a 55 centimetres, but the majority fall between five foot three and six foot two, somewhere around there. Most people fall between five, seven, five, eight, you know, and the 65, you know, you can deflate it slightly or not inflate it that much.

And so yeah, and then that's how it works.

[Speaker 2] (8:36 - 9:09)
And because like I had asked about the make as well, because I had got one before and I like it in the gym because I presume the ones in the gym are higher quality, but the one I had at home kind of deflates. And then yeah, you're trying to pump it up, but then you're trying to get the plastic piece in before it deflates again. And it's just, it's never as sturdy as the ones in the gym and the make that you'd recommend, because I suppose it's like anything else.

You get replicas, they look exactly the same, but the reality is the quality is totally different.

[Speaker 1] (9:10 - 12:11)
Yeah. It makes a big difference in terms of a quality, huge difference. So that's the Gymnic Plus I recommend.

I've been using it for many, many years and that's the ball I recommend because the others, as you say, it's like, you know, you can pump it up and then you sink in and it actually can do more damage than what if it's the correct size. So what the ball does when you're sitting on the ball, that does two things very well. So first thing is it takes away that support system behind.

So the chair, you've got a nice, comfortable support system. Your body doesn't have to do anything. It relaxes, sinks into it.

But what happens over time? You're sitting eight hours or whatever every day, day in and day out. What happens?

First of all, the spinal, you know, discs lose that lubrication. The liquid pushes out. The muscle surrounding the spinal disc weakens because if you don't use it, you lose it.

And there's friction on your spine, so which can cause back pain. And then plus, because this, you know, there's friction, your body tends to collapse, especially because we hunched over on a computer. So then there's a risk of apnea, breathing, screen apnea, which is, you know, you could collapse your chest and you can't breathe properly.

And then the drowsiness, and that's the first thing. So the chair weakens the back and the legs and the ball improves and strengthens it because there's no support. So it's got to work.

And the second thing that does very well with the ball, the chair is static. You can't generally move. So, so many people get a brain drain or brain fog during, you know, certain points in the day, and they rush out to get a coffee or to get some kind of pick-me-up energy drink or energy foods, which is generally unhealthy.

So that they can focus, have a caffeine shot, and that affects their sleep. That affects their mood. And over time, it's a vicious cycle and people, that's why people get burnt out and get sick and can't really be productive as much anymore.

And with the ball, it forces you to, once you've got the ball, the small micro movements that you can see are moving, that keeps the blood flow going. And that helps your energy. It brings up natural energy.

So you don't, I don't have a brain drain or energy drain at the end of a, like towards the end of the day. I can keep my focus. I can keep my energy.

Of course, I'm going to get up if I need to drink or eat, if I'm hungry and I'm drinking water, whatever the case is. But I can, if I'm focused and I've got a few hours, I need to work. I don't have any pain.

I can work, no issue. So that's what it does really well. And that's why I highly recommend if you, especially if you want to become a better version of yourself and just improve your presence, your posture, your confidence, especially also on your health and productivity is to get the, use the stability ball.

[Speaker 2] (12:12 - 13:06)
Like your story to start about kind of the bullying, because what I find in this, I've seen this in Ireland, I see it in Poland, I'd say it's an international thing. It's like the education system is trained in such a way that don't kick out the bullies, don't nip it in the bud because there's so much, like people are tired for life because of the bullying. And unfortunately some people throw in the towel because of the bullying.

And it's like, they never resolve it. And which is a shame, but I'm just curious based on kind of the benefits for this, because I remember when we were in like a primary school and there was recently a reunion and I didn't go back to it. It was just this last couple of days.

And I saw the pictures and they have the same kind of chairs, like these hard timber chairs. And then when you're in the secondary school, hard plastic chairs, is there any school embracing the ball? Because obviously that could kind of maybe even resolve some of the bullying as well with people, because if it's helping the emotions.

[Speaker 1] (13:08 - 13:40)
Absolutely. There's a lot of schools actually in Europe and some in the States that are using the stability ball. And that's very good because that movement, this little bounce actually calms them down, especially with ADHD kids.

