Supreme 90: Ultimate Ball

This workout is part of the 10-DVD Supreme 90 set developed and led by Tom Holland. This workout is completely unweighted and uses the stability ball for every exercise. It clocks in at about 40 minutes, including a 5 minute warm up and cool down (the same as all the rest in the set I believe). The workout is structured in a 30 second work / 30 second rest for the duration, and each exercises is repeated once. The DVD menu allows you to play the warm up and the workout, but the workout is not chaptered. Tom leads one woman and two men in a darkish gym setting. The music was very quiet in this one (too quiet IMO) or else it was a louder rock type music like P90X, which I thought was an odd combination, but it's just a minor complaint.

Ironically this was the workout that made me most want to rush out and get the set, being that stability ball workouts are fairly hard to come by (especially more challenging ones), but I actually don't like it as well as the others I have tried so far in the set. It moved quickly enough and I got a good sweat going, but like Lisa said, many of the exercises seemed too easy while others were too hard, particularly a straight leg pike move with feet on the ball, which I was unable to do without bending my knees.

The work was mostly core focused and included a variety of plank variations with legs (shins) on ball: knees in, twisting, static plank, and a tough one leg plank move (tough but doable!). There were two sets of squats with one leg on the ball (ball to the side, then to the back), but it was mostly core work. Some of the other work included side crunches, laying prone with ball held by knees and rolling side to side, ball bridge, etc. The shoulders were worked significantly to stabilize you in plank pose for many of the exercises. Nearly all of the exercises felt pilates inspired to me, and many of these exercises can also be found in 10 Minute Solution Pilates on the Ball, for reference. If you like that workout, you might like this one as well, although I like the aesthetics better in the 10MS (brighter set and better music).

Despite the workout being mostly plank variations, I really just didn't feel that challenged (not much DOMS the days after confirmed my suspicion). I feel my time was much better spent with S90 Core Dynamics, at only 20 minutes instead of 30 (for the actual workout), than on this workout. I struggled on a couple of poses but was otherwise too far inside my comfort level. For future uses, I will just work through some of the rest time, to increase the intensity.

Final thoughts: This is a solid standalone core workout, with or without use of the rest of the S90 set. I would say it is intermediate level but those experienced can find ways to make it tougher. I don't know if it is beginner friendly because you really need some shoulder endurance to be able to hold plank poses for so long. I will continue to do this as part of the S90 rotation, maybe it will grow on me and become more challenging with use. Overall grade B+.

I am not a fan of most stability ball workouts and I am not a fan of core/abs workouts, however, I really liked this one! I assumed I would trade this, so I tried it as soon as I got the S90 set and was pleasantly surprised.

The time went by quickly and I liked all the exercises except the side crunches (which I never do because they hurt my back). This is a total body workout...my arms got worked from holding plank so much, there are one-legged squats (and I did other hamstring work during the side planks) & other lower body work, and abs and back get a lot of strengthening work. The music alternates between some "rock" music (which is obnoxious and very repetitious) and softer music which was very nice). I love the 30-second rests in between exercises.

You are on your wrists a lot (lots of plank position work). This didn't bother me but I think it would not be good for someone with wrist issues.

Quite a good stretch at the end, too.

This is a good core workout that uses the ball. It does not have the fun factor of some of my other favorite ball workouts (Core Foundations or other TLT workouts or some Cathe ball work), but it is a solid workout that I don't mind doing.

It occasionally feels easy, and sometimes very hard. He does give you a 30 second rest in between each move, and you repeat each move 2 times. You could easily hold the moves longer if you need more challenge. (I am not at that point right now having neglected my core for the past year, but I can see doing that in the past or the future.)

This workout desperately needs chapters, but doesn't have them. The entire series needs chapters, but this workout especially needs them, because I would love to be able to add one sections of this workout after the other workouts, and it is more of a pain without chapters.

I have some wrist pain in plank mode on occasion, but I did most of the moves with hex dumbbells which helped.

The music is boring, but overall this workout is a keeper for me.

Tom leads this 40 minute core workout in a lifting gym style set. Tom instructs PT style with 3 background exercisers actually performing all the moves. You will need a stability ball & for this workout. The dvd is chaptered into warmup and workout (the warmup is the same for most the discs in this series) and the workout includes a cooldown. A countdown timer comes up for the final 5 seconds of the work portions.

This workout is structured that you do 30 seconds of work followed by 30 seconds of rest. A background exerciser performs the next exercise during the break so we are ready to jump right back in after our rest. The S90 website says that this is a "minimal impact cardio workout on the ball" but there isnt really any cardio in it- its def a core workout. And Tom does a great job of incorporating the ball into all the moves.

Exercises include: ball planks, seated ball bridge, knee pull ins, adducter squeeze, knee drop, single leg ball plank, walk outs, ball pikes, ball bridge, side crunches, core rotations, ball skier, rollout planks, and more! Using the ball really amped up the core work in this and added in some nice balance work.

I rate this is a solid intermediate stability ball workout. The moves were effective and unique. Ultiamate Ball is a great addition to this set. Tom is a great lead- very motivating. Received this dvd to review.