December 18, 2008.

Good video and good workout.

Rating: 4
The video case says that this is a workout for women in the 2nd trimester. I just purchased it when I was in month 5 and just did the workout for the first time here in month 6. You will need one of the birthing balls and a stretch band (and maybe a towel to kneel on). The entire DVD is about 45 minutes long but the workout is 30 minutes. The other stuff on the DVD include a "workout principles" which outlines the basics for us non-expert pilates people and a "5 minute bonus" workout that is a little more intense.

Let me begin by saying that I am not a big workout/pilates person. Sad to say, I don't exercise as much as I know I should. I've never done any pilates stuff, but I have heard so many pregnant women talk about the birthing ball that I thought I should try one. I'm willing to give anything a shot that might make delivery day easier. I watched the entire workout first a few days ago without doing any of it so that I'd know what I needed. I just did the workout this morning for the first time. It was pretty easy to follow since I had watched it before. There were a few times that I had to rewind because I missed what the instructor was saying or she went too fast through an exercise. I imagine that will get better as I do it more often. There is a nice variety of exercises, and I definitely felt challenged but not too overwhelmed. The difficulty level is low, so a pilates ball guru would probably be bored. For a novice like me, it was the right speed.

I am going to continue using the video as long as my big belly will let me. At some point, I may need to skip over some of the exercises if I'm too big.