They need that movement to distract themselves and actually calm them down and enable them to regulate themselves. So I highly recommend it. And a lot of schools are already using it for in the classrooms.

So, and I don't know if that has an effect on bullying as such, but I can imagine that it could be, you know, it definitely can be helpful.

[Speaker 2] (13:41 - 13:58)
No, absolutely. And I mean, just from kind of what I see, it's usually the bullies are experienced trauma at home themselves and hence why they start kind of lashing out. So maybe that might bring the calmness to them.

I mean, it's hard to know, but I think it would be definitely better than sitting on a hard plastic chair.

[Speaker 1] (13:58 - 13:59)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

[Speaker 2] (14:00 - 14:29)
So like when you're, because I'm thinking as well, like, you know, as we're having this conversation, same in like, I mean, unfortunately a lot of people are in kind of little cages inside in the office and the same thing, you know, they're going in and unfortunately usually they get a salary. So they're expected to work 12 hours instead of the eight that they're paid for. Like, have you seen people implementing it where they're actually bringing the ball to school instead of sitting on these chairs or not school, workplace?

[Speaker 1] (14:31 - 16:02)
Yeah, of course. I've helped quite a few companies back in South Africa to replace the chairs with the ball. And it makes such a difference to their own productivity and own health.

Because as I said, number one, they have, if they had back pain, it's gone in a few days, you know, and they can focus, they can be more productive, they have better energy. And it has an aspect of team building because then they can do certain things like balancing a little bit. And then the other person sees them and like, wow, that's impressive.

And it creates this camaraderie and it actually has this amazing energy. It creates amazing energy because when you're moving and still being productive, you can't like, you know, if you're in a chair, you can't really move, you're stuck, you're static. And it's like a water, like a static pool of water, you're not going to go touch it or drink it or swimming it.

But if the water is like flowing like a river or like, you know, it's flowing nicely, you want to, you're invited to like drink from it and swim in it and touch it. And the same thing with the human body. If you're moving and natural energy, the other person senses and sees it and creates a much more positive energy in the workplace and improves a lot of productivity, less absenteeism because of sickness or pain and a lot more present and a lot less presenteeism as well where they're there, but they, their mind is not there and so they make less mistakes.

[Speaker 2] (16:03 - 16:44)
I go to the gym two or three times a week, but once a week at the, on Saturday, I kind of, it's called back exercise and they do all different things. They can have like the rope thing. They can have like a barrier putting across blocks.

There's a lot, a lot of different things, like the ball you're pushing. But the one thing that I always feel the best is when they actually have the ball and you know, you're bouncing, they get you to do the different moves. And I kind of see it with the other people as well, because you can see people struggling when they're doing the other thing, but you're doing that, but you know yourself when you come away from it, how you're feeling.

And I always feel fantastic from that, which is kind of, you know, it's basically confirming what you're saying.

[Speaker 1] (16:45 - 17:34)
Yeah. And you see what the ball does. It's very natural, very intuitive.

Like if you, if you go to a, like a room of kids, little kids, and you bring the ball, they all naturally go like, you know, take to it. They all go for, you know, they all want to play on it and use it. And that's an indicator that it's actually healthy for you.

Because if kids are naturally attracted to it and like really want to do that, it's the same as an adult. So we saw that person just in a grownup version and we want to be able to move. We want to be able to play and it feels good.

It feels stretching. It feels good moving and, you know, getting an exercise that you never thought you could do, builds dopamine to your brain, which also helps with confidence and improves good, good feelings and good mood and good energy. So it makes a massive difference.

[Speaker 2] (17:36 - 18:00)
And can you do damage? Like, because obviously, you know, sometimes you're doing exercise on the ball in the gym and they're telling you to sit kind of near the start because you're moving your legs forward and stuff. But when you're kind of I presume you're sitting right in the center because some people might sit more back and some more forward.

Can, is it best to be just sitting on the center regarding when you're kind of at your office, let's say, and just kind of bouncing up and down like you're doing there?

[Speaker 1] (18:02 - 18:45)
Yeah, I'm generally, if the ball is pumped up correctly, yeah, it's difficult to do this. It gets uncomfortable to do that. It's a natural position is to sit in the center.

