Title: Daily Movement Multivitamin (Well Balanced Media)
Intended audience: Anyone whose life involves a lot of sitting, especially people who don't already own Katy Bowman's Aligned & Well DVDs.
Format: 70-minute widescreen DVD with a 20-minute standing workout for feet, lower legs, shoulders and neck; a 20-minute floor workout for the main axis of the torso; five key alignment adjustments; a quick-check for posture; and a printable exercise handout.
Any bonus chapters? An 11-minute animated ad for Bowman's book Move Your DNA explains how it's possible to meet the definition of "active" while being sedentary, and why adding eight hours of movement a day is a healthier goal than seven hours of exercise a week. This short also appears on Bowman's newly released DVD Nutritious Movement for a Healthy Pelvis.
Is this recycled content? Some of the footage is new, and some compiles exercises from her Aligned & Well series.
What's it like? The workouts are not heart pumpers.
She has you stretch or shift postures in ways that help you find and change the alignment of the head, neck, spine, hips, knees and heels. These exercises teach interesting body-control skills, like relaxing the front of your thighs while standing with your weight over your heels, or moving your knees toward your chest without moving your spine. Slow and not easy.
Some of the stretches create unusual feelings, for instance, gently pulling back two fingers at the same time -- fingers that aren't side by side.
Is this a good program for beginners? Yes.
Is it a total workout? It involves the full body but is not a strength-builder or cardiovascular conditioning program. It's a supplement intended to improve body control and posture.
Gear needed: shorts or pants you can roll up to expose the knees; a mat; a foam half dome or a rolled towel; a foam block, phone book or a step; a chair; a strap or belt; a bolster, rolled sleeping bag or pile of pillows.
Can I do it barefoot? Yes, and you need to see your toes, so don't wear socks.
Who is the presenter? Bowman has published six books, including Move Your DNA (2015), and she created the Aligned & Well DVD series. She has a master's of science degree in biomechanics/kinesiology from California State University-Northridge. Her fitness business is the Nutritious Movement Center Northwest in Sequim, Wash., where she offers a teacher certification program. She is married with two children.
Cost: $19.95
ActiveStyle on 08/08/2016