Customer Reviews

101 Ways to Work Out on the Ball: Sculpt Your Ideal Body with Pilates, Yoga and More

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Elizabeth Gillies, known previously for her work on instructional videos/DVDs for Pilates and the balance ball, has an extensive background in movement, including ballet, modern dance, Pilates and even performing with a circus. She's taken all of that and translated many familiar exercises to the stability ball (as well as invented a few of her own).

Gillies' training in anatomy and years of instruction really show here. She uses clear, descriptive language as well as many tips and cues that immediately help the reader figure out what muscles they should (and shouldn't) be activating.

While there are a lot of books out there for the stability ball (both Pilates-based and "gym-style"), this book does manage to break some new ground. The sections that use handweights and her dance-based exercises are very different from anything else out there- Gillies' deserves credit for her innovativeness and originality.

The book itself is very attractive, with glossy photography and clear sherbet tones. It's a joy to read through and follow along with. She's also created ten different easy to follow exercise menus to choose from if you need a quick reference (I certainly do).

The only drawback is that this is low on yoga-based exercises- not a big deal, but it is mentioned in the title. However, I think someone using this book will find more than enough to make up for that.

I really enjoy reading this book because it gives a description of how to do the workout, how to position your body, what muscles your working, and even shows a picture of Ms. Elizabeth Gilles posing on the ball for every 101 workouts! I have tried most of these workouts on my ball at work, I work at Curves, and I really enjoy them, I even show my customers a few workouts on the ball and they enjoy them too! I makes me look smart!

I love this book...it covers all my needs for exercising on the ball so far. Great for beginners or advanced people. Just wish it were spiral-bound! It would be more durable and easier to use while I'm learning all the exercises.

This book has colored pictures that are large and easy to follow. The instructions are clear and easy to understand. The exercises are labeled as beginner, all levels, advanced, etc. There are variations to many exercises, which is great. Overall I am happy with my purchase.

Liz Gillies goes into a bit of background on the theoretical stuff. Although most of the exercises are not new, what stands out is the sense of fun she has when working out with the exercise ball, making it less work & more play. This makes me want to do more of them, & more often. This, coupled with exercises' effectiveness, has already made a difference in my posture & the way I carry myself, after only 3 weeks of 3x a week exercise. Thanks Liz. About that cat stance on the ball... I did it! Only for less than a second though, but in time...

101 Ways to Workout on the Ball: Sculpt Your Ideal Body with Pilates, Yoga, and More I'm rating this Kindle version a "1," not due to the content of the book, but a "1" because of the way it's laid out in the Kindle version.

I'm a Pilates-on-the-Ball instructor who was hoping to use some of the descriptions and pictures in the book to enhance my already-successful classes. However, what I discovered was that all of the text describing the various exercises are in the early part of the book, whereas the pictures that illustrate the moves are located towards the last half of the book. Granted each picture has a reference to it (e.g., "65 Supine Hamstring Stretch (page 110)"). In the actual printed book, that would take you back to page 110, but the page numbers of the bound-and-printed book are not even a part of the Kindle version. Kindle just shows "locations" instead of pages. So page 110, might be "location 1282" or something like that. When I put in a search for "page 110" it still would not take me to a page number (because they don't exist in the Kindle version), but to wherever the words "page 110" showed up in the text. Of course, that was right back where I started from when it referred me to "page 110."

The bottom line is that I had to ask for a refund of the e-book because I could find no way to easily correlate the pictures with the descriptions of the moves. That's probably not a problem in the bound-and-printed version, but in the Kindle version, it's a huge problem, making the e-book frustrating instead of helpful.

I own a few other "101 way to" books and this one disappointed. I expected new exercises to help me with my job as an aerobics instructor, but it failed to do so. Instead a stretch with the ball was labeled as an exercise.

I like these exercises very much. They don't look like much when you see them on paper but when you do them they are very effective and make you feel very very good. I enjoyed all the exercises, the cardio, toning and stretching. Some take time to learn for it takes some skill to balance on the ball but that is part of the fun.

This is my favorite exercise book to use while watching TV. I do the exercises and just feel so relaxed, so healthy, so good. Very nice. I am certain I'll be going back to this book again and again. Worthwhile purchase.

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Wanted to add an update to this book...I love it! I did it last night...while watching tv and I tried the lunge pose. At first I thought "ugh...hard" because lunges tend to be hard work but with the ball...I went soo deep and it felt very very good. The stretch was amazing due to the use of the ball.

I find these exercises to be very relaxing. If I had a difficult day, this is an excellent book to wind down with.

I am looking forward to exploring more of the exercises in this book.

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I just have to add one little, itsy bitsy item I didn't like about this book. Correct me if I am wrong but the author goes into length that the ball should not be too large. That your legs should be parrallel to the ground when you are sitting on it YET in at least one exercise, one of the back stretches, her ball was definitely larger and taller.

??? I was just confused about this and I could not do the exercise because I followed the original directions!!!

Again, not a huge deal but just a incongruity I guess.

I am very pleased with the book. My wife and I both enjoy working out together and like the step by step directions as well as the detailed photos. Using it to stay fit and it's fun!

This book is well written and photographed. Instructions are easy to follow. I really liked the combinations of disciplines used in this book. Great addition to my workout room.