Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2014
Due to a neck injury, years ago, I have lost a lot of strength in my arms and have had upper back, shoulder, and neck problems. I thought i'd give this a try for upper body reconditioning. i have been starting off slow and am not even sure how much of this type of exercise i can take, but, so far, taking it slow, i'm feeling it in the back of my arms and rib area under arms at the sides (good type of hurt!), and it seems to be helping my neck and shoulder pain (so far), but I don't feel it yet in my abs. this could be a long, long row to hoe for me, but i'm hoping ... baby steps for now. it's difficult to give a good review for an item I've barely used but have so much hope for, but, if i'm able to keep at it, i'll be back for an update as so my progress ... hopefully a good one. i'm also doing the hard body roller for my upper back, and it has helped, too (snap, crackle, and pop in my shoulder blade areas ... from the old neck injury but feels so good). the body roller isn't helping my arm strength, tho. looks like, if i can do it, i'm into both these items for the long, slow haul.
UPDATE ALREADY (03/19/14): i had done 2 test runs on the carver before beginning the schedule, and, last night, i was only on week 1, day 2 but already began to feel it a little in my abs ... a miracle! yay!! :) and i'm only rolling a little more than 2-1/2 feet forward (for now). however, i couldn't complete the side rolling 3 reps of 5, tho ... only did 1 rep of 5 each side, so i'm modifying slightly with just what my body can handle. at my age (67), I'd begun to feel that it would be impossible to gain back any strength and tone in my arms, shoulders, and neck ... so we'll see. if this works even a little, it might be encouraging for other older women in my same situation ... chronic full-back pain, severe osteoporosis with 2 known but mostly healed lumbar fractures, and, of course, the old neck injury that shot pain into my neck, shoulder blades, and shoulders since February 1997. also, i'm hoping this counts as weight bearing. if i can do this, anyone can! lol i just hope i can stay motivated. the way i see it, if it's easy enough and i get results, i'd be a fool not to.
so far, I've not had any bad problems with the ab carver spring action. i have found that, if i start out a little closer to my knees on the first roll forward, it won't stop too soon on the return roll, but, by the 8th roll it doesn't return all the way again. I just hope this doesn't get any worse and wonder if there is something wrong with my ab carver. also, the flimsy-looking knee pads are helpful, too! i tried using the carver without the knee pads, and the pads really do make a huge difference (small bony protrusion in my right knee from an old fracture).
UPDATE (03/21/14): since my arms have been so weak for so long, I seem to be stuck somewhere between day 1 and day 2 (week 1) on the schedule. last night, I also felt it in my mid back (fracture area), so I need to be careful. I think the point is to do what I can and don't push much past that point. after all, the whole program is designed to be repeated as one improves and progresses thru it. my injured right knee is a problem now on the knee pads, so I keep it bent on the forward roll with the injured bone off the left side of the pad so it's not touching anything. I'm also trying some easy modified push ups. I might end up doing week 1 for quite some time ... spacing the reps out thru the day, too, instead of trying to do them in one session with short breaks between. if and when I get to the point where I can advance to week 2, i'll return with an update (and rejoice much!).
my thoughts are that the whole structure of the body is connected and any little thing i can do in one area should slowly improve other areas. i already have decreased cracking and crunching pain in my neck. and this carver is advertised as an ab toner only? lol i think it's going to do way more than that for me, but we shall see. if I were 20 years younger this would be a piece of cake. in karate class, I was doing 50 finger-tip pushups when I was in my mid 40s (before I injured my neck). my how things can change. this ab carver is definitely going to be a bit of a struggle for me, but, at this point, i'm willing to keep trying ... better than not trying, right?
UPDATE (03/26/14): taking more hints from other reviews I've read, I've modified even further. since my arms muscles seem to give out more quickly by taking breaks between the short sets, I've started doing longer sets. today, I was able to roll 30 repetitions in 1 set before giving out, and my forward roll measured a little over 2 feet ... doing more reps per set with a shorter roll. I've also eliminated the side rolls (for now). also, I probably don't roll as slowly as some because, years ago, I had read that slow movements build muscle mass, and faster movement tone. for me, I think this will help me more. I remember that, in karate class, movements were very fast, and I was lean, toned, and strong back then. in short, i'm not giving up ... just modifying the original carver program to suit my personal needs. if there's a better (faster) way to gain strength and tone my muscles. without injuring myself, i'd appreciate helpful suggestions. as it was, today, I was able to do 30 repetitions in 1 set before giving out. before, when I tried to do 3 sets of 10 reps, I gave out more quickly. as it is, i'll do another set later today and see how far I get. I can't wait for the day when i'm strong enough to really begin the "official" program as presented in the pdf file. btw, I am feeling it more in my abs, as time passes, and I've learned how to not strain my back ... seems I need to pull in on my abs and keep my back perfectly straight while rolling. for anyone who might be in a similar situation to me (osteoporosis with fractures and ddd), I hope I've been able to help. for the younger, more fit, individual, this review might be very boring, but for a few others (like me), I hope you can identify and not give up too soon (as some have said in their reviews). don't be impatient and push too hard, too soon. baby steps for me!!! :D I'm going to try for 40 reps in 1 set tonight. when I can do 50 reps in a set fairly comfortably, I might try to change to 2 sets of 25 reps ... whatever my body can handle. sure don't need any more compression fractures in my spine! maybe in 6 months, i'll be able to work up to a complete roll forward and back every now and then! wouldn't that be nice? I still call this an easy form of exercise ... even with the stuggle! but it's all good!!!
03/28/14 ... finally had to switch to using a pillow for my knees ... no way I can let a thing like knee pain stop me from carving now. even tho i'm still in the infant stages of carving, i'm addicted! also, I notice that some "baby fat" on my abs is starting to melt! <yay!> so anyone out there who thinks that if they can't carve per the program schedule yet, don't be discouraged. anything you can do is a help for your body.
04/09/14 ... almost 3 weeks since I first put my hands on the ab carver, and I finally got a good burn going in my abs ... FINALLY! I still can't do many reps (20-30 reps), but i'm able to roll farther and get more stretch, so my arm muscles are strengthening (slowly). I just can't believe how great the ab burn feels! :)