If you're back, you can have a risk of falling. So the body's automatically shifting back to center. And that's where you find your center all the time.

So it's constant movements, your backs, all those small stabilizing your hips and your spine are constantly working and moving to get you into the center. Of course, there's a process. So you're going to get tired in the beginning and you're going to have to bring back to the chair.

But over time, you build up, build up. It's so uncomfortable. You want to be sitting on the ball.

[Speaker 2] (18:47 - 18:59)
You know, because a lot of entrepreneurs, which could be coaches, speakers, whatever, they're just in the rat race. They're constantly, and then they say, I don't have time for the gym. Reality is that's like a gym at home that you're just constantly doing.

[Speaker 1] (19:00 - 19:31)
Exactly. It's integrated into the work environment. So it takes away all the excuses.

You don't have to get changed. You don't have to drive in your car. You don't have to go to the gym, get changed again, have a shower.

You can do literally at your desk. You can do certain movements where there's bouncing, some balancing, some stretching, literally while you're working. And it feels so good.

I feel the body's like, wow, that opens up. Your chest is open. It's straighter.

You can breathe better. I feel better. I feel more relaxed.

I feel more calm. Even under pressure, I can work better.

[Speaker 2] (19:33 - 19:40)
I'm assuming that it would help with weight management as well because of constant movement, as opposed to being just sitting there on the chair.

[Speaker 1] (19:41 - 19:56)
Of course, the calories add up. You're constantly burning calories while you're sitting on the wall and moving. If you continue doing this, say you're working and you're shopping and you're doing this for an hour, it's like as if you walked around the block for an hour.

And that's how you burn calories.

[Speaker 2] (19:58 - 20:13)
Not sure if you've been asked this one, no, but I'm assuming it's probably helping you in the bedroom as well because the muscles that you're building up because you hear people when you get in relationships, how lazy some people are. And I'm assuming that it would help for that as well.

[Speaker 1] (20:14 - 20:53)
Absolutely. It helps with everything because then you're able to not just last longer, you're able to try new things, to explore, to have fun, you're more confident in your body. So you're able to, as I said, it shifts from your mind.

So you get out of your, you're constantly getting out of your comfort zone. So, you know, if it's complete routine, it's boring, I guess. But if you want to spice things up, you want to be able to try new things, get out of your comfort zones.

And this is what exactly it teaches you. And it enables you to do that, whether it's in the bedroom, whether it's in the boardroom, whether it's in any area of life, because when you get out of your comfort zone, that's where the growth and the magic happens.

[Speaker 2] (20:55 - 21:07)
Is there a weight limit on the ball? Like if somebody's in a radio piece, is there that, okay, you can't be like 110 kgs or 150 kgs or something like that? Or is there different qualities to allow for that?

[Speaker 1] (21:08 - 21:22)
I don't know anyone who weighs over 10, but with the right quality ball, like I'm using, it's been tested up to 10 and it hasn't burst. So say they 300 kilograms, no issue at all.

[Speaker 2] (21:23 - 22:18)
Okay. Interesting. And like, how are you finding it?

Because obviously you're dealing with a lot of people. And so if somebody is kind of usually doing kind of coaching calls and stuff like that, what's the kind of strategy? Are they going to say something to them when they're talking to other people and telling them what they're doing?

Or do they just kind of just get on and just kind of like, or do they just sit while they're on a call? What have you kind of noticed is the kind of norm? Because the reality is if somebody is doing that and you're just curious to say what's going on, or you tell them, then they go, Ooh, because I mean, I remember when the conversation that we had, I never thought of that before.

And the minute you told me, I was like, Ooh, that makes sense. So, you know, mine is ordered now. So I'm waiting for it to come because I don't, the one that I have below is poor quality.

So I don't want to be doing it on that. But I'm assuming it's kind of the same kind of knock on effect. Do you think people are actually trying to say nothing?

Or what's, are there more inclined to kind of tell them what they're doing, say if they're coaches or whatever?

[Speaker 1] (22:19 - 22:56)
Yeah. So definitely a conversation starter. That's a nice icebreaker.

So it's great. People like, it's different. Like, wow, what are you doing?

What are you saying? Or why are you moving like that? You know?

