Escape Your Shape: How to Work Out Smarter, Not Harder

I am going back to school, and I wanted to lose weight before I did. I have a bigger upper body than lower body, and I hate it. I've spent a lot of time working out and referring to this book, thinking it would help me slim down my upper body. I think this book has some good ideas, and I am grateful for them. But I have wasted a lot of time on this book, because I have not achieved anywhere near the results I want after following this book religiously and being fanatical about it, expecting it to work any day now.The biggest disappointment is this book is based on the idea that if you work certain areas correctly, you will lose weight there. That's just not true. Do research online, and a lot of resources reveal that's not true. I wish I had looked at those sources before I spent months on this. I AM losing weight following what Edward Jackowski has to say in this book, but I am losing weight in the same places as always--my LOWER BODY--despite following his workouts for people who have more upper body weight (cones). I still can't wear nice little tops--the same big shirts that I've been wearing are still the only ones I can wear--and some of my pants are falling down while, oddly enough, my inner thighs seem to be getting bigger, making my jeans tighter around my inner thighs. NOT what I wanted.What I have learned is that Jackowski's workouts do not include enough aerobic exercise, which is really all you can do to burn fat. And you just have to see where that aerobic exercise burns fat--you can't make it burn it where you want to, though if you stick with aerobic exercise it will eventually burn fat where you want it to. The downer is you might have to wait quite a while for it to start burning there because your metabolism might want to first burn all the fat on all the wrong parts of your body! I think for the people who feel like this book works, those were people who ended up lucky enough for the little aerobic exercise they did following this book to burn fat where they wanted it.Jackowski also makes it seem as if you don't really have to change your diet if you actually don't want to, and that's not true, either. There are certain parts of your body that just will not get smaller if you don't make certain changes. Again, if you research online or even pay attention to TV nowadays, you'll see that getting enough servings of protein, dairy/calcium and whole grains can really help in losing weight. You can't keep sitting around eating saturated fats and lots of carbs, and Jackowksi will sometimes say that changing diet in conjunction with exercising is the best way to lose weight. However, he does give those of us who wanted that hope that we could still lose weight without diet changes that hope!I think one of the best ideas I got from this book was jumproping as aerobic exercise. It's not as easy as people would have you think, even after you do it for quite some time, but I can see how it's a good workout. I also do think his workouts are good, but not for the reasons he says and not for the lengths he says. Like I mentioned before, I think there needs to be more than 30 mins of aerobic exercise every time you workout. There needs to be closer to an hour of aerobic exercise, especially for beginners because most beginners are not going to be able to work out according to his guidelines, and/or the beginners workouts are not going to be that effective for long or even very effective to begin with. The other parts of his workouts are good because they help you build muscle, which helps you burn more fat...and they can help you tone. So when you lose weight you won't just have flabby excess skin hanging there. A few other things he says in the book are correct, as well, such as his explanation for how calorie intake effects weight loss, gain and stabilization, and that you need to keep increasing intensity or advancing in order for workouts to keep being effective.Overall, I think this book was geared more towards people who wanted a good workout but weren't necessarily overweight. If you want to maintain your current weight but you don't really exercise that much, I think this book serves that purpose best of all. I feel like he kind of looks down on people who are overweight and that this book is truly not for us. I'm happy for people who got good results following this book, but a lot of people haven't. Starting tomorrow, I'm probably just going to stretch out his aerobic recommendations to make them near an hour so that I can burn more fat, and then just keep doing everything else he recommends. I will no longer think that exercising my upper body will make a difference there any time soon, though.

I read this book a few years ago and took a little of this and a little of that but I didn't follow instructions step by step. After killing myself on the treadmill and with weights and not seeing results, I decided to read completely and follow the hourglass workout step by step. It has worked for me. Two weeks and I can see definition in my stomach that I haven't seen before having children 8 years ago. Don't get me wrong - I don't have a six pack - but definition. I have done every tricep exercise advertised and they still waved when I waved - I can honestly say that this past week I have noticed a difference WOOHOO! I'm excited to step it up a notch this week and hopefully the good results will keep coming.

I have worked out for many years and am what I would consider an avid workout person. I was frustrated that as hard as I work out my body just didn't show the difference I thought it should for the amount of effort I was putting into my workouts. Read this book and found out that everything I had been doing for my hourglass figure was wrong. All my spin classes, all my heavy weight lifting, wrong. Followed this plan and in a only a month I have seen changes in my body and shape that I haven't seen in years of working out. Whether you have been working out for a day or working out for years, you need to try this program for yourself.

The information in this book is really basic and can be found free on the internet. Furthermore, I'm more confused than ever about my body type.I do not fit in any one category. First, my shape is ruler. I am heavy in the middle. Measurements are:chest--42waist--41 1/2hips-- 45BUT, I seem to have most of the hour glass characteristics:1. I bulk up easily in both my lower and upper body (rulers do not)2. I lose and gain weight evenly.3. I look smaller than the scale reads. Most people who attempt to guess my weight are about 15-25 lbs off. It's been that way since I was young (according to the book, this is not the case with rulers).4. Often times, I lose inches before pounds.5. My problem areas are thick thighs and thick arms and I'm very strong when it comes to lifting weights. These are all hourglass characteristics.Matter of fact, the only thing about the description of a ruler shape that fits me is the measurements. To add further confusion. I have been told by several trainers that I should do the spoon routine. Light weights and heavy cardio.This book will be donated.

This book makes sense. Working out,improving your body image (shape) designed by what body shape you have to begin with.I'm the shape of a "Ruler", so to improve the look of my body I need to do more anaerobic (weight lifting type stuff) and less aerobic (running around). The book is 9 years old now, but you can still find great tips on how to improve your shape.

This book is really good. It changes the whole way one has to work out to slim down. It has worked amazingly for me in the 1st 3 weeks. My husband says I am really slimming down in the hip area and I can see it too. The work-out is not hard and takes 1 1/2 hours 3 times a week for the core work-out and 1 hour for the other 2 days. I take the week-ends off and still it is working great! I have been working out all wrong for years. Try it! You'll see!

I love this book! I originally purchased the hard copy 10+ years ago and was thrilled to see that an electronic version exists. This really shows that losing weight and shaping your body type is not IMPOSSIBLE - and does not require working out for more than 1 hour.

Easy to read and follow. This book has practical advice and has actually assisted me in working out smarter which saves time in my busy schedule. js

could not get into this book.