The Malibu Chair toted by Celebrity Susan Lucci

I was mindlessly flipping channels last week and paused upon an infomercial for the Malibu Chair with Susan Lucci as the celebrity endorser.  I steeled myself and stayed on the channel to give it an honest chance, hoping maybe the instruction would be ok.

It wasn’t.  The point of the workout was to do all the exercises as quickly as possible so that you could get “cardio” too.  Their web site is hawking the product at a “trial” price of $14.95 and by the time you’re done you’re paying something north of $300 for the chair, some workout DVDs and some other fitness ephemera. By contrast, a professional chair like I have in my studio costs $1,200 or so.  No cheesy DVDs included.

I realize most of you aren’t Pilates instructors and don’t have a trained eye for form like I do.  I’ll keep it brief.  She hyperextends her elbows, can’t maintain an abdominal connection at all, can’t stabilize her shoulders and can’t keep her pelvis steady during the workouts.  Pretty much everything that makes Pilates so wonderful is NOT included in this workout, at least I sure didn’t see it on TV.

Here’s what you do get, what looks like a pretty flimsy piece of metal with some padding on top and a couple of chirpy pictures of Susan smiling back at you.  I’ll pass thank you.

Here’s what Pilates is supposed to be.  A series of fluid movements done in a controlled manner that strengthens your spine making you stronger, leaner and pain free.  An intermediate student will naturally get up to cardio vascular levels and burn some extra calories because you do move at a faster pace, once you’ve mastered control …

If you’d like to try Pilates please invest in a great mat video and learn form and fluidity and watch your body change.  There are some great ones out there for $15 or so.  I suggest you skip this particular gadget.

Would love your feedback on this,

Lisa

Would love your thoughts.

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