Guess what I got... a core balance kit!

A couple of months ago, I mentioned a Core Balance Kit that I saw at Target—I got it for my birthday! I had a few hours in between shifts yesterday, so I finally cracked it open.

The set-up instructions gave me a good chuckle:

Really...oh, really? Is THAT what I'm supposed to do?! Still kind of chuckling about it, I mean, it seems like common knowledge. Something we'd do anyway without even thinking about it. But I guess it's reassuring to know that my Core Balance Kit is now ready for use. You know, since it's no longer in the box.

Anyways. Enough about that. Let's talk about the accompanying DVD. It's exactly what I linked you to in my last post. It contains two workouts, one beginner and the other intermediate. And since I'm always up for a challenge, I dove right into the intermediate workout—it was decent, fairly short, and not really much of a challenge. But it gave me a good base for future workouts with the pods. Something to get the wheels churnin' in terms of use—and really, that's how we personal trainers come up with our workouts, a little creative juice and some churnin' wheels with a hefty dose of safety.

The DVD lady took me through squats, lunges, bridges and more. And some stretches that really had me feeling totally NOT flexible, despite my somewhat good flexibility. (I'm giving myself some credit—my legs were particularly sore from Tuesday's run.) OH, and the pushups. Much harder when you're balancing on a tiny little pod. I can't wait to try them with planks, single-leg bent rows. single-leg squats. Maybe some dead lifts...

So if you have pods at your gym, or if you're looking for something to increase the intensity of your home workouts, consider them recommended. I mean, even Oprah likes them. She featured them on her website (see picture), even though they were obviously not one of her most favorite things (wonder why). But really, when Oprah talks about anything—it must be like gold in some way. Right?

Speaking of Oprah, I'll leave you with some of her words:

Question: How would you use the balance pods? How do you interpret Oprah's quote in terms of fitness? You can be sure it applies!