Anyone familiar with "BOSU"?

[Lannette]

I'll be sure to give you regular updates Nat!

The floorwork that was part of the tape was very challenging because of the instability that the bosu adds. I hadn't even thought about traditional floorwork. (Could that be Freudian since I don't generally enjoy traditional floorwork? :rolleyes: )

OH wait! Do you mean more difficult to do stepping on the bosu rather than on the floor? I didn't do enough step moves to find out today but I'll let you know as I continue to experiment.


BTW, the UPS man is fine. I had to be gentle with him because I wanted him in good shape to deliver the reboundair - hopefully tomorrow! I'll give you a holler once it arrives.

Lannette

[ARTmethodfan]

Bone treats two days in a row!!!

My UPS man can never seem to space my deliveries out. It's feast or famine with him. And my whole family rolls their eyes when they see him coming!! :rolleyes:

All this talk about fitness toys is fun fun fun!!! Almost as fun as the workouts themselves.

I love my rebounder! Can't wait to hear how you like yours!

[KarenP]

Originally posted by Lannette
Nice discussion/review of functional training and the concepts that go with it. I can get into this more if anyone is interested.

Please do!

Lunges, leaps interspersed with balance drills and exercises such as push-ups done with the bosu flat side up. (I did these full body and think they were challenging but not too terribly hard but then I love push ups.)

A couple of ways to make them more challenging. You could do a few sets with the round side up. Your hands are closer together (almost like diamond pushups). Or, using the flat side up, my instructor starts us with a set of 16 followed immediately by a set of "mountain climbs", followed immediately by another set of push-ups, followed by those mountain climbs again, and then we finish with a final set of push-ups. Again, no rest between push-ups and mountain climbs.

Module 3 is Total body conditioning and comes in around 8 3/4 minutes long. Like the other sections this one has an interval feel to it. I really had fun doing the hops. First you do 8 two footed hops on top of the ball to get you all the way around in a circle. Then you do it with quarter hops and finally with half hops. It's really a challange to take off, turn, land and stick your balance each time without ever leaving the surface of the bosu. Ends with a stretch.

OOOH, we haven't done those yet. Those sound like fun! I love jumping on that thing!

Module 4 is called Rythmic Conditioning. It's 9:00+ total minutes long with 6 minutes of step movements followed by stength and stabilization moves. They state that this is the section that would be appropriate for a group fitness class.

Actually, my class sounds a bit more like the stuff above!

They do mention that good supportive shoes are a must.

How did your arches hold up? The first time I took the class my arches were a bit achey. I make sure to use my arch supports and have no problems. Though I wonder if by NOT using arch supports you can strengthen your feet. Any discussion about this?

Thanks for the review!

[Helen S]

I shouldn't read these type of threads because it makes me want more fitness toys. I don't have any more room in my house. Because of VF, I want a rebounder and now a BOSU. Luckily, I talked myself out of a core board last year.

Anyway, I was thinking that if I bought a BOSU, I wouldn't need the core board. It looks like this could sub in. So then I started thinking of videos that would work on it.

Like Lannette mentioned, the step portions of the Firm tapes sound perfect for it. I think a good video would be Not So Tough Aerobics. Then you can get some four limb aerobics work too.

If the BOSU can sub in for the coreboard, the three Reebok coreboard videos would work. Deb R. also posted that she tried Leigh's Four Ways Strong on her coreboard. I think she was also thinking that Final Cuts would work on it.

Lannette, Karen P., or Caroline, do you think these videos would work on the BOSU? Lannette, just trying to help you get your money's worth.

Helen

[KarenP]

Originally posted by Helen S
Lannette, Karen P., or Caroline, do you think these videos would work on the BOSU? Lannette, just trying to help you get your money's worth.

Hi Helen,

I'm probably the least qualified to answer this, because I don't currently use exercise videos. I have taken 1 Reebok Core class, and I have my doubts that the BOSU could work for all the exercises we did in that class. We discussed this in greater detail in this thread:

http://forum.videofitness.com/showth...ght=core+board

Where I think it offers the most potential is for replacing the cardio segments during FIRM tapes, though I haven't tried this myself. Hopefully Lannette will test this out. Since the BOSU is taller than a regular step, the music would need to be slower than, say, Cathe step tapes. I think that's the case for FIRM tapes, but I'm not sure. Ideally, if the BOSU folks really want to market this apparatus for the home exercise market, they'll have to produce some workout tapes for people to use. My instructor indicated that that was in the works, but you never know for sure until the tapes are produced.

[brooklyngrrl]

But I do want one! Is the BOSU "quiet" enough that it could be used for step in an apt w/downstairs neighbors? I've always wanted to try some step, but have been afraid of the resulting noise of jumping on and off a hard platform -- the noise of the impact on the step coming through the subfloor. Do you think that BOSU would be a good solution because of the way it absorbs impact, or would the hard platform bottom/top mean I still made a racket?

[KarenP]

Originally posted by brooklyngrrl
Is the BOSU "quiet" enough that it could be used for step in an apt w/downstairs neighbors?

Hi,

I guess I haven't been real clear about this. Though you can do some standard step moves on the BOSU, IMO it WILL NOT REPLACE A CLUB STEP. The dimensions are completely different -- it's taller and much less wide. I think you need to use slower tempo music than most step tapes use, due to the greater height and wobbliness of the BOSU.

[ARTmethodfan]

I had some thoughts about the noisy step problem. I have both a Step Co. step and a Reebok step. The Step Co. one is probably a little noisier because the risers aren't attached. The Reebok "risers" sort of "snap" in. But there is still noise mostly from the movement of the step.

If you taped it down or used it on a sticky mat, I think you'd eliminate most of the noise that might bother a downstairs neighbor. The stepping itself is noisy but not the kind that I think goes very far.

[Helen S]

Originally posted by KarenP


Hi Helen,

I'm probably the least qualified to answer this, because I don't currently use exercise videos. I have taken 1 Reebok Core class, and I have my doubts that the BOSU could work for all the exercises we did in that class. We discussed this in greater detail in this thread:

http://forum.videofitness.com/showth...ght=core+board

Where I think it offers the most potential is for replacing the cardio segments during FIRM tapes, though I haven't tried this myself. Hopefully Lannette will test this out. Since the BOSU is taller than a regular step, the music would need to be slower than, say, Cathe step tapes. I think that's the case for FIRM tapes, but I'm not sure. Ideally, if the BOSU folks really want to market this apparatus for the home exercise market, they'll have to produce some workout tapes for people to use. My instructor indicated that that was in the works, but you never know for sure until the tapes are produced.

Thanks Karen for the link. You answered my questions. When I read that the bottom of the ball kind of flattens, I thought you could use the flat side up and use it as a coreboard. From the link that you gave, it looked like others thought the same way. But after you tested it, it sounds like it's wobblier than a coreboard when you do it that way.

Helen

[brooklyngrrl]

Originally posted by Nat
I had some thoughts about the noisy step problem. I have both a Step Co. step and a Reebok step. The Step Co. one is probably a little noisier because the risers aren't attached. The Reebok "risers" sort of "snap" in. But there is still noise mostly from the movement of the step.

If you taped it down or used it on a sticky mat, I think you'd eliminate most of the noise that might bother a downstairs neighbor. The stepping itself is noisy but not the kind that I think goes very far.

My livingroom is carpeted...but...(and you knew there was one coming)...there are only subfloors beneath! VERY noisy. I remember what it sounded like in my parents' house when people were walking around upstairs, and it makes me want to tiptoe all the time!
But...if the step noise I'm afraid of is the sort that mostly is in *my* part of the house rather than transferring through the floors, perhaps there's hope!