Customer Reviews

Four Way Burn: The All-in-One Training Program for : Stronger Muscles, More Flexibility, Improved Posture and Balance, Increased Energy and Power

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The most important concept in health and fitness that I've carried away from my studies in Scott Sonnon's "Circular Strength Training" and "Maximology" courses is that eventually, you have to sophisticate your approach to training if you want to truly reap the benefits of high performance and optimal health and vitality. Otherwise, if you just go harder and harder in the cardio sessions, pile on more and more weight in the resistance training and add endless reps in bodyweight calisthentics, etc, you will eventually either burn out or injure yourself.

With that principle in mind, I think that Henning's "Four Way Burn" is an excellent example of a way to implement this principle of sophistication. The movements, exercises and principles taught here lend are very nicely conceived and organized in a way that most fitness and health seekers will find useful, enjoyable and helpful in their quest for energy, fitness and vitality.

I've been having great fun and very pleasing results pressing, jerking, snatching, swinging and casting some very heavy kettlebells and clubbells for several few years now; this may have given me a better perceptual toolset than some people for recognizing the potential of Mr. Henning's system. Based on what I see here, and on my initial attempts at handling a 6 lb medicine ball in these elegant and sophisticated moves, I can promise the potential reader that this system is very challenging but also quite accessible to the average person, even one who is normally "all thumbs". The soft medicine ball is far more forgiving of mistakes and miscues than kettlebells, clubbells or even dumbbells - the worst that can happen if you mess up on these movements (and you will) is that you drop the ball and it will bounce away. That's not the case with an iron weight. believe me - as a person who often had to train with a small dog, a curious cat or preoccupied child wandering into the area, I've had to be careful about these things, and the ball as used here is an excellent compromise in terms of safety to the user and the furniture. The ball reaches some decent speeds, but nothing that imperils life, limb or happiness when things go wrong.

The other aspect I really like about Mr. Henning's system is that almost everything about it is geared towards the way the body's joints, tendons, and muscles actually want to work. The graceful, fluid arcs, ellipses and circles that you move in serve to pump new blood and lymph into areas that are normally starving for them, and the results can be energizing and exhilarating. One excellent example of this would be the exercise Henning calls the "Saturn"; this is a very close cousin of the shoulder girdle exercise called the "Halo" in RKC training and the "Mill" in Clubbell swingining, and there is nothing like it for warming up the neck, trap, and deltoids, leaving them loose, warm, and tingling with fresh blood. And it's just plain fun sometimes; passing the ball around puts you in mind of a Harlem Globetrotter's ball handling exhibition - in my mind, I'm Meadowlark Lemon dazzling the crowd as I carve air and space in ways that fire up your imagination and enthusiasm.

Is this a substitute for a serious yoga practice? No,nothing could make me stop practicing yoga. Is this enough to make you look like a bodybuilder? No...anyone who wants a huge chest and 19 inch guns is still going to need to hit the iron pile. But as a way to add some fun, fitness and functional vitality into your life, "Four Way Burn" is a great tool.

In summary, I really really like the book and the system, enough to over look a few of the design flaws and mediocre photography. You really need to see this stuff live in 3 dimensions to get the most out of the instructions. I'm hoping Henning comes up with a DVD for it soon - surely this excellent concept and product deserves a DVD when there are already about 3,000 Pilates, Cardio, Step and Yoga DVDs out there.

Bravo, Ralf Hennings.

Update: I may have found a DVD that supplements "Four Way Burn". Jeff Martone, a very dedicated, innovative and capable trainer and educator has a product entitled "S.H.O.T. Training", involving iron and "indoor" shotput balls ranging from 4-24 lbs. Martone has very impressive credentials - he's the fellow who reinvented kettlebell juggling in the US - and his stuff is bound to be interesting. More updates to follow. But I still want to see Henning do a DVD to supplement the book!

