Barre Ball Blast Total Body Workout with Stability Ball - Fitness DVD by Linda Wooldridge for Home Gym, Pilates & Core Strengthening Exercises

I've only been doing Linda's Barlates workouts for less than four weeks, and I've already noticed a huge difference in how my clothes are fitting and how my body is shaping up. My thighs have become slimmer and less jiggly, my waist is pulling in, and my arms are toning up. I discovered her workouts through some posts on the Video Fitness forum, and have purchased all five of her DVDs and fifteen of her downloads. I can't get enough of how great these make you feel!I consider myself an advanced exerciser (I do a lot of Tonique, Cathe Freidrich, Dream Body, and Ballet Beautiful), and these are giving me better results with less cardio and less burnout. I'm an hourglass shape who carries most of my weight in my lower half, and these are slimming me down. My husband even commented yesterday that my rear was getting "skinny" -- and let me tell you that my rear has never been described as "skinny" before. :-)To do this DVD, all you'll need is a large stability ball and a yoga mat. Although this DVD focuses a lot on the lower body, you'll still get an amazing arm workout by holding the ball for the cardio and warm-up segments. A lot of the moves also target the obliques. The DVD has about 115 minutes of content on it, and you can play premixes or individual segments.This specific DVD has the following premixes:--Standing Only - 55 Minutes-- Floor Only - 73 Minutes--Abs & Lower - 58 Minutes--Cardio & Core - 48 Minutes--Cardio & Lower Only - 71 Minutes--Inner Thighs & Core - 44 Minutes--Glutes & Core - 49 MinutesYou can also select individual chapters:--Warm Up--Ball Cardio 14 Minutes--Standing Lower Body 26 Minutes--Lower Body Mat 16 Minutes--Glutes & Lower Back 14 Minutes--Inner Thigh and Abs 9 Minutes--Total Core 19 Minutes--Stretch 6 MinutesThe low-weight, high-rep format will have your muscles screaming, and these kinds of exercises work really well for us hourglasses.The premixes are great, and quite a few of the leg segments have a cardio effect since you're doing lunges and squats while balancing one leg on the ball. (Not to worry if your balance is bad -- I have to hold on to the wall during some segments to aid my balance, but still feel a killer burn.)The production value is pretty basic on this DVD and the music is generic, but the workouts are still so fun and effective that I don't mind. You can also stream your own music if you want something louder and more upbeat.On her website, Linda has some suggestions of how to rotate her workouts, and here is the basic template:Day 1: Upper Body and Abs (additional cardio optional)Day 2: Lower Body (additional cardio optional)Day 3: Total Body (additional cardio optional)Day 4: Upper Body (additional cardio optional)Day 5: Lower Body and Abs (additional cardio optional)Day 6: Total Body (additional cardio optional)Day 7: Active rest or yoga/stretching workoutSince most of her workouts are about 20-40 minutes, I've been mixing and matching two of them a day, about five days a week. Linda also has a ton of free workouts on her YouTube site so you can try them out before committing to buying anything. What I really love about Barlates is that you get a tough, effective workout, without all the impact and pounding on your joints. Now that I'm 44, it's harder for me to do workout like Dream Body and Insanity without feeling exhausted; these workouts have given me fast results, with no stress or impact.Barlates is my newest obsession, and I love how low-key, positive, and yet tough Linda is. She's fantastic!