I’ve been taking exercise and fitness seriously since my early teens. During that period I’ve tried just about everything out there: endurance training, weight lifting, yoga, isometric stretching, and plyometrics to name a few. I’m always on the lookout for something better or more appropriate for my age or current athletic endeavors. About 6 months ago I started the ProBodX workout by Marv Marinovich and Edythe Heus.
If you checkout the editorial reviews on Amazon.com or experiences of professional athletes reported in the media, you’ll see that the authors and followers make some big claims about this workout program. On the surface it appears to be the “Holy Grail” of fitness because it takes very little space and time, requires only a few pieces of specialized equipment, and improves every aspect of physical conditioning (strength, balance, explosive power, coordination, flexibility…) except raw endurance. Moreover, the program claims to be for everyone between age 6 and 90 as well as professional athletes. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?
ProBodX stands for “Proper Body Exercise” and the book outlines several “proper” routines of balancing in funny positions and moving in oblique angles while rapidly swinging a light weight back and forth. It is hard to describe but very different than anything I’ve ever tried before. Although they recommend a bunch of different equipment for doing the exercises, I started by using doing just the basic routine which requires an exercise ball and some light hand weights.
The basic exercise starts with a warm-up routine where you’re rolling on the ball. After that it takes you to exercises designed to strengthen your feet. Not calves - feet. After that you do some basic hand exercises followed by a bunch on your back and stomach where you’re twisting and turning in weird directions. You finish up with some leg exercises on your back.
Sounds easy, right? Just swing some light weights around while twisting and turning? Well, I never got through the “basic” workout during the first few tries. My arms and legs were not tired like a traditional weightlifting workout but my whole body was exhausted. I don’t really know how to describe the feeling except to say that my nervous system felt overwhelmed.
Gradually it became easier, and after a few weeks I was able to finish the whole basic routine in about 30 minutes. I quickly began to notice that my balance was better, day-to-day tasks were easier, minor aches and pains in my joints slowly subsided, and my walking stride was more natural. I decided to stick with it, increase the intensity, and order the equipment necessary for the Basic+ routine.
After 6 months I can say that this program lives up to the authors’ hype. They are really onto something and I will never go back to Yoga, Weightlifting or other traditional workouts again without at least complementing with this workout. I am adding more and more weight, increasing my range of motion, and increasing the speed and intensity of the exercises. I notice a difference from week-to-week and thus it is more engaging than my usual agonizingly slow progress with other workouts.
Golf is now my sport, and I credit the ProBodX workout with an improved X-factor (the difference between shoulder and hip turn) that resulted in 5-10 mph of additional driver speed. My stronger feet and supporting muscles give me better balance and control in my swing.
So why haven’t you heard of ProBodX? I suspect that very few people will ever pickup this book and give the workouts a try. The descriptions are somewhat confusing and difficult to understand and it desperately needs a video to explain the exercises. I re-read the exercise descriptions constantly and occasionally videotape myself doing the exercises to evaluate my technique. I contacted Dr. Heus about a video and they advised me that one is under development.
I do hope they create a video and get some professional product planning help. The authors have managed to distill decades of expertise and ingenuity on this topic into a simple, powerful lifelong workout routine for everyone. Unfortunately it will never reach its full potential unless packaged and promoted differently.
If you are using the ProBodX workout, please leave some comments below about your experiences.
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Post your videos! I have been practicing the yoga routine (by Erich Schiffmann) that you recommend, but would love to try something as dramatic as you claim!
Really interesting stuff. I found youtr blog when I was looking to see what other people thought of the ProBodX workout… I haven’t perservered the way you have but I will do now, it sounds excellent.
Sarah,
I have had a really difficult time finding information from other people about the workout, so I understand. I contacted Dr. Heus about a video and got the following reply:
Hi Kevin,
Thank you for your interest in Dr. Heus’ System of Proper Body Exercise. Edythe appreciated your email and asked me to respond.
We are working on a comprehensive DVD which will illustrate many of the exercises. Currently we do have one that we produced to go along with a basic workshop we held in Los Angeles last year. In it, Dr. Heus illustrates the proper form for the 15 most basic exercises, using one of our certified trainers as a model. That DVD is available for $22.00 which includes shipping and handling. You can send me a check made out to prime Blueprint, Inc, 33004 Christina Drive , Dana Point, CA 92629 if you would like one of those.
In addition, we will be bringing a new web site on line shortly that will contain a lot of information, illustrations and video clips and will build on the information contained in her book. The current web site, Primeblueprint.com will link to the new one when it is finished.
I am 42 years old and have been doing probodx for almost 2 years.
I grew up playing mostly team sports. I decided to try probodx after reading an aricle about it in Men’s Health magazine.
I started slowly, at first just doing about half of the Basic exercises for at least a month and then incorporating more as I became used to the workout.
I liked how it made me feel right from the start. Even though the exercises were at first difficult to perform, I felt more loose, like my joints were getting lubricated. Then I noticed that I was becoming more coordinated. I was able to to make catches easily that normally would have been pretty difficult. I also loved the fact that probodx was making me more agile. When I played frisbee with my kids, I could make diving-rolling catches that previously would have caused me to feel like “Oh God, I hope I don’t pull anything”. And it would be a piece of cake. My kids would just shake their heads with their mouths open.
It sounds like hype but I felt like probodx literally took 15+ years off my body.
In my backyard we had this big tree that I would play tag in with the neighborhood kids. At age 40 I was jumping climbing and swinging around like I was 21–no exxageration.