I have known Ralf now for many years. I've always been in awe not only of his level of fitness, but of his dedication to educating others about fitness. I have used the Performance Ball since he first introduced it and now follow his book and training video religiously. As a former gymnast I've had many injuries to my ankles and shoulders and if it wasn't for Ralf's instruction, I would have not been able to maintain the level of strength and flexibility I have today. I even use it on the road since I travel all the time and find it invaluable to be able to work out in a hotel room if I don't have access or time to go to a gym. My husband recently started using the Performance Ball and watching Ralf's video and is quickly feeling the improvements in his flexibility. Recently I met a physical therapist and we began talking about workouts and I told him that I use something called the Performance Ball and he said, "Oh yeah, I have those here! I know Ralf and it's a great workout." People ask me all the time how I stay "in shape" and I love telling them about the Performance Ball and Ralf's training materials; something everyone should have.

This program works. If you follow Mr. Hennig's plan, you will become more fit with little risk of injury. Hennig's aim is to increase functional, everyday fitness and I think this plan does it very well.

I'm in my 40's, which means that my body is on the downhill slide. 3 years ago, I quit a manual labor job. I was in pretty good shape. When I began a more sedentary job I wanted to keep in shape. After suffering injury using some other styles of exercise, I started to experiment. I found that using one dumbbell worked very well for me and caused less strain on my hurting joints. I found Four Way Burn while looking for materials on medicine ball workouts.

I was disappointed at first. It's not intense. I doesn't make your muscles bulge. There's no cardio component unless you add it yourself, which the author recommends and explains.

I am not disappointed now. Four Way Burn works almost every muscle in every workout. Some of the moves make you glad that he recommends only a 4-6 lb ball. The workouts are progressive. Each of the four cycles covers one month of workouts, 3 per week. Each week increases the number of repetitions. Each cycle increases the level of complexity, physical coordination, and balance required. The movements are usually slow. I didn't realize how slow until I watched Mr. Hennig on youtube and at his website. He does them slowly and breathes deeply.

I've done this program for over a year, while also doing other types of exercise. I am on cycle four now. I stayed on cycle two for months because I really liked that workout and was afraid the next one would aggravate a spinal injury. Cycle three did not aggravate my back as long as I kept it slow.

I have slimmed down a bit. I have increased in strength. I have become more coordinated and move much more easily than I did last year. My joints don't hurt after working out.

Thank you Mr. Hennig. I hope that your program gets wider recognition.

The main idea of this book is using a medicine ball as a tool for resistance training. The affordable cost of the ball and the great number of exercise variations executed, in the absence of any costly equipment, makes this book unique. It suits people who aim at burning fat and gaining flexibility. It could be useful for advanced athletes as an adjunct to the warm-up segment of training. Its limitation lies in the light weight of the ball that precludes muscles from developing fibers that resist intensive labor.

By virtue of the light resistance of the ball, the book premise of getting fit by three 20-minute weekly sessions is unrealistic. The least effective daily workout should last one hour with a 10-pound medicine ball, for a person with sedentary life. Heavier balls, with comfortable gripping surface, could add muscle mass yet at low peak muscle strength, compared to iron weights. The 20-minute sessions might suit people in occupations that involve heavy physical labor. In that latter case, the medicine ball exercises emphasize the muscles that were neglected in performing those occupations.

Glancing through the book for the first time gave me peculiar sense of boredom. The abundant and redundant black and white photos are made worse by the poor paper quality and by the same person performing closely similar movements. All movements appear to lack an objective ending other than enhancing flexibility. The tall male adult performer adds another dimension of vanity by his excessive preoccupation of seemingly similar and routine poses. Worse yet is his classification of exercisers into beginners, intermediate, and advanced, as if he really has a definitive criteria to draw the lines between those classes of performers.

My boredom and frustration in viewing most of the apparently redundant movements is minimized by my empathy with an author who has passion for something that sounds trivial to many yet efficient and affordable to most of us. I suppose that the author's own thinness and fit outlook is attributed to his indulgence in practical and affordable resistance training.


Mohamed F. El-Hewie
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training