Customer Reviews

On a Roll @ Home, Home Exercises for Core Strength and Massage on the Foam Roller

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Extremely helpful & practical

This is an extremely useful and practical book. I can't think of a book that has had such a clearly beneficial effect on me. I bought it during an episode of lower back pain, and also bought the 6x36"jfit EVA foam roller at amazon. (you need 36" to support both bottom & neck!) Both are helping me get my core and back in much better shape than they've been in years.

The author describes how to do each of 50+ warm-ups, exercises & massages so clearly that I am confident I'm doing it right. In contrast, when I was paying a gym for a "small group trainer/ semi-personal trainer" I kept having to ask questions to figure out if I was really doing back exercises correctly, and since my back often was worse the next day- I couldn't make progress. With this book, I do a few exercises whenever I feel like it (almost every day) and definitely feel better afterwards. After about 6 weeks now, I know my core & back are in better shape: I am much more flexible than when I started, have little or no pain and have much better balance during the exercises than when I started. I am middle aged, and most would think I'm in pretty good shape. But my core was not in good shape before this book. The roller is also fantastic for massaging many muscles yourself. I love the spiral binding, as I often flip through the book and lay it open to a new exercise when I'm on the floor.

Cons? The only possible con for me is the organization of the book. There are 3 hardness levels (1, 2 & 3). I'm doing all the 1's and a few 2's now. I need to focus on strengthening my core to support my back. I have 6 post it flags steering me to batches of pages that I'm finding most helpful. Might be better if all the 1's were in the front, or all the core exercises were together? The index of excercises & massages of pages 27-88 is clear, but not divided into clear groups or focus areas. My advice: start at the front, and as you learn batches of 5 or so exercises feel free to jump around and do a variety to find what seems to fit you the best.

I would give this 5 starts for the great book. I had an excercise question & emailed the author and got a very clear answer right back. Wow- I wish I could give it 6 stars.

Give up your balls and other contraptions! This thing is the best! There are so many ways to use this item. I highly reccomend that you buy the book On a Roll @ Home, Home Exercises for Core Strength and Massage on the Foam Roller which shows you great excercises AND massages and stretches. This is an integral part of my fitness routine now. I look forward to using this after my cooldown or anytime I need to unknot. A chiropractor could not get my back cracked better than this item. My spine just pops into alignment with this. I love it! PLUS, you know with the Yamuna balls how you can massage the front of your thighs? (Mine are tight as tree trunks) well with this item I can get a larger area and with much more ease. It takes less time to get the same effects with less effort.

This is the most thorough "how to" relative to the foam roller that I have ever read or used. Donna Gambino, a successful physical therapist, is uniquely qualified to guide the reader safely and in great detail through the steps required to accurately perform the exercises and massage techniques described in On a Roll @ Home. I love this book. I have incorporated it into my workout regimen. I highly recommend it. Gayle Kendall, Vice President, Pilates Suit Corporation

On a Roll at home by Donna Gambino is surely a book for anyone who has never been on a roller. She gives both "instructions" as well as "fine tuning" to check yourself which are very helpful, as if she were there with you for the workout!!
The spiral bound design is helps the page to stay where you want it. I workout in various ways and the roller is always what I go to at the end of the day to ease my muscles from the activity of the day- the self massage chapter is great!!

With this organized, fun, and inspiring book we can all get ready to roll! Fitness professional or not, On a Roll@Home is a great source of information. The posture and anatomy chapter holds just the right amount of information without being overwhelming. I find that the warm up exercises also can be used to wind down or energize after a long workday, yet my favorite part are the massages - which quickly become addictive! The workout, which focuses on the deep core muscles, is sure to provide a challenge for everyone irregardless of fitness level. With this book we can all learn to integrate foam rollers into our daily lifes.
-Josefin Ekström, Pilates Instructor

The content of book is fairly good. The exercises are good for someone that had worked on a roller before. In my opinion it'll need more detailed information for novices.
The reason why I'm giving only one star is because the book is badly printed and its not even bound, it comes with an spiral bind like the ones you got in a copy center. The pictures are in black and withe, like they were poorly copied at the same cheap copy center and the paper is 60 gram. If I would've pay $ 10 for the book I think I'll be good a good buy, but for $24.95 you'll expect something far better. The book its not worth its price.

As a PT and an RN and a regular workout fanatic, I love Donna Gambino's book. The exercises are clear and easy to follow,and the author gives you important tips that only an expert can give.

I love this flip book. I appreciate how the author organized exercises by complexity. The stretches are marvelous. I am rehabing a long standing shoulder injury with these excellent exercises. It so easy to follow along with. All you have to do is keep flipping over the pages to find the next well illustrated exercise.

I am a 40 year old male who enjoys golf and recently took up running. I was experiencing pain and stiffness in my lower body until I met Donna. I took her class and ordered the book. I am now much more flexible for golf and I am running pain free.

This book is clear with excellent how-to photos. I also appreciate the contra-indication tips. I would recommend this to a friend.