It figures—the day after I wrote this, I found a book I’ve had for years that will be a great help in getting my body more toned in fairly short order.

Callanetics is a unique form of exercise. Here’s a brief description from their web site:

By isolating muscle groups and using tiny, precise (yet powerful) movements, Callanetics exercises tighten and reshape your body while increasing strength, flexibility and body alignment.

.... [B]ecause The Callanetics Exercise Method involves deep muscle work, you won’t experience the bouncing and jarring found in high-impact activities, such as aerobics or jogging. This means Callanetics students exercise safely and virtually injury-free.

I don’t recall how I discovered Callanetics, but I suspect it was via a library quest for exercise books after Snolf the Second came along. I remember being skeptical of its effectiveness until I began my first hour-long workout. It kicked my ass! But as touted, I began to see results quickly. I probably didn’t stick with the full program after the library book went back, but I now realize that a few exercises I have done somewhat regularly on my own are from it.

The book I got from the library was probably Callanetics [0099701405]; the one I bought and still have is Callanetics Countdown [0380714531]. There are others, too: Callanetics: 10 Years Younger in 10 Hours [0380702614]; and Callanetics Fit Forever [0399522638], to list just a few. There are also DVDs, which would probably be better than the books for helping ensure proper form and movement—I haven’t yet seen any of them: Beginning Callanetics [B00064K0S2]; Callanetics: 10 Years Younger in 10 Hours [B00064K0RI]; Super Callanetics [B00064K0SC]; and Cardio Callanetics [B000VEDHOQ]. Although you can’t tell this from any of those products’ covers, these exercises are not for young women only—they are suitable for men and older individuals as well. All most require are comfortable clothing and some floor space; a few require a “barre” (something sturdy, and thigh-height or higher to hold on to for some exercises) or some other kind of support that should be easily found in any home.

That last vid addresses the one problem I had with this exercise system: while it is a very thorough muscle workout (including stretching) it isn’t an aerobic form of exercise. Thus, although it does burn some calories, it seems to me that for someone like me, who wants to both tone muscle and burn fat, an aerobic component along with Callanetics is the best bet. For now, I am doing the workouts in my book, and taking walks to get aerobic exercise. I may buy the Cardio video after I’ve moved.

If you’re wanting a gentle yet effective exercise regimen, I highly recommend Callanetics. After doing the first workout, I was happy to discover that my previous exercise efforts have paid off—I wasn’t nearly as sore as the first time I tried Callanetics. The Countdown book I have says the workouts in it are 20 minutes long; that’s a block of time most individuals ought to be able to find in the day. If I’ve persuaded you and you want to buy from Amazon, might I also persuade you to go over to Sunni’s Salon home page first? Once there, scroll down the page until you see the Amazon search box. Then, enter the code in brackets following the item you’re interested in from my list above; if you purchase it Tom and I will get a few coins for your effort. And we certainly would appreciate you making that effort!