JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A man claims that a exercise ball he was using in a fitness prgram at a Jacksonville YMCA exploded while he was on it, sending him to a hospital with serious injuries and changing his life.

Peter Royal said he broke both wrists and one forearm and injured both shoulders when the ball blew up like a balloon as he was on it while using about 150 pounds of weights at the YMCA branch on Philips Highway.

"It sounded like a rifle shot," Royal said. "Next thing I know, I was on the floor in a state of semi-shock."

Nearly two years later, he and his wife are filing a lawsuit against both the manufacturer of the ball and the YMCA.

"For the next 18 months, two years, my life was turned upside down," Royal said. "I had five operations."

The lawsuit claims the YMCA had negligent trainers and equipment and the manufacturer, TKO Sports Group, had negligent procedures.

Royal's attorney claims to have a sworn statement from a YMCA employee saying a similar thing happened or five months earlier.

Royal said he also filed the lawsuit to let others know about what he calls the potential dangers of the exercise balls.

A spokesman for the YMCA told Channel 4's Vickie Pierre that the organization cannot comment on pending litigation. TKO Sports did not return multiple calls for its reaction to the lawsuit.