And then you can get the conversation going because a lot of people like, it gets a bit awkward if you're not sure where to start or how to talk, how to open. And like, that's a, it gets a bit awkward. So this is a great conversation starter.

I use, as I said, I use this when I speak and stand on the board. It's a great hook. Great.

It gets people's attention. And then the message, of course, what I carry is that because I demonstrate in real time how regulating yourself in real time works actually looks like.

[Speaker 2] (22:58 - 23:14)
It's one that I would think, I don't, I don't know, have you thought about it or if you don't know whatever, but it's one that I would think on the red dot on a TEDx would be a good speech because it's not something I've seen before. And I think that people would like the minute you're talking, you're going to go, the penny drops and you go, well, that makes sense.

[Speaker 1] (23:15 - 23:25)
Exactly. So for me to get on a TEDx, it would be great. Get on the ball, speak on the ball, not been done before.

So that could be something really good.

[Speaker 2] (23:26 - 23:33)
We'll make that happen. I have enough context there that I can have a few conversations because everybody's looking for something different.

[Speaker 1] (23:33 - 23:42)
And I think that's, Be happy to do this. I've got that confidence. I've got that regulation and I have a good message to tell while standing on the ball.

[Speaker 2] (23:43 - 23:55)
So you do, you've courses as well that are kind of helping people. So you might just kind of walk us through the services that you offer for people that actually get, get one of the balls.

[Speaker 1] (23:56 - 25:28)
Yeah, I have different programs. Courses are more for like the, the personal trainers. So like people who want to learn more about it, you know, all these priorities, although I don't really, I'm not really too focused on that much, but because my area is more on developing the mind and the body embodying the mind, not just like having a mindset, a talk and just working on the mindset, which is important.

Of course it is. But if the body doesn't know it, it doesn't know how to be confident and you're just telling yourself, I'm confident, I'm confident, I'm confident. It can work for a little bit, but when the pressure's on, you tend to drop to default and your body is that default.

So if you're not confident within your body, then it's going to drop your mindset level. So it needs to be able to experience it and embody that confidence within your body. So it's working both mind and body.

And I offer a specific course, should we say like a three months course that gets you to literally improve both mind and body. You could build new neural pathways, connections, and being able to literally get that confidence in real time and having to regulate your breathing, your emotions, your nervous system in real time so that they can actually give the talks, do whatever they need to do and be able to do it with confidence and with presence and composure.

[Speaker 2] (25:29 - 25:40)
And I'm assuming as well for like getting different ailments that by just invigorating the cells, you're not getting ill as much either.

[Speaker 1] (25:41 - 26:10)
Of course, because as I said, the body's moving all the time, there's blood flows going through. So you're getting rid of all that information and the blood flow, the more there's blood flow, the quicker the healing, whether it's a physical injury or whether it's an internal sickness, being sick, because if you move, it pushes out the toxic toxicity, it pushes out the inflammation and you feel better, you feel more energized.

[Speaker 2] (26:13 - 26:43)
Oh, excellent. And like with the different clients that you're working with, I mean, I'm assuming just that it's going to help with the sleep as well, because you know, sometimes people, they're just working too hard and then they're tired and then they just reach for the bottle and then they can't sleep and they're just kind of going, they're chugging through life like that. But I assume with something like that, because it's like exercise constantly, you know, it's kind of not too intense, but it's like, because walking is extremely beneficial for you as well, that people are probably sleeping, depression coming down, there's so many benefits to it.

[Speaker 1] (26:44 - 28:00)
Exactly. Like I mentioned before, like if you're sitting on the ball, you're not going to need to take that coffee, extra coffee to wake up or reach out for the sweets to get instant energy, which can affect your circadian rhythm. So of course it is going to affect your sleep in a really positive way.

You're on the ball, you're moving, you've got the natural energy. I don't need to take all these energy drinks. I don't need to take this sugary stuff.

And what happens when I don't take them, there's less inflammation. I'm not so wired up at night. I can relax.

I'm more composed. I'm calm. I'm moving because, and it's calming me the whole day.

And I have a much better quality of sleep. And then of course, when you have a better quality of sleep, your mood is much better, which affects relationships. So if you are in a relationship, you're going to have a more positive relationship.

