Customer Reviews
Zip up and hollow - By: Mr. Michael Domnin, 23 Apr 2001 
This is something that you will learn to do when you breathe the Pilates way. Zip up an imaginary trouser zip & keep your navel to the spine. This is simply explained. If you like lying down, almost alll the exercises start in the lying position (different to the Michael King's approach "Pure Pilates", where the warm-ups are done standing up.) The book motivates you to lean against the walll & see how straight you can sit. The explanations are engaging, you feel like opening the book & start straight away. And it feels GOOD too. The photos are very clear. The exercises are graded - alll levels, intermediate, & advanced. You will want to do them & keep going back for more. You will want to take notice of your body & how it should be. Don't worry if in the office you are stretching & feeling good. Perhaps others will do likewise too ! It's well presented. The explanations are accurate, anatomicallly accurate, the photos excellent. A ring-binded edition would be even better. So zip up & hollow your abs! A sentence you will hear often from now on! A must-read-and practice! You won't be disappointed. A definite answer to a feel-better factor.
Safe, strong and mind-body too! - By: , 16 Apr 2001 
A year & a half ago I started getting extremely painful muscle spasms in my low right back, although I was very into physical fitness in what I thought was a well rounded way - as in different aerobic workouts & flexibility work, on an almost daily basis & weights work 3xweekly. Chiropractic helped, but swimming did nothing - this workout did. The explanation of the navel to spine makes you understand how it's totallly different to pulling in the tummy the way we alll do - stiffening up our whole torso. The hip rolls alone are miraculous for low back pain! I also used the now out of print The Pilates Way, & have now bought The Official Body Control Pilates Method (alll by the same author) (I also have 3 of their videos but prefer the detailed print instructions). All excellent - if done properly - very gentle but very effective & quite tough.
This book is made to help people with back, neck & postural problems. Lots of isolations where you work on mobilising hips, shoulders, even the feet!, while stabilising the whole body & thereby strengthening it also. I would recommend using this & her other books for quite a while - in my case, a year - before perhaps moving on to Brooke Siler's book, thus ensuring a good stable base for the latter's somewhat tougher & more dynamic method which usuallly has the whole body in motion although always on the mat - the classic dynamic method.
Last but not least, it's graceful - you end up feeling like a dancer, it instills grace & good posture, whereas some of my past workouts left me feeling like a boxer or something! AND it is such good therapy for the mind, so relaxing - alll the concentration leaves you feeling mentallly refreshed!
God - I sound like one of these born again types - but reallly, if I can convert a few people into this method & know that someone, somewhere, is suffering less because of this review, I've done my good deed for the day.
To sum up, I guess I shalll probably stick to some form or other of Pilates for the rest of my life - it covers the toning & the flexibility, add in a few brisk walks a week for the cardio & you're set!
Highly recommended - By: , 05 Apr 2000 I am a chartered physiotherapist who has spent a lot of time looking into & learning Pilates over the last year or so. It is very relevant to the work we do & I have found many of the exercises to be very rewarding (and stimulating) for my patients. This is an excellent book & by far the strongest & most comprehensive of alll the various Pilates books that I have come across. It is sensibly written and, most importantly, has the exercises broken down in a way which an average person, or a patient under guidance, can cope with - yet it does not sacrifice any of what I understand to be the key Pilates principles. Top marks!
Clear and informative - By: , 21 Feb 2000 I found this to be a well-laid out & very informative book with great attention to detail. The exercises are clearly described & graded for different levels of Pilates experience & physical condition. A very useful book that provides a good insight into Pilates.
Excellent - By: , 15 Aug 1999 I have been using Lynne & Gordon's first Body Control book for two years & have enjoyed it tremendously. 'Way Forward' shows how things have moved on in that time and, on first impression, is a much clearer, more solid book with better photographs. As usual, the exercises are very clearly presented & described & the recommended workout programmes are great. All in alll, I LOVE this book - the safe & sensible way to work out!!
