[samkung0709]

The Tai Chi Track has only two moves, allowing us to sink deeply into our breathing, and immerse ourselves in the simplicity of Coldplay's Lost.

Transiting through the playfulness of the Sun Salutations to Standing Strength, the focus shifts to power, culminating in the challenging Bent Knee Floating Half Moon Pose accompanied by the uplifting Mary J Blighe song, Come to Me.

Prepare for drama. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' Soft Rock hit, Your Guardian Angel soars through the Balance Track. This unites with the Angel Sequence to challenge and uplift us.

Invite members to extend into the intense Quad/Abductor Stretch, increasing hip mobility and potentially improving knee alignment, before releasing into a delicious, extended Happy Baby Pose, which does magic for the hips.

Plenty of options are needed in the wickedly tough Core Tracks, overflowing with kooky innovations like Commando Crawls and Plank Pose Pullbacks. Warning – these moves will transform your body!

Sheryl Crow's Always On Your Side is back by popular demand, this time in a duet with Sting, to gently twist us free and begin the glorious descent into Forward Folds and Meditation.

[in2insight]

Typo, or have they jumped a few release numbers?
43 is the next in line....

[Fizzio]

no, from BB42 onwards they will randomly generate release numbers - similarly to a Lotto Draw.


(no, that's right, it's indeed for BB43).

[TP]

Simple
The Tai Chi Track has only two moves, allowing us to sink deeply into our breathing, and immerse ourselves in the simplicity of Coldplay's Lost.

Strong
Transiting through the playfulness of the Sun Salutations to Standing Strength, the focus shifts to power, culminating in the challenging Bent Knee Floating Half Moon Pose accompanied by the uplifting Mary J Blige song, Come To Me [Peace].

Emotive
Prepare for drama. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' Soft Rock hit, Your Guardian Angel soars through the Balance Track. This unites with the Angel Sequence to challenge and uplift us.

Deep
Invite members to extend into the intense Quad/Abductor Stretch, increasing hip mobility and potentially improving knee alignment, before releasing into a delicious, extended Happy Baby Pose which does magic for the hips.

Wicked
Plenty of options are needed in the wickedly tough Core Tracks, overflowing with kooky innovations like Commando Crawls and Plank Pose Pullbacks. Warning – these moves will transform your body!

Return
Sheryl Crow's Always On Your Side is back by popular demand, this time in a duet with Sting, to gently twist us free and begin the glorious descent into Forward Folds and Meditation.

[Fizzio]

Topics merged for clarity due to typo in initial title (BodyBalance 47 Sizzler)

[TP]

Fizzio, on Sep 29 2008, 03:14 AM, said:

Topics merged for clarity due to typo in initial title (BodyBalance 47 Sizzler)

First message of the topic is missing part of the sizzler, see my previous post for full official sizzler.

[in2insight]

Got to listen to the music today, and look at the notes. (DVD later)
Good selection.
My fav. meditation track is back - A Way of Life.
Too bad my club will not be launching this until next year...

[Mel]

I've just uploaded the tracklist for this release onto www.totallylesmills.com.

I noticed that Manic Star has finally made it into balance! This is awesome..........I've been wanting this track in balance ever since I first heard of Conjure One in BB22....

[tilley]

So what is the general consensus on BB 43 then? Good, bad, ugly, amazing??!!

I have not been able to teach this release at all as I am away from home in Thailand for 3 months - when I get back BB44 will be out!

I have enjoyed doing the release all hot and sweaty in my tiled apartment - believe me, commado crawls are uber hard when you have sweaty forearms on a tiled floor! :-({|=

I think the chorrey is really good and quite challenging:
- Sun Sals has a nice difference at the start but then nice to have a flowing sequence.
-The balance track is bloody hard - I have really flat feel and staying on one leg for that long kills my arches and ankle but it's a great challenge!
-The hip track is ok but I dunno if I like the new move - I can't really feel it and I have tried adjusting my alignment in all kind of ways....any tips? It's hard to gauge the move as I don't have participants I can talk to about it!
-Love the core tracks!! Cool music and challending basic moves - much better than the 100s from Pilates. That was not a good track for Balance as you need a lot of Pilates understanding to make it effective. These moves are good for Balance.
-Twists - lets the release down I think - hate the music and the chorrey is too similar to BB35.
-Cool frd folds and for once I won't whinge about having Sarah McLachlan!

Cool - how are participants finding it?!

[danika1984]

they love it here they can't get enough of it, their fav would have to be the core section, there are so many groans after the abs ...

[Mel]

I haven't done BB43 yet.........the gym here launched last week but I was sick. Now it's closed due to the holidays and stuff. Hopefully I'll get to do the new release in the new year.........not looking forward to tough abs track. After having a baby all abs are tough still!

[Eryx]

When people think the abs track is over, there's 2 twists on each side left. I love that part because all of them groan and laugh cause of the pain! Lovely abs track and might possibly be the hardest one in BB so far. Crazy from BB31 is really tough, too, though.

@ tilley - Some people will feel nothing in that stretch in the Hip Openers, while some will feel it around their knees and some will feel it in their quads. So if you don't feel anything, that's perfectly normal, just shut your eyes and enjoy the calmness and stillness of the song.

BB43 is great. Love track 2, 5, 6 & 7. Both core-tracks are absolute killers this time around!

