The Bender Method for a Strong Healthy Back

Leslee Bender
Year Released: 2007

Categories: Balance/Medicine/Mini/Stability Ball, Special Health Conditions


I've always been curious about the Bender Ball workouts, when I saw this DVD at a used book sale, I picked it up. Instructor Leslee Bender leads two background exercisers, Lucy, who displays easier modifications, and Kitty, who slightly harder variations for some of the exercises. Although Leslee performs a few of the moves herself, she mostly walks around Mari Winsor style.

The Main Menu offers options for Play All with Introduction, Play All without Introduction, as well as lists all of the available chapters. I have briefly described each chapter below, adding in approximate times.

STANDING WARM-UP (2.5m)
Starting with the ball between the knees, Leslee performs a few pelvic tucks to find neutral spine. This segment also includes stretches to warm-up the lower back and arm swings to loosen the arms/shoulders.

LOWER BACK STRETCH (4m)
Coming to hands and knees, Leslee cues a cat/cow series, performing a more modified version of cow pose (stomach drawing in while the back stays flat). She also adds what she calls a "wagging tail" to this move.

SPINE STABILIZATION (3m)
The spine stabilization work is basically back strengthening work performed on the stomach. Here Leslee has you use a small towel placed under the forehead as she leads you through a series of back extensions/superman-type moves.

CORRECT SPINAL CURL (2m)
In this section, Leslee does just a few seated crunches, using the ball placed behind the low back for support.

SIDE PLANK (2m)
This work is performed with either the legs stretch or the knees bent, lifting the hips up and down.

LYING BACK EXERCISES (4m)
Here Leslee lies supine with the ball under the tailbone for a hip hiker move (raise one hip, then the other) and typewriter (moving the hips side-to-side). This is followed by a series of hip flexors stretches.

SIDE LYING CRUNCHES (4m)
This segment actually consists of side-lying hip/glutes work. Lying on your side with the ball under one ankle, you'll lift your top leg up and down, toes pointed down.

Stretch (2.5m)
To stretch, Leslee begins lying on the back for a Figure 4 stretch. She then places the ball under the upper back, stretching this area by lying back over it. The final stretches include mermaid and thread the need.

Note that all the DVD case says that the running time for this workout is "about 30 minutes," the actual time for this workout was closer to 17 minutes.

Overall, I agree with cardiomama in that I found this workout somewhat disappointing. I too was looking for a good therapeutic video for my back, which has been getting tight at times since I recently started kettlebell work, but these moves were way too basic, especially at the slow pace that Leslee sets. In my opinion, this would be best suited to someone who is more limited in mobility or perhaps is in more active pain and this needs a very gentle program.

Instructor Comments:
I found Leslee to be a bit over-the-top (i.e., she said things like "doesn't that feel GOOD?" over and over), although she was tolerable. However, I thought she spent WAY too much time on setup of the moves.

Beth C (aka toaster)

10/22/2011