The Miracle Box Essential Exercise & Birthing Ball Package

Product Tested By Penny McPherson – Mum To Be

Penny Awarded The Miracle Box Essential Exercise & Birthing Ball Package 4.3/5

A product I have used at my local fitness centre prior to pregnancy to strengthen stomach muscles.  From the handbook provided I now realise there are other exercises that can be undertaken whilst pregnant as well as it being used to help with pelvic floor muscles.  The website is very informative.  It also gives you information on other products to use.  I was particularly interested in the TENS machine.  Very good. Highlighting all exercises that can be done using the product.  It is image heavy which gives you a clear idea on how it can be used.  The ball is a good size, compact and easy to use.  Also very comfortable to use. The quality of the DVD was good.  Nice packaging and well made as well as easy to follow.  The book complimented the DVD by giving examples of how to use the ball.  It is easy to read and has good images that you can follow.  It was nice that images of the mum with the new baby were included to demonstrate how you can use it to keep fit when you are a new mum.  The DVD gave information on the different exercises you can undertake pre and post pregnancy.  It was very easy follow and informative. I enjoyed using this exercise programme and I have used it to strengthen pelvic muscles.  It is easy to move around the home so I have tried using it in both my living room and bedroom.  I have felt some benefit but need to continue using it to get the full return. I will probably feel more comfortable using it post pregnancy to help with pelvic floor and tummy muscles.   The ball was definitely fun to use. Absolutely fantastic value for money.  At £29.99 for the pack is exceptional value for money.  The best selling point for this pack is the fact that it is very mobile and can be used conveniently around the home which is important for new mums who don’t have time to go to the gym.  Have already recommended this to my pregnancy friend.  Convenient, cost effective way to help get body prepared for birth and to support fitness/muscle tightening after birth without having to spend time away from your baby.  Penny McPherson – Mum To Be

Product Tested By Louise Turner – Baby Alex 4 Months

Louise Awarded The Miracle Box Essential Exercise & Birthing Ball Package  4/5

A nice aid to returning to my pre-pregnancy fitness. A comprehensive website with explanations of the products. You can buy directly on-line too.  I didn’t get a book, but got three wall charts of exercises – 1 for during pregnancy, one for the immediate post-partum period and a more advanced post-pregnancy one which included exercises to do with your baby.   I thought the wall charts were very useful, but could have done with a bit more explanation. Some of the advanced exercises were a bit beyond me – I wasn’t confident doing press-ups over Alex, but I was never very strong in my arms!  The ball is good quality and comes with really clear instructions about how to blow it up (which includes partial inflation and then leaving it to acclimatise before complete inflation to a specified height).  An added benefit is that Alex loves to do the ‘roller coaster’ on the ball as some extra tummy time. I just lay him on the ball and hold him under his arms, then roll him backwards and forwards and side-to-side. Even my 3 year old wanted a turn, but she was a little difficult to manouvre for any length of time. Still, it’s all upper-body exercise…  The content of the DVD was good, but I struggled to follow it when it came to the exercises. It starts with some information which is preceded by a dream-like sequence where images of children in playgrounds are matched to narration which is about nothing of the sort! I found myself watching the children and tuning out the narration. It was very hard to concentrate on two un-related subjects at once, more especially with my post-baby brain in full control.  However, the DVD does eventually contain really good explanations about pelvic floor and transverse abdominal (TVA) muscles which are the ones you need to target after having a baby. There are some great diagrams and for the first time I understood where EXACTLY my pelvic floor was and why I really should be exercising it!  Trying to practice some of the exercises while listening to the instructions on the DVD was challenging. Before I’d got comfortable in one position and done one of the exercises the lady on screen and the narration were on to the next one. This often involved going from sitting or standing up to lying down and I got a sweat on just doing this, let alone the exercises on the chart. And my muscles the next day told me I’d definitely done some good!  Having watched the DVD once I preferred to then use the charts to exercise. I don’t imagine I would go back to using the DVD unless I needed a reminder about the pelvic floor exercises.  The wall charts contained a good range of exercises but at first it was difficult to identify which one was for which stage. They could do with putting this clearly at the top as I was forever sifting through them to try to figure it out. I found I could do the post-natal exercises quite easily, but I had continued to do pilates until week 35 of my pregnancy and had been using my Wii for the previous 6 weeks. The exercises target a number of areas such as stomach and legs. If you had a dedicated room where you could display the charts I think they’d be useful, but for me doing my exercising in the living room (and hoping no one walking by can see me) I found them unwieldy. A leaflet would have been much easier to handle.  I was a little worried about doing some of the more advanced exercises, especially the press-ups over baby. But I loved the idea of involving baby in your exercising.   I did enjoy it, but I have always liked exercising with a ball. The only catch is storing a fully-blown ball when your toddler thinks it’s the latest play-thing. You need a big cupboard or a room to be able to keep it out of sight.  I like exercising at home as I’m not a gym bunny. I prefer to be able to do little and often and can’t be bothered with the trip to a gym or class (I only do pilates because it’s in a meeting room opposite my office at work!). I am confident that a ball work-out can be comprehensive for all areas of the body, but especially the stomach area, which I’m trying to tone up.   I liked it and so did Alex and Imogen. If the DVD contained a workout you could follow at the same time (much like a traditional exercise DVD) then it would be good value. But you can buy a ball for around £10 and a book of ball exercises for similar, which would give you more variety. However, this wouldn’t necessarily be specific to the post-partum period.  I wouldn’t buy this particular set as I would prefer to purchase ball and post-pregnancy DVD to use at home.  I think the post-pregnancy exercises are good but the price is a bit expensive as the DVD doesn’t really contain much useful exercise info. You could achieve the same results with a ball and DVD/book bought separately.  I finally know where my pelvic floor is and why I should be exercising it! A good introduction to post-pregnancy exercise and nice to be able to include baby in the workout. Louise Turner – Baby Alex 4 Months

Product Tested By Lisa Townsend – Lucy & Jamie Aged 3 & 2 Years

Lucy Awarded The Miracle Box Essential Exercise & Birthing Ball Package  3.7/5

My 1st impression of this was how can this help a pregnant lady exercise! I found the website very useful, easy to navigate and it has a good description of all items available online.  The book is good, very  useful and had lots of information.  The ball and quality of the ball is Brilliant! I was so impressed!  The DVD in my opinion was adequate. The Book was good but sometimes the wording they used was a bit confusing! not quite sure this is the best item for beginners!   The DVD Again had lots of information but not very simple for beginners!  I really enjoyed using the ball.  I am not quite sure if I will be in a rush to keep using it!  I am sure these exercises were beneficial but could still do with more instructions.  I would be more confident continuing to use this exercise programme if the instructions were clearer.  However, I really had fun and was amusing using the exercise ball.  This comes as a complete set with ball, book and DVD and most definitely good value for money.  If my friends were into fitness would certainly recommend. Useful if you are at a more moderate fitness level not very good if you are a beginner!  Lisa Townsend – Lucy & Jamie Aged 3 & 2 Years