[grandnat]

So Jackie Mills finishes off 2008 with another corking Body Balance release - completing a run of four outstanding classes which, for me, have been amongst the best Balances ever. In most releases I find that there is a musical track that grates, or some chorry that doesn't quite do it for me - but this release is near perfect. I have however detected a little bit of critisism from the participants that I wasn't expecting. Some have said it is too hard - particularly older participants - that all the elbow - planks and full planks in track 6 and 7 are "not really Body Balance" - but when shown the easier options I think it has grown on people and given them a challenge. Others have said it doesn't flow - that there is too much turning over and changing around - perhaps this is a symptom of the lack of music editing that goes on these days? Whilst I have listened to this feedback and will include it in my BLAH - personally I think this is a perfectly balanced release - lovely music, lovely and chellenging moves and if you want it a tough work out.

Tai Chi - beautifully simple. The swing and wrap is a perfect way of shaking off the cobwebs of the day and springing you into the workout. the slightly more gutsey music than we are used to for warm ups is welcome - and being a bloke I love that guitar riff during the chorus - again very simple but full of passion.

Sun Salutations - Twice in my experience with Balance have I gone out and bought the album as a result of one of the tracks - Conjure One's album as a result of BB22 and SleepThief as a result of BB42. Ever since I bought the Conjure One Album I have been waiting for this track to appear - Manic Star. What perfect Body Balance music. But perhaps here is part of the problem voiced by the participants. When "Tears from the Moon" was a Sun Sal it was heavily edited - so you always went into the Intense Pose on the "I Reach For You" lyric. With no editing on Manic Star - the moves don't consistently match up a verse or a chorus and that does cause a bit of a flow problem - but until I heard the participants feedback I thought this was just me being a picky Virgo.

Standing Strength - Love the music and as Warrior 2 is my second favourite pose (after Sun Warrior) - I really like the way we explore the pose, deepen it and then extend it - and then just when you think you have had enough - you take off into that fantastic Half Moon. This is possibly the standout track for me on this release.

Balance - Balance tracks usually come in one of two forms. Either poses held for quite a while - or a sequence of poses flowing together seamlessly. We haven't had a sequence one for a while and this is why I like this track - and the flow with the music is perfect. People have told me they find it two bitty with too much changing position - but it is challenging for that reason.

Hips - Well I just can't reach behind and get my foot. It isn't happening. I have tried the old skirting board trick at home to practice - but without a wall to run my chin up I just can't get there. Many participants can't either. The second part of the track is just lovely - the music is like a flowing stream and the moves are equally expressive. Again people often have to try hard to feel the stretches but when they get it you can see the look on their faces. Only problem with this track is that as it finishes with a Happy Baby - which is often the final move in track 9 - you get lulled into thinking the class should be over. But it is the calm before the storm because then we get......

Abs - hard hard hard. First time I did this my abs were on fire for days. All that cycling and arms and legs up in the air - painful - but gainful!!

Back - hard hard hard. Perhaps why some have expressed frustration with this. But there are easy options and everyone should be able to find their level. There are still some people who think that Balance is an easy class - these two core tracks must finally silence any doubters.

Twists - I did my video on BB33 and this is the same piece of music (expect this time it is a duet with the Stingster). Not a problem because the moves fit perfectly and the introductory lie down is most welcome after the abs and back.

Hamstrings - What a fantastic piece of music - I cannot compete with the way Doctor Dave describes it on the DVD - "feels like spring - emerging from the ground - lifting up - unfolding" - just exquisite. You also have to take DD's advice if you are a bloke - half cow face is challenging without having to rearrange the furniture first.

Relaxation/Mediation - two great contrasting pieces of music bring this exceptional release to an end.

So a great 2008 for Body Balance and I am looking forward to the next four. I have a new class starting soon at a club in Edinburgh that has only just got Balance after years of campaigning. It's a shame the class is 45 minutes because I really do not want to miss any of this release out.

10/10 Jackie.

[Mel]

I finally did this release the other day. Hard to judge how I feel about it after the first time, since I was busy being careful not to hurt my back again. My back ended up being far better than it has been in a while, so that was good, but I took it easy anyway.

I was a bit nervous about the core tracks, expecting them to be really hard. With my weakened core strength at the moment I wasn't sure if I could complete the track. BUT, I found them to be quite achievable. I think the key here is that they are doable, but VERY effective! I was expecting it to be difficult to get through the tracks, but from the perspective of a someone who's struggling to get back to fitness, I didn't really find that to be the case.

I felt sore the next morning through my core muscles. That makes it an excellent track in my opinion!

[Mel]

ok I'm getting back into it and will be teaching 2 balance classes a week starting from now and it'll be this release. I team taught a trial class today, and so I've done this release a few times at home while practising. Some moves are difficult for me to achieve cuz I've lost so much flexibility, however although I couldn't reach my foot in the hip track the first time I did it, I now can.

I absolutely love the tai chi track, and love the chorrey for the abs. But while this is a good release overall, nothing is really standout for me. It's a good release to come back teaching to though.

I'd love to have another listen to BB42 though and see which is better, because I really did like 42!

[Special]

I love the ab track! I have mixed everything else out, but the abs stay! Despite the groans.

Strangely, everyone seemed to get the oblique bit when we launched, but after a few weeks people started getting muddled up. Maybe I just had more newbies. I think I finally have them sorted.