Most Helpful Customer Reviews
105 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent workout, but understand the limitations, August 16, 2005
As background, I'm a late thirties guy who has generally been active in fitness and recreational sports, but I've been out of competitive athletics since college. As such, I started with a good-but-not-great level of fitness.
My reasons for starting included boredom with my routine of weightlifting and kickboxing on alternate days, as well as some reading about the merits of core conditioning as a training approach. I enjoyed this program from the beginning. I could detect improvements in flexibility and abdominal strength within a few workouts. Also, the variety was intellectually stimulating. I used the program for about 9 weeks, took a break from it, and returned. Now I am not quite as strict in sticking to the schedules lined out in the book, but rather work them in with other workouts as time and interest allow.
Strengths:
1) The workouts are rigorous and concise. They seldom exceed 45 minutes if you stick to the rules about the amount of rest between sets, but you feel like you have had a good workout.
2) The program works. It helped with overall fitness and sport-specific fitness in soccer and karate. I literally have felt better and fitter than I have in years.
3) The complaint about the science of the book is being answered as research catches up with this training approach. Dynamic stretching, "core" exercises and interval training are showing up in research studies and in professional training rooms. I don't think a reader needs to feel that this is an "out there" approach to fitness.
Weakness:
1) The typos should be embarrassing. Most of the time you can figure out what the author meant, but the website is full of people writing in and asking for clarification.
2) The illustrations leave some doubt as to how the exercises should be performed. I recommend getting the free 1-week trial from the website and checking out the videos of the movements for all of the exercises.
3) The diet recommendations are not too easy to follow if you have a family. It ended up being too much of a hassle to be eating completely at odds with mine, so I generally didn't follow this part.
4) You must be OK with the idea that you are doing exercises that nobody else in the gym is doing. Sometimes folks will ask about it, which can be fun or not, depending on your mood.
5) The circuit exercises are difficult to perform in a crowded gym. They require rotating rapidly between two or more pieces of equipment, and it's hard to do this without inconveniencing someone.
6) Finally, a word about the pay website - it sure looks like a beta version to me. I'd recommend waiting for version 2.0 before considering joining.
So if you are reasonably fit and looking for a challenge, and you don't mind some minor irritations, I think it is a great program.
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165 of 174 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
5 / 5 for the program but only 3 or 4 for presentation, June 18, 2004
Having read other reviews and having followed the 12 week program for 9 weeks so far (and counting), I can make the following comments: The positives... 1. The program itself is very effective - it really works the whole body and not just the "obvious" muscles favored by traditional strength training. There are some great exercises in here. If you are serious about conditioning your body, buy this book - no question 2. Some people will not be able to follow the entire program, but I do believe that, even if you don't have the time or willpower to work out six days a week, the routines can still be useful to you in a three or four day a week version. 3. OK, it does take time to work it all out...this is not a simple program and not for a novice to working out. If you are novice, this book will freak you out and probably doom you to failure. Newbies should start with something more simple, if you successfully follow a simpler program for 6-12 months, come back to this book at that time. For the more experienced among you: take the time to work out what the program demands of you, you will be rewarded for your efforts!! So, having endorsed the overall effectiveness of the book, here's where I think Mark could improve before releasing another book. 1. The science is a little flimsy: Other reviewers have raised legitimate concerns...people like me who are prepared to spend 6 days a week working out want to understand the theory behind it all a bit better. I really hoped for a better understanding of how these exercises impact my musculo-skeletal system. Mark should co-write another version (or another book) with an experienced Chiropractor in order to solve that part of it. 2. Some of the instructions are not specific enough: there are exercises on the worksheets that are not explained properly earlier on in the book (e.g. the bridging adduction). Also, it is not always clear how long to hold certain stretches or movements for maximum effect. Timing is only made really clear in the strength and elasticity modules. There is no discussion about how you should think about increasing or reducing weight as you change the number of repetitions. All in all, an excellent effort, but I am left wondering if I am doing some of this "the right way" and also wondering about the science that would explain why the program is effective, which might help me to better customize the plan to my unique needs after I "finish" the 12th week. Despite my criticisms, I would add that this is the best book I have seen on this topic.
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57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Liked the book, love the CD, December 3, 2005
This review is from: The Core Performance: The Revolutionary Workout Program to Transform Your Body & Your Life (Paperback)
The only reason I didnt give the book 5 stars is that the CD is much more effective. If you are already sold on core training and looking for a comprehensive exercise plan, just buy the CD. The extra money the CD costs will save you many hours trying to understand. Getting all the exercises right from a few photos is difficult. And the CD has pdf files for the exercise logs, just print and your exercise logs are ready. A big time saver because there are about 50 exercises in each phase of 3 phases. Buying the CD will save you time and ensure more effective exercising.
The CD videos give you a clear visualization of the movements and the timing needed to perform correctly. They are short clips, with both front and side views. From using the book some two months I was confident that I was close to doing most things right. I wasn't. Even my trainer guessed wrong on the one exercise I asked him about. It was a pylometric exercise, and figuring pylos out from a few photos is not going to happen - unless you are a Michelangelo of physical training. Even the exercises that were similar to what my trainer had shown me were not completely like my assumptions. For example, exercises that I assumed were isometric, were not. Many of the exercises were more powerful and graceful than I had imagined.
The plan depends on 7 different kinds of exercise. They are:
1. Movement Prep 2. Prehab 3. Phsyioball 4. Elasticity 5. Strength 6. Energy Systems Development, and 7. Regeneration.
One reviewer complained about the nomenclature of the exercises. The renaming was necessary so that the objective of the exercises is clear. For example, "movement Prep" is stretching, but it is stretching with the purpose of developing the flexibility to move. "Prehab" is exercises to strengthen shoulders, hips, and spine to make them injury resistant and its a great concept - do your "prehab" exercises and avoid doing ""rehab" exercises.. "Elasticity" is not called "pylometrics" because "Elasticity" emphasizes the objective of elastic muscle to achieve speed and strength. And "Energy Systems Development" is a plan to develop capabilities to challenge your lactate threshold(3 mins) of high intensity), your alactate threshold, 12 seconds of high intensity, and your aerobic threshold, intensity beyond three minutes. Renaming was necessary to make the theme of this exercise program clear.
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