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.