Low Impact DVD

[Author]

Hi Cathe,

Have just recently gotten my daughter doing your workouts -- She is doing the Basic Step DVD plus she's been doing the TimeSaver DVD from the Blast series -- and she loves them and wants more for Christmas.

My question is this: She lives in NYC and is in a small apartment and doesn't have room for a stability ball -- there's just no where to put it -- I am wanting to get her the new Low Impact DVD with the sculpting workout part of it, but I notice that the sculpting workout on that DVD really uses the stability ball a lot. So again to my question: can this workout be done without the stability ball? Or would that just be too confusing? She's just starting and I don't want her to be put off by confusion.

She also works two jobs, so she can only do 30 minutes of exercise 3-4 times a week -- I was going to recommend a few of the workouts that have premixes with shorter workouts on them in lieu of the New Low Impact DVD.

Hmmm... I seem to be going on and on. Anyway, my basic question is: Can the sculpting workout on the new Low Impact DVD be done with weights fairly easily?

Thanks so much. Love your workouts!:7

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Karen! Thanks so much for your sweet note.

I think your daughter would be able to do all but three exercises without a ball (they are listed below). For the most part, when we lie on the ball, she would lie on the floor. When we sit on the ball, she can sit on a chair, when we hold the ball (during squats, lunges, sit ups)she doesn't have to hold anything and she will still feel it.

Where she will have to do something different is on 1) tricep kickbacks. We are doing them face down on the ball, she can do them standing with bent knees and upper body hinged forward at her hips.

2) For preacher bicep curls where we lean on the ball, she can simply stand or sit up straight and do traditional curls.

3) For roll ins where our legs are positioned like frog legs and we draw the ball inward, she can lie on her back with her legs straight up in the air (her shoes bottoms face the ceiling). She should press her heels together as she bends her knees (her legs will form a diamond shape as she bends her knees).

Hope that helps!

 

[Author]

Hi Cathe,

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my question. Yes, that really helps alot. I'm going to print your suggestions and buy the DVD's for her and send your note along with the DVD's.

You're terrific.

 

[40something]

Author...would it be an option for her to hang the ball from the ceiling in her apartment, in a corner. If she has a separate bedroom no one would see it. And she could call it art! I just think the stability ball is such a useful exercise tool I hate to see her not use. Or she could always partially deflate it each time she uses it and store it under a piece of furniture. You can buy electric pumps now for under $10 that inflate things like pool toys and such.