It's not going to be this constant negativity and clashing and fighting because you're both in crap moods because you couldn't sleep. But if you slept well, you're going to be more loving. You're having a more higher vibration, better energy.

You're going to enjoy each other more and enjoy the colleagues. You're going to have a more positive attitude. And of course, that attitude then brings up the culture in the company or in the family, uplifts everyone and everything.

[Speaker 2] (28:02 - 28:24)
I'm just curious, you know, sometimes people, they just come back and they just slouch on the coach and just turn on Netflix and, you know, watch something. Like reality is you could be watching something as well while on the ball. So that's, you know, because, you know, it's nice to watch a nice movie as well, maybe with the family as well, but instead of just slouching and then most people just crash because they're just burnt out.

[Speaker 1] (28:25 - 29:17)
Exactly. What do most people do during the day? They wake up, they go drive in their car, which is sitting.

They take the elevator to their office. So it's not really much walking. They're sitting down pretty much the whole day.

They go back into the car, sitting again, driving, go home, exhausted, back on the couch, watch a movie. And it's a vicious cycle. And that creates very, a lot of negativity in terms of environment and in terms of the body.

So, yeah, so that's, it's amazing what, so when the ball does, it reverses all of that because, you know, you can watch, sure, watch your favorite show, watch everything, but get seated on the ball. Balance, have fun with it. Challenge yourself the balance.

Try to see how long you can hold it for while you're watching. And that just completely changes the dynamic of everything.

[Speaker 2] (29:20 - 29:45)
Because a lot of times when people are eating, then they get sluggish because they're not moving because they say you should walk for like 10, 15 minutes and then that sluggishness kind of disappears. Two kind of questions on this. I'm assuming that doesn't happen when you kind of come back and get on your ball.

And the other thing is, do you actually eat while you're on the ball? Like, is that good or bad? Yeah.

You know, that if you're eating and you have a, you know, the ball that you're sitting on.

[Speaker 1] (29:46 - 30:42)
And there's nothing wrong with eating if you can control all the movements. You know, like if you're walking and eating, you can control it. Better to sit down normally, whether on the ball or on the chair, like it doesn't really matter because it's not unless you're eating for an hour, which is not really that normal.

But it doesn't really matter if you're eating on the ball or on the chair. But yeah, it's just important to have not being sluggish in general is if you sit on the ball, you're not going to need that. Yes, go walk by all means.

If you need to walk and you like walking, go walk by all means. But if you have that crunch time and the pressure to perform and to be able to have a deadline to do that, and you don't have time to take 10, 15 minutes off and you're going to feel sluggish, the ball is a solution because this is like as if you're walking, the bouncing is if you're walking, the blood flow, you're not going to feel sluggish.

[Speaker 2] (30:44 - 31:05)
And is there other kind of any other benefits or any things that you're kind of shocked with, with different because everybody's kind of going to get something from it. And maybe somebody had some something and they just said, well, I can't believe this has changed. Is there other stuff that you've noticed yourself or from clients that tell you that they weren't expecting from just being on the ball?

[Speaker 1] (31:05 - 34:23)
There's so many other benefits, Roy, that I don't like. It's insane. I can talk about from personal experience a few examples.

I was moving apartments and there was no innovative apartment. This was about five, six years ago. And I was the only one there.

So I was carrying these two heavy boxes with fragile things in the box, glass, whatever the case is. And it was dark and I couldn't see, I misstepped. And normally I would have gone flying, the boxes would have gone falling, probably shattered everything.

I probably would have broken something. And I've managed to, because I'm used to the reaction time, quick reflexes from the ball, I managed to stabilize. And not only did I not fall, the boxes didn't drop and I was able to continue.

And this has happened many, many times that I'm walking and I misstep and my ankle gives way. I went before the ball, I sprained it. Now I catch it and I just walk it off and everything's okay.

That's the one thing. And the other thing is when, for example, I broke a bone trying to do something, skateboard, I didn't have the right shoes and I couldn't get off. And I actually broke my ankle really badly.