Weightlifting has always made me feel tight, and probodx has gotten me looser, quicker, more agile.
I went out to a certification course with Dr. Heus’ trainers. It was amazing! I spent about 5 hours going through each exercise and watching the trainer do the same.
The next day I felt better than I had in years! I am buying the equipment (nominal fee) and look forward to using this system for the rest of my long and now, enjoyable, life.
I’m a 37 year old father of two, who also enjoys the benefits of this ‘holistic’ work out. ProBodX is indeed an amazing workout that covers the whole body. I made all my equipment for ProBodX.
I suffer from a slipped disk and over the course of 8 months, ProBodX, combined with the ‘holistic’ health care of BodyTalk, has reduced significantly the pain and inflexibility caused by the injury.
Never one to touch the monkey bars since grade 5, now at the age of 37 I can chase my children on the monkey bars, get a blast out of the experience, and live the next day to tell about it without the added aches and pains.
Over that same time period, I also applied ‘holistic’ nutrition from Dr. Barry Sears and reduced my weight from 210lb to 180lb, and reduced my BF% from 29% to 24.5%.
In short we have three holy grails of optimum health:
Exercise: ProBodX
Nutrition: The Zone
Healthcare: BodyTalk
Thanks everyone. I am just beginning with ProBodX and really appreciate your positive comments on the program. Does anyone have some detailed information/plans for buidling your own equipment. Thanks.
Interesting. I, too, first heard of ProBodX in Men’s Health a few years ago. I actually read it in the reception area for my chiropractor/nutritionist… so that might give you an idea of “who I am.” (Perhaps more interesting, to me, was the fact that my chiro is a big follower of the Marinovich family but had never heard of ProBodX before I showed him the article.)
I was pretty excited. My chiro had shown me a lot of “nontraditional” things — stretching, eating, exercising — that had produced pretty amazing results. Needless to say, I’m pretty open-minded. I bought the book, read it in one sitting, reread it the next night, and then set out to try the workout.
The one thing I instantly noticed was NOT the feeling of nervous system fatigue. Rather, it was the fact that I had VERY LITTLE confidence that I knew the right way to do the exercises. As other posters have mentioned, the book is a bit light on detail and videos would be great. The one thing I was pretty sure of was that I wasn’t doing it right. The book says the minimal workout should take 20-30 minutes. It takes me over an hour. So I, too, contacted Dr. Heus (she is just about 20 miles away from where I live) and she was offering “demonstration” classes once a month at some difficult time for a full-time employee and so I passed. I went out to the hardware store and bought a bunch of stuff to make my own gear. But, unfortunately, I never got that far. We moved houses and I kind of lost interest after I got “out of the swing of things.”
Fast forward nine months or so. I’m doing ProBodX again. Only two times so far. But, still, the minimal workout takes longer than an hour. I don’t feel that fatigue… but I do feel a SLIGHT physical fatigue after doing moderately vigorous motions for the better part of an hour.
I want to love this workout. I really do. I grew up in the same high school football league as Todd Marinovich where he summarily destroyed us twice a year. Ethics notwithstanding, there is NO DOUBT that Marv raises top-notch athletes. That is the biggest reason I haven’t written this program off as bunk. I know I can make time to visit Dr. Heus or even Marv’s gym. But I was excited to see this blog and see what other people are saying.
What I’m really interested in is this: anybody find any good examples (DVDs, online vids, other) of the right way to do these exercises? The book sometimes makes it seems slow and deliberate — proper form is key. Other times it makes it seem fast and quick — certainly the time guidelines (20 minutes for the short workout) suggest quickness.
I’d love to hear from you. Direct replies certainly welcome. I can be reached at todd.public _then_the_shift-2_ cox.net.
Thanks in advance!
Todd-
I had a very similar experience when I first started: it took me a long time to go through the workout. I would estimate that it took at least a week of reading the book, videotaping myself doing the exercises, etc. until I was finally able to go through the whole thing. Now I do the basic and basic+ routine but I have split it between two days. (plus some additional exercises she has recommended). It takes me 35-40 minutes to do it.
I had the same concerns about technique. Indeed, after I went through the lesson with Edythe she made some significant changes. Each time I have interacted with her it became easier. The biggest change for me was trying to do the “hollowing” with your lower abdominals. I’m not sure I would have totally figured it out without some instruction.
She does have a video. If you contact her or her assistant Richard they can send it to you.
My advice, FWIW: Go get 1-2 private lessons from Edythe or one the people she has trained. This might be enough.
Kevin,
This is all great info. I just purchased a used version of the Probodx book on Amazon.com. I’m really hoping that this works. I’m a former college athlete and have been working out seriously since I was 14. Right now I feel like my current weight lifting routine is breaking me down. My current manager actually got to work out with M. Marinovich in his gym. She said it was hands down the best workout she’s ever had. I hope this works.
It’s good to hear people discussing and using the ProBodX system. I also bought the book several years ago and tried out the exercises. I have a background playing football in high school, then the martial arts, lots of yoga, dancer in my 20’s, and teaching Pilates 12 years ago. I’m 51 now and am an electrician. I get plenty of exercise doing my work, but need to supplement it to continue as an electrician for years to come.
I’m interested in investing a minimal amount of time for maximum results. I exercise every morning for 20 minutes doing stretches, etc. On Saturday I usually do the basic ProBodX workout and also once during the week. It takes me from 20 to 30 minutes to do, and believe or not, I see results.