Cardio BalanceBall

I'm an intermediate to advanced level. I enjoy Patrick, Debbie, Cathe, Jari, Amy and Tracey S. I also enjoy lower intensity workouts by Ellen, Kathy, YBB and Michelle.

This workout includes:

50 minute workout
30 minute express workout
10 minute bonus lower body workout

Equipment needed:

Stability Ball
Mat (optional)

Space Requirements:

You do need to be able to bring the stability over your head and all around your body in a big circle. Also side to side with arms extended. People who work out in low ceiling environments such as basements may find this workout problematic.

Workout Details:

Tanja performs all movements slow at first and then speeds them up to double time. This is considered aero/tone due to the use of the stability ball throughout.

This workout makes great use of the stability ball. Those waiting for the ultimate stability ball workout wait no longer this is it.

Tanja will do cardio with the stability ball then she will switch to toning utilizing the stability ball. The workout progresses like this til the end. Even the transitions from cardio to toning use the stability ball. All the cardio contains core work, and lower body work. Of course the constant holding and moving of the stability ball in all directions will work your arms.

Tanja then transitions to several toning sections For the upper body Tanja and the other two exercisers use no weights. Tanja does say that after doing the workout and being familiar with it you could then use weights according to your strength level. It would have been best for this workout if Tanja were to have used weights while the other two exercisers did not. Or showed three levels beginner, intermediate and advanced.

The pacing starts slow then speeds up. You could easily use 8LB dumbbells or more during the chest, biceps, and shoulder work. She performs chest presses, bicep curls, shoulder overhead presses and lateral raises. Other toning exercises using the stability ball without weights include push ups, lower back, squats, lunges, core/abs and twists for oblique work.

Bonus 10 min. Lower Body Details:

Tanja includes a brief warm-up. Then progresses to squats, and lunges. The floorwork includes hamstring curls as in Susan's FYC. Tanja then has you hold the stability ball on your thigh while lying on your side to do outer thigh work. Then stretches and your done. This workout would be good to add to Mindy's All About Legs Stability Ball segment or her gliding segment. Just to mix things up. It could also serve as a warm-up to lower body work or Barre work.

Both the warm-up and the stretch sections use the stability ball.

This workout is what I wish Patrick's stability ball workouts would have been like. There is a real fun factor in this workout that was missing from Patrick's.

The music in this workout is familiar to those who have Kathy's Project You and Ellen Barrett workouts. I didn't mind it I thought it worked well with this workout.

The scenery is breath taking. Location is Sundance, Utah. When you finish this workout you feel worked out cardio wise and some strength wise (remember this is not a Cathe or P90X workout). You also feel rejuvenated and relaxed. No dread factor here.

Comments:
A very fun workout with no dread factor from a very friendly instructor. You will want to reach for this one time and again. It is a different enough workout to add to anyones collection. (Keeping in mind the ceiling height and room size)

Instructor Comments:
Very personable. Girl next door. Cheerfull, motivating and energetic. Pleasant with excellent cuing and form pointers.

Cuddly Critter aka: \"CC\"

This is a stability ball workout led by instructor Tanja Djelevic. The DVD offers 3 workout options, a full 50.5 minute workout, a 30.5 minute Express workout (different footage but the same basic exercises), and a 9.5 minute Cardio Lower Body workout (really a short lower body strength session).

The main workout begins seated on the ball for a warm-up that is just under 7 minutes long; the warm-up includes slow squats and lunges to begin raising the heart rate. Tanja then alternates 3 cardio segments with 3 toning segments; given the title of the workout, I was somewhat surprised by the latter. Each cardio segment consists of the same series of moves--including squats, squat with side leg lift, lunges, lunge with twist and arabesque, lunge with knee lift and arabesque, and side-to-side twist--although the moves are sped up in each subsequent segment. The first toning segment focuses on biceps, shoulders, and obliques (not using any weights, although Tanja mentions that you can use them), the second on back and chest, and the third on hamstrings and abdominals.

I enjoyed the music for this workout, which had an upbeat, pop sound to it, and I really liked the cardio segments, which incorporated the ball well and definitely raised my heart rate. However, I was really disappointed when the cardio segments stopped and the toning work began, as the toning segments definitely slowed things down too much to continue providing an aerobic benefit. Furthermore, they were too light to really provide any significant strength benefits; obviously, the addition of weights would help, but I was really looking for a mainly cardio workout here. As mentioned above, the bonus workout is different footage from the main workout, but the exercises are the same. This time, however, Tanja begins with just a single cardio interval, and then the entire remainder of the Express workout is toning-focused. The "Cardio" Lower Body workout consists of lower body strength exercises performed both standing and on the floor.

I did find Tanja to be a likable instructor, and some advanced beginner/low intermediate exercisers may find that this workout provides the right mix for them, but I didn't find it to meet my needs at this time.

Instructor Comments:
Tanja speaks with a very slight accent. She often says "uh-oh" to indicate a more difficult sequence coming up (even when this is not entirely accurate). She does not mirror cue, although since her cueing is pretty minimal overall and the choreography is fairly simple, I did not find this to be much of an issue.

Beth C (aka toaster)