Home > Reviews > Escape Your Shape: How to Work Out Smarter, Not Harder (2 Fitness Favorites from Exercise Guru)

Escape Your Shape: How to Work Out Smarter, Not Harder (2 Fitness Favorites from Exercise Guru)

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Product Details

Author: Edward Jackowski
Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780743211444
Label: Fireside
Dimension: 0.3 x 8.3 x 0.2 inches
ISBN: 0743211448
Manufacturer: Fireside
Publisher: Fireside
Number of items: 1
Number of pages: 288
Publication date: May 02, 2001
Studio: Fireside

Ratings & Comments(Average: 4.0

)

- Help for Spoon/Pear Shapes
This is my favorite exercise plan. I am a classic spoon shape. I ran track and was in the military. I had tiny arms, a six pack, and a big butt and thighs. Which my husband is happy with but I always wanted thinner legs. I had The Firm workout tapes which I loved but my legs were just getting bigger. Then I got a personal trainer right before I got married and my legs got bigger. I was really fed up and didn't understand why no matter how hard I worked out my legs wouldn't do what I wanted them to do. Then I found this book. It explained that I gained muscle before I burned fat in my lower body. When I faithfully follow the spoon exercise plan outlined in the book, inches and pounds literally drop from my lower body. It is the most effective workout I have ever done. The workouts are time consuming (which is difficult when you lack motivation) but they are easy to do. I would recommend this book for anyone who is frustrated by not getting the results they are after.

- Impractical, boring routines along with little helpful advice
I don't believe that the advice in this book is practical. Personally, I need variety in order to keep working out, I just don't like that certain activities seem to plump my rear a little more than I would like. This book has made me appreciate that I would rather do all of the activities I enjoy and have a round (but perky) backside than give up all of the sports I love for a flatter rear. I am a "spoon" and am encouraged to, among other things, refrain from the following exercises: hiking uphill, walking faster than 3.2 miles per hour, kickboxing, running and spinning. Personally, I'd rather be healthy, mix up my routines and enjoy the exercises I do than stick with a boring set of routines. For me, in order to keep myself motivated, I need to do a variety of activities that I enjoy, otherwise chances are I will not keep my fitness level up. I saw marginal improvement in the size of my rear--which my fiance was unable to detect-- and hated exercise for the month I gave this book a try. Variety is the key to maintaining fitness for me. I believe that is the case for most people. This book took all of the fun out of exercise for me.

- This is an amazing exercise program!
I am really impressed and amazed by Escape Your Shape. First, by way of background, I am one of those women who is generally very happy with my body. I'm no stick figure, I am curvy and have bigger thighs, hips, and a butt. Prior to beginning this program, I was probably a size 4 on top and a size 8 on the bottom. So as you can see, while I was generally pleased with my figure, I wasn't pleased by the fact that my lower half was considerably larger than my upper half. This discrepancy became especially noticeable when I wore lighter colored jeans or when I wore a bathing suit. My older sister and mom have the exact same body, so I know where it comes from!

I consider myself to be an active person and at one point I exercised 5-6 day a week. Sure, I lost weight in my thighs, but the BASIC STRUCTURE of my body never changed. I was still small on top, bigger on the bottom.

So with nothing to lose, I bought a used copy of Escape Your Shape from Amazon for about 8 bucks. I read the book cover to cover and was frankly a bit skeptical. The exercises just seemed too easy (going on a bike vs. running? No way!). Jump roping? I hadn't done that since grade school. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try.

I've been on the program for about 6 months, but I've only really consistently been on it for the last 2 months. I am amazed at the difference in my body!! My thighs, hips, and butt are noticeably smaller. My husband has definitely noticed the difference and a classmate of mine from school came up to me the other day and asked what I was doing to look "so skinny". I've lost 5 pounds (125 right now) but the biggest difference is more the number of inches I've lost -- about 1.5 inches off my waist and 4 inches from my thighs! This happened WITHOUT making any changes in my diet and with working out 2-3 days a week, max.

This program is easy - I don't mean that all of the exercises are easy because they're not, but you'll get the hang of it quickly. I could barely do a push up before and now I can do at least 15.

The other benefit of this program is that because I noticed the difference in my body within just a few weeks, I really look forward to my work outs now. Before, I dreaded going to the gym because I absolutely hated to run, but I felt that running was what I "had" to do. Now I never go on the treadmill, I just use the bike for my cardio and surprisingly, the inches are coming off. I also don't waste a lot of time now -- before, I would randomly roam around the gym trying to figure out which weight machine I should use. Now, I know exactly what to do and I don't waste time, so my work outs are much more productive.

I can't say whether this program will work for everyone, but if you've tried other exercise programs and have not been happy with the results, I would DEFINITELY give this a try. Particularly if you're like me and are on bigger on the bottom, I would give this a shot. Good luck!

- Interesting
Interesting because of the types of exercises that were advised in this book. Seems a little out of date and unsafe in some of the suggestions yet effective. May need to consult your doctor if you have neck, and or, back problems.

- Exercise
It was very informative and I recommend this book to anyone who has struggled with losing weight. I've struggled with it because the exercises were not for my body type.

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