And I was in a cast for six weeks. And then afterwards, my ankle was so swollen, I got on standing on the ball immediately, it was sore for a second, I got off and I continued and I continued doing that. And after four months, I went back to the surgeon and he says that he's never seen a worse injury like this.

And he's never seen such quick recovery because I've got all the blood flow and strengthening from the ball. So it doesn't matter whether it's the ankle, back, shoulders, because you're getting the blood flow and improving the small and strengthening the small stabilizers, that injury, your recovery is so much quicker. And then again, it's like there are a lot of other examples where I feel all of a sudden, I feel like lighter, I'm weighing heavier in my body, my body, if I go on the scales, actually heavier, but I feel lighter.

I'm able to move quicker, I'm able to react quicker, I'm able to do things that are, but I feel like I'm 70 kilograms as opposed to 108 kilograms. That's huge. Because you have functional muscle, you have functional ability to be able to do, to move, to do things.

And as well as the confidence things, the mindset where I never, ever thought that I would do certain things, skydiving, bungee jumping, swimming with sharks and tigers, by the way, the lion story, which I told you that I never thought I'd have the confidence and the ability to do all of that sort of stuff. But yet, because I've worked my way out of my comfort zone on the body and the ball, I've filtered to every areas of life with my marriage, finding my wife, having kids, it filters through every single area that's called life.

[Speaker 2] (34:24 - 34:37)
Excellent. And I'm assuming as well, because sometimes even if people are going to the gym, sometimes they don't do leg day and their legs, you might have chicken legs or whatever, but I'm assuming because you're doing that, your legs are strong as well and muscly.

[Speaker 1] (34:38 - 35:37)
Yeah, it works every single part of the body, literally from the toes to the mind. So it's all in proportion. There's no like huge chest, big biceps, tiny legs, or like disproportion, because that causes injury and it's long-term damage.

It causes a lot of tax on the system, toxicity, and you want to be balanced. Your whole body and your whole mind needs to be balanced together, proportioned, so you can feel good. Yes, everything's going to be strengthened, not just one area, absolutely everything.

So your weakest link is becoming as strong as the strongest link, which is what you want, because then you're bulletproofing your back, you're bulletproofing your joints, the muscle surrounding, especially when it comes to people who run, they bang their knees constantly, nonstop, and they get injured and in pain. And this bulletproofs it by improving the shock absorbers and improves absolutely every area. It's insane the benefits.

[Speaker 2] (35:38 - 35:56)
I'm assuming somebody that has an existing ailment, maybe a shoulder or something, that just by getting the circulation going, that they'll resolve that. I mean, obviously it depends on the injury, but I'm assuming that there's a good percentage of injuries that could get resolved just by the circulation and doing this.

[Speaker 1] (35:56 - 36:44)
I've helped so many people who've had, from sciatica to herniated discs to scoliosis, shoulder, rotator cuff injuries, knee injuries, ankle injuries, and just by getting, using the ball in different ways, by getting the blood flow, the ball allows you to work around the injury because it's taking all the impact off the body and the joints, and there's very little impact on the body, so you can work around. So at the same time as the blood flow, the shakiness of the ball, when you're working on certain things, there's not much pain.

And if there is pain, you're able to regress and do a lesser, then you go back to it and improve. And the healing and recovery time is so quick for a lot of people.

[Speaker 2] (36:46 - 37:20)
Excellent. Excellent. Well, I mean, you're after starting in May.

I'm looking forward to start to do it. And I'm kind of shocked that I haven't heard of it before, you know, because I'm like, I'm kind of looking at different health things and everything. It's not really, I mean, it's obviously in your space, you've kind of seen it, but it's a pity that it's not more well known because even talking about the schools and everything, and like there is, there's a lot of people with ADHD and there's like, and then the teachers, you know, they're trying to put them in special classes and everything.

And as you say, they just do that and everything is okay. They're just kind of, they want that little distraction, but their mind works great.

[Speaker 1] (37:21 - 38:08)
So I think, you know, a lot of people know about the ball, it's lying in there in their gym, it's lying in their house, but they never use it. They don't really know what to do with it. They think it's for elderly, they see classes on the ball at the gym and they think it's for elderly people or for pregnant women.

