I love pilates and had tried unsuccessfully to get my fix at the local Y. Unfortunately, the music was just so bad and loud – swapping between the cringeworthy Meatloaf’s “Anything But Love” (words cannot describe how much I hate this song) and Christian Rock.  I also couldn’t get through a workout without snickering to myself when the lady who made sex noises during class, let one too many orgasmic sounding “ooooOOOOooOOOOOOOo”s fly (yes, I have the sense of humor of a 14 year old boy).

I’d amassed a collection of DVDs that ranged from not bad (Crunch Fitness) to despising with a squirrely vengeance (30 Day Shred) and I was getting bored with my selection. I think I got the 10 Minute Solution: Slim and Sculpt Pilates for about 6 bucks on Amazon one day as I am a total Amazon Prime whore. Unfortunately, my first attempt was fraught with a case of the itchies since the free band that is included is latex (side bar I puffy heart the Stott Pilates bands) and I’m allergic.

I am way too excited about this pilates band

However, once I had gotten the latex free one, I was good to go. 10 Minute solutions are broken up in 10 minute segments (thank you Captain Obvious) but I tend to throw them together in 30-40 minute chunks depending on if the kids are napping, etc. The upper body workout is amazing, even when I was swimming for 10 hours a week, I never saw the near instant results as I have with the band workout. I’ve been doing this for a couple of weeks now rotating out between the lower body, upper body, total body, and ab workout and running and for some reason this combination is really working for me in terms of definition. The Suzanne Bowen is easy to follow but extremely challenging and doesn’t make me want to throat punch her mid workout like the 30 Day Shred did (I cannot that woman’s voice). I’ve yet to try the flexibility one because I’m usually crunched for time and extra bendiness is not my top priority. I definitely recommend giving this workout a try especially with the extra strength Stott Pilates bands.