IGX

Speaking of mobility training:

"Four Way Burn" was on the bookstore shelves for about 8 months in 2007-2008, and the author, Ralf Hennig, had a bit of a run in the fitness mags at the time. But because he wasn't a self-hyping Bill Phillips type fitness pimp, the world seems to have passed him by.

That's too bad, because actually his book is pretty good. His stuff has a lot in common with medicine ball training, and in fact you can use a light medicine ball to perform it. (Hennig recommends using his "Performance Ball", which he designed for the program, which is available directly from him).

The book features four 1 month programs, 10 techniques each, progressing in complexity and physical demand. When you have gone through the "beginner level" of each of the programs, you can start the cycle again at the "intermediate" level (deeper stances/split stances, higher lifts, eyes closed instead of open, etc.) and then the "expert level". So you've got a year of programming with increasing physical demands, sophistication and complexity.

Plus there are the usual programs for "back health", "tennis preparation", along with the usual advice about healthy eating for weight loss, etc to fill out the book.

The exercises are well photographed and the book is nicely laid out and designed. The writing is straight forward and decidely "non-cheesy". I think English might be Hennig's 2nd language (it says he is "German American" and he has a German website) but he wisely refrains from too much vernacular or attempts to sound hip or "with it".

I did 30 minutes of the Level 1 routine with a 6 lb "exercise ball" last night and felt nicely warmed up and loose when I was done. (I also added 10 minutes of TGUs at the end.) It's actually a fair amount of fun, since there is some "ball handling" in some of the moves.

This might be a nice "recovery" routine, or a cardio resource for someone who can't stand the idea of going to a yoga class or a step/aerobics class, or riding a stationary bike. Or someone who is too banged up/injured to lift heavy weights but still wants to burn some calories and keep some energy and muscle tone while he heals up.

Hennig has a site "Performanceball.com" where he offers the book, a DVD of the 4 routines and the Ball itself. The "store" doesn't work anymore, so you have to email him directly to order the product. I emailed him about the DVD/Ball package and he got back to me in 48 hours, supplying an address to send a personal check.

The book is a Trade Paperback "bargain" on Amazon; you can probably pick it up used for $5 or less. Good product. Might suit someone's needs and desires.

Update: I ended up ordering the DVD and the Ball from Hennig via snailmail to his upstate New York address. The PerformanceBall website is "compromised", so all requests should go to his email address on the site.

The "Ball" itself is well conceived and designed, although my particular Ball was lopsided and sloppily put together. Still it works well with the exercises as presented by Hennig - the "heft" and "feel" of the thing is very pleasing, and it's bigger than a regular medicine ball or exercise ball, so it forces a bigger ROM in some of the exercises, and works your grip harder.

The DVD is half good and half bad. The "instructional" part where he teaches the exercises, is excellent, and I found that I was doing several of them wrong (based on the original B&W still photographs in the book), or at least not as he intended. The "live" version of each exercise was better, more fun, and more challenging in every case.

On the other hand, the follow along portion was a disappointment. I was expecting live versions of the 4 exercise cycles, incorporating the three levels of difficulty. What I got was cheesy "aerobics" routines complete with synth-and-drums, models following along behind him, "exciting" camera cuts and jumps, etc., straight out of every bad cardio step DVD you ever saw.
(What's really pathetic is when the announcer presents him as "America's Hottest trainer", considering that his exposure in America peaked with a couple of magazine articles in 2009). Plus, the guy speaks English well enough, but the German accent makes his vocal instruction unintentionally funny. (Nothing against the guy himself, I studied German for years in college, and I'm sure his English is still far superior to my German).

Still, for the price ($55 for the ball and the DVD), I was happy with what I got. The "ball handling" aspects of the system make this a fair amount of fun, and it seems to me that you can also work with "Tai Chi Ball" and "Tai Chi Ruler" exercises quite successully with it - the Ball won't conduct "chi" as well as a wooden Ruler would, but it will force to you to execute the mechanics properly.

Still think this is a viable alternative for a joint mobility/active recovery/Amosov style "1000 Move" routine.