And they say, ugh, that's not for me. So it's largely underestimated and disregarded and not used. And if they do use it, ah, they hurt somewhere, they buy a ball from a shop, not good quality, they get hurt, they get injured.

No, it's not for me. It's not good. But they don't realize that they're getting the wrong quality ball, which is like getting, going river rafting and just going in the wrong equipment and drowning and say, no, river rafting is rubbish.

That's not for me. You need to get the right quality and then the magic happens. And then you see all of those different benefits.

[Speaker 2] (38:10 - 38:30)
And I don't know, can you still buy them? But I remember when I was young, like I'm born in 1972. So maybe early eighties or even in the late seventies, you had the ball with the ears on it and people would be jumping around on them, which I think is very good for kids.

Do they still exist?

[Speaker 1] (38:31 - 38:50)
I've seen, I've seen the ones that for kids, the small balls that have that, they do exist definitely. But for the normal ball, it gets in the way for adults because those two things that's, you know, for seating, it gets uncomfortable and it's just useful play more than anything else.

[Speaker 2] (38:50 - 39:07)
I was thinking more of a, for a child to start getting into this, just the bouncing because you don't want a child, especially they're three or four, you know, falling over because, you know, that leads to more problems, but something like that. And I remember like, they used to really love it. It was a big attraction on the street.

[Speaker 1] (39:08 - 39:18)
Yeah. They take to it. Kids, as I said, even the normal ball, they take to it.

My kids, when they go, they love it. They use it. Other kids, when they bring the ball, they immediately, you know, go for it.

[Speaker 2] (39:20 - 39:24)
No, excellent. Excellent. Anything that I haven't asked you that you'd like to cover?

[Speaker 1] (39:26 - 41:31)
Yeah. It's just, I've created over like literally three and a half thousand actual exercises on the so that's a huge amount of what you can, what's actually possible to do. What I've created is a very unique program that gets from whatever level, whatever age, doesn't matter how strong, not strong if it's the shape you are, it's irrelevant.

It doesn't matter. It goes from getting from that point A, from whatever you're starting to improving your nervous system, improving your body, embodying it and challenging yourself in a very small and safe way. So that you're just pushing a little bit further and a little bit further and a little bit further so that whatever age you are, the body is an amazing machine that knows how to heal itself.

If you let it, if you stop abusing it, stop moving, start putting the right stuff in your body with nutrition and stuff, the body's an unbelievable self-healing machine that you can, that at any age you can feel the difference. You'll start feeling that like going from zero to a hundred in two seconds, like you'll start feeling this is actually more better than being in a Ferrari. Your body is the most amazing gift that you can have because you only have one place to live and that's your body.

If you don't look after it, if you abuse it, if you sit on chairs all day, if you don't move, if you eat garbage, it's going to feel, it's going to tie you down. It's going to be such a burden on you. Why let it be that burden?

Why not let it become this amazing Ferrari, this fuel that you can just go a hundred in a second if you want to. That's at any age, at any weight, at any shape that you are, you can have the ability to do that. If you just let it and get out of your way and change a little bit of habits here and there, that's what could happen to you.

[Speaker 2] (41:32 - 41:41)
Excellent. Listen, totally enjoyed it. I'm glad that we connected because I know that it's going to benefit me.

You might let the listeners know where they could find you.

[Speaker 1] (41:42 - 42:10)
Yeah, they can find me on my website. So www.performable.com that's P-E-R-F-O-R-M-A-B-B-A-L-L, just one B-A-L-L dot com. And then on my social media links, I'm on LinkedIn as Yossi Montrose and I'm on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and what other social medias are there?

YouTube, just find me under Yossi Montrose.

[Speaker 2] (42:11 - 42:15)
Excellent. I'll make sure I put all the links but on the audio and the video. Thank you very much.

[Speaker 1] (42:16 - 42:17)
Yeah, of course.

[Speaker 2] (42:17 - 42:34)
That's all for the speaking podcast. You can find all our episodes on speakingpodcast.com. You'll find everything about me, scan the QR code or go to roycoughlan.com, find about everything I'm doing. I've also got stuff on EMF and PEMF. If you're looking for assistance, go to va.org. Until next week, take care.