Swiss Ball: For Strength, Tone and Posture

I recently purchased a stability ball, and I wanted a book which would provide a general introduction to exercises on the ball. For the most part, this book met my needs. It begins with some good preliminary information on ball work, equipment, safety issues, and alignment. The first exercise chapter features some excellent stretches with the ball designed to be used during either the warm-up or cool-down portion of your workout. The following chapters are each broken into color-coded sections on basic, intermediate, and advanced exercises. Although I liked this format, I was disappointed to see that the intermediate and advanced exercises often required the use of additional equipment--dumbbells, ankle weights, stability cushions, etc. Each chapter also focuses on a particular area of the body, including core (back work), abdominals, spinal mobility and strength, upper body, and lower body; specialized populations--senior citizens and pregnant women--are featured in the final two chapters. I found the exercises to be clear, with easy-to-follow, concise instructions and helpful photo illustrations. The upper body chapter contained a particularly nice variety of exercises, most of which required only dumbbells as extra equipment. Overall, this book provides a nice reference for those new to stability ball work.

I agree with the other reviewer that this books is not meant for a person who is already seasoned with Stability Ball training. So here is my background if that will help others make up their minds - I consider myself intermediate to advanced exerciser in the category of people who workout to stay in shape and keep fit (i.e not in the athlete category). I do regular cardio and weight training - either style on any day for at least an hour, four to six times a week. I did a bit of stability ball work after looking at exercises in M & F magazine and loved it. I bought this book and "Get on the Ball" to learn more. Before this book there were stability ball exercises from mags that I could do. And those I simply could not. And I had no idea why. This book teaches you the technique of gaining control on the ball first. And then takes you through Beginner, Intermediate, Advnaced exercises for different body parts. So I can now do exercises I could not earlier. There are many excellent photographs. Each exercise is demonstrated - sometimes including photographs of bad form. I do a tricky exercise in front of a mirror the first few times to make sure I am in the right form - so I find this a very useful feature.There is a section for mums-to-be. And one for Senior Citizens that my mum intends to get started on. Four and not Five stars because:a. The book does not recommend the number of reps and sets you should do of each exercise.b. While there is information about the purpose of each exercise by and large,(example shoulder flexibility, increased muscle tone in the butt) this is not consistent. Perhaps the author assumes the reader will know. I like having this spelt out clearly.

I love exercising on the Stability ball and I am familiar with many possible moves and this book, although informative and well presented didn't earn five stars because I didn't learn any new moves. People who are new to the ball though will find this a good collection of exercises all of which are given full instructions and carefully demonstrated. The book consists of targeted exercise sections:Core Stability, Abdominals, Spine, Upper limbs, Lower Limbs then there's sections for Seniors and Pre/Post natal.The Abdominal section and the Lower Limbs are my favorites. The exercises presented are effective and over time(when you get your balance) they are easy and even fun at times. Each exercise is pictured and includes a well written explaination as well. Overall a great book.