Has anyone really changed their shape by doing Callanetics? Sounds too good to be true.

[naturelover]

Because I've bought the DVD because I'm ever hopeful!

I can't complain about my weight, BMI is and has nearly always been 22 and although I'd like to be thinner I realise that with my big bone structure it's never really going to happen. But I reckon that with the right kind of exercise I might be able to change my shape a bit (thinner thighs and flatter tummy would be good).

My youngest is now old enough that I should have long ago done something about the tummy - it's not huge but as I'm flat chested I feel a flat tummy would enhance my whole figure.

So has anyone done Callanetics and is it as effective as it claims to be? Or can you recommend any other good exercise for reshaping?

Thanks

[OlympicEater]

Oh dear, I'm such a sheep, I'm looking on ebay for a DVD now

[changeforthebetter]

Stop it! I will be e-baying too at this rate. I am quite slim again but flabby...........

[Rainydayagain]

Buy it, join our flock! :-) these excercises are bloody effective.

Just done 20 mins, my legs are looking amazing today ( legs were already very good, i walk a lot) and my bottoms a bit more difined.

I can without doubt see less mush around the middle.

Two and half hours done. Same again and i can measure.

[herbaceous]

My legs have always been horrific, so anything that could improve them would be great. But the only exercises for them in the book seem to be mild squats with pelvic tucks now and then. Have I missed any?

[Rainydayagain]

Yes there are some sit down ones and leg lift ones will check book later when fed hungry mob.

[changeforthebetter]

Even better! Have had a dig around in the loft and have found the old VHS tape plus the old player. Result! For the cost of absolutely zero

It is all rigged up in my room now and will have a go later (inconvenient thing called work getting in the way right now )

I was in a similar position, quite flabby but slim so will be interesting to see how/if it helps. Of course, these days I do have a slightly better diet than black coffee and fags

[coffeeinbed]

I had amazing results with Tracy Anderson, it's bloody long though, can't fit it in.
This seems more doable, time wise.
I remember it being very hard to do, and I was considerably younger...

[Fruitdrop]

Ooooh, I did this back in the day too, when I was a "fat" 9st and size 10
It did work on big bum and thighs, definately toned me up.
I used a pull out from a Sunday paper, then bought the book. And I wish I still had it now I am a genuinely fat 13st and size 16-18!

[Rainydayagain]

Herbaceous did you find the leg excercises? I have about four in mine. One where you sit and roll pelvis fw, a similar one with leg lift, one where lift leg like a ballerina...

Two hours of hard digging in the veg patch have left me very achy today.

Off to do 45 mins of callanetics to see if it helps ease the pain that i feel everywhere.

Anyone near to measuring yet? I can see my hip bones a bit more now but stomach is looking more prominant, need to increase those excercises i think.

[naturelover]

Well I've done 3 hours so far and everything feels a bit tighter I have to say. I'm not going to measure yet though!

Those side leg lifts are hard - bizarrely they are much harder on the left than the right - I guess it's normal to favour one side a bit.

I am increasing my cardio alongside which might skew the results but the fact is that I want to be fit as well as toned.

[Rainydayagain]

I doubt it will skew it too much. I did lots of walking and cardio before starting callanetics again, it didn't touch my mushy middle. :-)

[Rainydayagain]

I doubt it will skew it too much. I did lots of walking and cardio before starting callanetics again, it didn't touch my mushy middle. :-)

[naturelover]

I'm finding it quite addictive! I've done 3 hours but am feeling so much tighter. I'm so keen to see the effects of 10 hours that I've upped it to 3x a week instead of 2x. I'll report back!

It has prompted me to do bodybrushing every day. I think the spring weather is also helping to motivate me.

[overmydeadbody]

naturelover it sounds like you are doing them right! Keep it up.

