Before I review, just a quick note about the days. According to the included workout schedule day 3 should be "rest day" but I had to change it around a bit to fit my schedule (I just don't have time to do a video on Wednesdays thanks to my oil painting class). So my day 2 was my "rest day" (but I did do a bare minimum of exercise, walking 30 minutes).

OK, now for the review.

REVIEW: Supreme 90 Days Ultimate Ball

I was right on when I predicted a big learning curve for this one. It seems so casual. 30 seconds doing the exercise, 30 seconds rest. So even if the exercise is super hard, it's "only" 30 seconds. I've done hard exercises for 30 seconds before.

But not on The Ball.

*cue ominous music*

Ultimate Ball could easily be renamed Ultimate BAWL. Yeah, I almost had a crying temper tantrum of epic proportions doing this dvd. Why? Because The Ball is not my friend. The Ball does not want to be ridden. The Ball makes me think of two things. That SNL commerical "Happy Fun Ball" (in particular "do not taunt Happy Fun Ball") and "Rode the bull at Gilley's and bust my face" (cookies to the first person to call out that reference).

Thankfully, I did not "bust my face". Though The Ball did buck me off TWICE. The first time was less of a "buck" and more of an "I'm a klutz". The second was a full on buck off. There were also numerous graceless dismounts and minor veering out of control moments. But only TWO official falls (and all my teeth are still intact, praise the diety of your choice).

Big tip to those who want to try it. Make sure you have room. Lots of room so you can fall clear of The Ball. Trust me, it's much easier to fall directly onto the floor versus ricocheting off the entertainment center. Thankfully, The Ball is not THAT far off the floor, so the falls aren't so bad (if you can fall clear of debris, or better yet, onto something soft like the couch).

As for the exercises, a lot of them are familiar. Planks, twists, push up type things, squats. But when you add in The Ball, it's like learning to walk all over again.

You think I'm exaggerating just because I'm super uncoordinated? WRONG. Even the burly fellas performing on the dvd have trouble. One guy even gets bucked off. True, it was on the last exercise that's pretty complex and I'm sure he was tired because (unlike me) he was pretty adept at doing everything else but still. He got bucked off. AND Tom called him on it. Yes, for all eternity he will be mocked for doing "ugly" exercises. At least I didn't have anyone in the room with me to witness my shame. (Tom would have crapped his track pants at the whole thing, I'm sure, all while reminding me of the disclaimer at the beginning of the video--he's so not liable for that bruise on my knee). And the mega buff dude who was demonstrating all the exercises also had ball trouble (yeah, I'm Beavis laughing at that). And his issue was during one of the easier exercises where you're hardly even ON the ball. So I felt a bit of vindication.

(the woman in the video is perfect so I'm pretending she doesn't exist--she never got bucked off or had any real issues and she made the pike crunch move look so super awesome I couldn't even get jealous, I just go pissed and determined to tame The Ball)

It's a good mix of easier, intermediate and "really, you expect me to do what?" moves. The easier ones have you on your back with The Ball gripped between your legs and you just twist your legs/The Ball side to side (oblique work). The intermediate moves are things like plank (where your feet are on The Balll and your top half just holds a basic plank) or bridge on The Ball (feet on The Ball as you do a bridge move then hold it). The "say what?" moves are either super hard (single foot plank on The Ball, pike on The Ball) or have a lot of moves to them ("skiers", where you roll out onto The Ball then pull your knees up then roll them side to side in a vaguely slollum skier move).

I'm happy to report I was able to do everything meaning I gave my best try at every move and NEVER gave up (though I really wanted to, remember I said I did almost have a hissy fit). Was I anywhere near as good as the folks on the dvd? Hell no. But I'm sure I was working just as hard as them (even if it didn't seem it, what will all the flopping around). I was breathing hard and sweating and afterward I could feel it in my abs and arms (from all the plank type stuff).

Will it take me a while to get "good" at this dvd? Definitely. And that's what I look for in an exercise dvd. I'll get good replay value from this one. (and it has me using a piece of equipment I had been ignoring--so my hubby can stop mocking me for buying The Ball and never using it--in your FACE!)

(for the record, the warm up and cool downs are the same for each dvd, so I won't review that each time--and in the case of this round with Ultimate Ball, I went to a 60 minute yoga class shortly after doing it so I got a lot of full body stretching after--and some more ab work which was an added bonus).