On cardio work, I am an intermediate exerciser who is playing with advanced choreography. With strength work, I am an intermediate exerciser, who doesn’t really want to move up to advanced work. I have really enjoyed getting into workouts on the ball as an alternative to traditional strength training and Pilates.

When I first started trying to find good ball workouts for me, I hit on this DVD. It was a good workout for me for awhile as I got used to working on the ball and because it had a good combination of moves for me. I have arthritis and the worst joints in my body are the hands and wrists, so many good ball workouts don’t work for me because of all the moves that require the exerciser to support themselves on their hands and wrists for a long time.

The standard Dummies icons pop up throughout the workout, but I manage to ignore them most of the time. If you have a low threshold for boinging icons popping up to give basic info, you will NOT like this workout.

Liz Gilles give good form pointers and explanations on how to do the moves. For a long time, I enjoyed hearing how to do the moves. However, after a time, I got tired of all the explanation. She explains well though and is encouraging while doing so.

I felt like the lower body moves worked me out well. The upper body moves were pretty useless to me. The abs moves were good and fine, but I do many, many crunches on the ball on my own, so they didn’t seem like enough for me. If she just would add 200 more abs moves and/or crunches, it would be the ab workout on the ball! (smile)

Overall, I recommend this workout to beginners and maybe low intermediates on the ball. Anyone who is into innovation or really hard ball workouts will not enjoy this workout.

Instructor Comments:
Liz is pleasant and encouraging. She explains the moves well.

Laura S.