Caution: Contents May Shift During Exercise
I generally shy away from workouts that require special equipment. I’ve got a set of small hand weights, but if you don’t, you can make do with water bottles. A bathrobe belt works great for a yoga strap. There’s no sense in spending a ton of money on exercise equipment, especially if you’re not sure you’re even going to like that type of exercise.
However, I make an exception for the balance ball. This is one area where it makes sense to invest. For one thing, there isn’t really a makeshift replacement for the balance ball. Plus, you can pick one up for relatively little (they usually have them at Costco for around $25 bucks). When shopping, be sure to find an anti-burst model, or you could be in for an unpleasant surprise.
Just sitting on a balance ball is a workout (especially for the uncoordinated) – you’re forced to use your ab muscles and have good posture if you don’t want to end up on the floor. The balance ball can also add a lot of challenge to regular exercises like crunches. Any time you’re having to pay attention to your balance while you do another exercise, you get extra bang for the buck.
Today we’re reviewing BalanceBall for Weight Loss. I had not realized before I started it how Pilates-focused it was going to be. Sure enough, it says in the blurb on the DVD box that they are “Pilates-infused” routines. It pays to read the fine print.
The DVD has a 5-minute intro/warm-up (called ‘Fundamentals’) with a focus on alignment and breathing exercises. It was not clear whether this was introductory for people who are new to this kind of exercise, or whether it was supposed to be done with each workout as a sort of warm-up routine.
The Fundamentals section is followed by 3 lengthier segments (12-18 minutes each), for a total run time of about 55 minutes. The first segment was kind of a mixed bag, but with quite a bit of ab work. The second section emphasized leg exercises, and was my favorite of the three. The third section was very focused on the upper body, and contained the most exercises that I couldn’t do (this is perhaps more about me and my elbow injuries, though, and not necessarily a reflection on the general difficulty of this segment).
One of the nice features is that you can program the DVD ahead of time to play only the segments you want, in the order you want, if you’re not up for the full 55 minutes.
Instructor Suzanne Deason has a nice soothing voice, but the big problem with this workout is that you are solely dependent on her voice for instruction. You spend 95% of the workout lying on the floor or draped over the ball, with no ability to see the TV.
When I first did this workout, I definitely felt the expected muscle aches the next morning, but also felt an unexpected one – I had a sore neck from all the craning I did to try to see the exercises I was supposed to be doing.
Some of the moves were made more difficult by being performed on the ball. There is one exercise where you do a bridge pose with your feet up on the ball, which just seems like a disaster waiting to happen. I did, in fact, slide sideways off the ball and land on the floor the one time I attempted this move, shooting the ball violently across the room. I know my limits; I did not get back up on that horse.
Other moves were made surprisingly easier by the presence of the ball though. In particular, Pilates moves like the 100 and the single leg stretch (Pilates bicycle) actually seem easier to do when you are resting one or both legs on the ball, rather than trying to balance them in the air.
This DVD is not destined to be one of my favorites – not my favorite balance ball workout, not my favorite Suzanne Deason workout, not my favorite Pilates workout (if such a think even exists … I still hate Pilates).
For me, the value here is in the modifications I can take to other workouts. In addition to the modifications I learned about when reviewing Pilates for Wimps last month, I now know to keep a balance ball on standby when I do certain Pilates exercises (yeah, Pilates bicycle, I’m talking to you!).