Callanetics - 10 Years Younger in 10 hours

I stumbled upon this whilst on Amazon looking to see if Darcey Bussell had anymore DVDs because I love her Pilates for life DVD and the way she teaches so much.
I had never heard of Callanetics before but the amount of stars it had made me curious.
The first thing that I noticed was it was over 3 decades old and I almost clicked off the page but intrigued to find out what Callanetics was I stayed with it and read the reviews.
I was immediately sold, it seems the only complaints that the DVD had was that it was outdated and they found Callan annoying. A bit of a pet hate of mine, the concentration when doing DVDs should be on the moves not what people are wearing or the instructors voice.
Every review claimed they had lost inches in ten sessions or 'hours' as it's referred to.
Callanetics is a system designed by Callan Pinckney, it concentrates on tiny half inch movements of the body and has been likened to Pilates as the movements are small and controlled.
I have spent the last two nights reading every review I can find on Callanetics and I have only came across two which claim it did nothing to them.

My DVD came today (17th June 2014) and I put it straight on, I watched it first before I did it, something which I never do but Callanetics was so alien to me I honestly didn't know what to expect despite watching mini clips and reading non stop about it.

A leotard clan of about 6 or 7 appeared on my screen and I had a giggle as I did the warm up, for about all of five seconds then the giggling stopped, this is serious stuff and you really have to listen to Callan and concentrate on what she is telling you. She stresses throughout the video never to put strain on your back giving you pointers on how to avoid this.

After the warm up is the stomach exercises. Now I have done Tracy Anderson, Pilates, Yoga, Boot Camp DVDs and everything else but NEVER have I felt the sensation I experienced with Callanetics. Rather than an aching sensation I sometimes get with crunches my stomach muscles felt like a hot water bottle, they warmed up, it is so hard to explain. I figured I had done something right because I had previously read about a warm sensation whilst reading other reviews.
The stomach exercises consisted of getting in to a crunch type position but only moving a tiny amount, I wouldn't recommend anyone trying to do these without the help of the DVD, Callan explains exactly what you need to do to prevent injury.

There is a part in the DVD where you need a barre, now obviously like most people I don't own one of these so I used the back of a chair, after the exercises she does show you how you can use a low table or anything to do these exercises.

The DVD is an hour long but you aren't exercising for an hour, there are lots of breaks where Callan is either explaining things to you, demonstrating things or showing you pictures of past successes.

I have only done this DVD once, just today and I am going to carry on with it and update you with my progress. Please read reviews on Amazon, it seems this DVD got lost in translation once VHS turned to DVD format and people forgot about it.

I have high hopes for this DVD and I am hoping it is the toning DVD sensation people are claiming it is. Most reviewers are saying they dropped a dress size with in the ten sessions (ten hours).
I am hoping to lose an inch off my hips, my hips is my problem area.

This is not a weightloss DVD but an inch loss DVD, people have shared their experiences with the DVD claiming to have lost no weight but a lot of inches.

Watch this space, I will be in touch soon!

Charlie

*update - the morning after -  my body feels like it's been worked, not the usual 'new' exercise aches I've had in the past, more like a I've-been-stretched kind of feeling. Everything about Callanetics is unique! *