I have done callanetics on and off for over ten years now. Sometimes I go through fases of doing the 1 hour programme every day and my body looks fantastic, then I slip a bit, go down to three times a week, still look exactly the same, and then get lazy and stop for a bit. When I feel I'm starting to loose my tonedness I start up again. I need to start up agian now, I haven't done it for over a week. Tonight I will.

I have had a completely flat stomach for years and even the merest hint of a bulge there gets me back to callanetics.

It really works too, soon enough the exercises won't even be har. I do double what it says in the book now for a lot of them, because I can.

I love the open and close, and can do up to 30 in one sitting.

The bum ones are hardest I remember, but once you get a strong bum they will be much easier and more comfortable to do. I can do them now without actually holding anything for support, although I tip over after a while Usually I just sit in front of the sofa holding the sofa front.

The leg ones where you go up on your toes and then bend your legs down and out I can also do with hands on hips now, instead of holding the back of a chair. Good stuff.

[overmydeadbody]

naturelover do it every day, not three times a week. Results will be so much quicker.

[Rainydayagain]

Lol very addictive, i' m off to do an hour while LO is asleep.

I have done a couple of hours now ..nearing measurement time:-)

I might try the dress on this evening see just how far off fitting in it i really am.

[jamaisjedors]

People who do exercises every day, when do you do them?

I would like to do a bit of Pilates/yoga every day but can't seem to fit it in.


Before breakfast? Seems a little too hard-core to me!

[Heyyyho]

Callan just recently died

I loved Callanetics and they worked wonders for my figure, but that was BACK in the day I was just past teenage years.

Might have a revival...

[Rainydayagain]

Hi when baby sleeps and lo at pre school or evenings when Dh out or 20 mins before bed. ( can't let husband watch he comments - very annoying)

So news flash i got into the dress and it zipped up!!!! Its not perfect bit of overhang at top ( straples) and felt tight but im in it!!

So waist measurement ( couldn't resist ) is now 27.5 that is a loss of 1.5 inches. No loss anywhere else but i have really focused on that area.

In total just short of three hours callanetics plus three hours hard digging in the garden.

Absoloutely thrilled, will be trying to increase sessions now. Stomach still flabby but i can at least feel the muscles once more. ( c section and total loss of core muscles with babies, resulting in not being able to stand on one leg, so bad)

[valiumredhead]

The one I find a killer is one of the pelvic bellydancer ones where you scoop back nearly onto the back of your calves and then, without quite touching them, scoop back up again

I remember that one! I can still do it - just!

I need to do this again, I used to do lots back in the day, I am very wobbly now.

[overmydeadbody]

Jamais I usually do mine in the evening after DS has gone to bed, so sometime between 8pm and 9pm start. Sometimes on the days I get home from work at 4pm I do them sometime between 4 and 6, before supper, in amongst doing other chores


It's only an hour, I could just as easily be watching TV for that hour in the evening, if I had a tv.

That's sad that Callan died
Well done rainyDay for fitting into your dress, great that you're seeing results already!

[overmydeadbody]

RainyDay my DP has got so used to seeing me doing them he doesn't even blink an eye, just goes about his evening, dodging me or stepping over me, sometimes annoying me by trying to hug me while I'm doing the sit ups . He tried them a few times with me and found them so hard (he's a fit man too, not a fat wobbly one, he has muscles) but he really struggled to have the small controlled movements, so now he has respect for my callanetics and wouldn't make fun.

Same with DS. I would hate to feel self conscious while doing them. I look silly. I know it.

[valiumredhead]

She died???? how?

[naturelover]

I feel even more motivated now!

It's amazing that something so effective has lost popularity. I wonder why?

My mum had the book in the 80s and I intend looking for it at her house. I will probably get bored of the DVD plus it will feel easier as time goes by and I'll need a challenge so I'll see what other moves the book has.

I exercise between DCs going to bed at 7 and DH getting home from work at 8.

[naturelover]

My goodness, she died literally 3 weeks ago. I wonder if Callentics will make a resurgence.