Bodywedge: Bottom Line

I have all four BodyWedge DVDs. They are produced by Greg Twombly, so the set, music and production quality area all fine. Not outstanding, but acceptable.

Each DVD starts out with a 10 minute instructional segment led by BW inventor, Rich Decker. He explains the 21 BW exercises, while a woman named Ann demonstrates. I hope she is is wife because he was touching her a lot to show the area being worked. He gives form pointers and modifications for the exercises.

Bottom Line is approximately 30 minutes long. It is a real mixed bag. Some of the exercises are super-tough (incline leg outs, decline crunches), some very easy (most of the leg work) and a few I felt would be bad for my knees so I skipped them (plie squat with heel lift, lunge/knee ups, standing on the BW side leg lifts). It does have my favorite ab exercise - oblique crunches. For some strange reason, I am not great at regular crunches, but can do side crunches without difficulty.

I don’t see myself doing this workout again. But I got some good ideas for ways to use the BW in many other videos. The BodyWedge looks like it will be vey versatile and useful.

I have Bottom Line: Bodywedge21 on DVD. It was designed to be used with the Bodywedge, a piece of equipment that is a 3 foot long wedge-shaped piece of foam rubber with a plastic cover (it's like having a foam incline bench). The workout consists of exercises to target the lower body. Some of them are extremely challenging, such as a reverse curl on the Bodywedge, which is one of the most difficult exercises for abs that I have ever done; you are lifting your lower body against the pull of gravity since you are on an downward incline. You also do crunches in 2 directions, first with the head higher off the top of the wedge, and then with your head lower, near the bottom of the wedge. You do bridgework for glutes and hamstrings, and some lifts, where you lie on the wedge on your stomach with your upper body hanging over the high part of the wedge; you lift both legs up in the air with your heels together; this really targets the glutes and hamstrings. The support of the wedge makes this exercise doable and comfortable (in spite of its difficulty). There are lunges with one foot on the wedge, which is a challenge to your balance (you keep one foot on the wedge, do a reverse lunge and then stand and lift the knee). There are lying side raises for the obliques (you lie on your side with your upper body hanging off the top of the wedge and lift your upper body--this was tough!). There are lying side leg lifts for the and inner thighs. There are numerous other exercises, all of which are very effective for the lower body.

The negatives about this DVD are: there are too many repetitions of each exercise (the Bodywedge21 gets its name because they do 21 reps of each exercise). All those repetitions on each side made the workout seem boring. Also, in order to work both sides, Terri and her crew turns her back to the camera throughout the workout, which I thought looked strange. My overall impression of the DVD workout was that it was not polished and professional; I am not totally surprised since this is the first set of DVDs by Bodywedge21, but Greg Twombly produced them and I would expect him to have made these DVDs as polished and professional as his CIA's and others.

Overall, Bottom Line is a very effective and tough workout for the lower body. The Bodywedge is a nice piece of equipment because it can be used for many exercises. It is appropriate for all levels of exercisers, although beginners would find it quite challenging. I am an advanced exerciser, and I found it challenging. I give it a B+.