Ellie Herman's Pilates Props Workbook: Illustrated Step-by-Step Guide (Dirty Everyday Slang) Paperback – Illustrated, 23 Aug. 2004

I was looking for a book that I could use to work out at home with. Can only say that this is perfect for me. Good to see all levels of student being catered for as well as workout programmes for specific areas of the body. Money well spent. Although this book explains how to breath, best posture among other things one should know prior to attempting any of the exercises, personally, I would recommend that those who have never tried pilates have a few sessions with a qualified instructor. I have been a pilates student for over 15 years using the reformer and this really fits this bill, will be highly recommending it to others.

Good selection of exercises, and I particularly like the clear explanations:- tells you how to breathe- detailed "do and don't" section ("don't let your stomach pop")- excellent "imagine" section to help you do the exercise correctly("imagine you're pushing something away with your heel as you extend your leg")- split up by prop, but also provides multiple exercise routines which combine exercisesProbably more focused on beginner / intermediate levels, but has plenty of ideas and I'd highly recommend it. Could have been more colourful / better presented.....but that's just superficial.

Good photos and descriptions of how to do the exercises. There are suggested workout routines for specific problems as well as for general workouts. If it could be improved, it would be by making it spiral bound so the pages are easy to keep open (this is true for all exercise books I think). The photos are all in black and white. A dvd would be a great accompaniment.

Having purchased mamy pilates books, this is by far my favourite, very useable at all levels.

Pilates books usually fall into two camps, either too easy or too hard. This book is the exception. When it refers to an intermediate exercise, it will be what you would expect in an Improvers / Intermediate class in terms of difficulty. I have exercise bands, ball, and roller but lack the imagination to integrate them with Pilates positions; this book overcomes that. In my view, it's much better than the "On a Roll @ Home" book (by Donna Gambino) albeit that Donna Gambino's exercises are just with a foam roller.

I teach pilates on regular basis and just needed new fresh ideas for my classes. I found this book very helpful, great step by step pictures, lots of useful tips and do's and don't's. I reccommend it to any teacher not sure about regular public.

I wanted a book to take travelling hence the choice of a book for my Kindle rather than the paper version. Like one of the other reviewers, I found that the Kindle is not the ideal way to read this book - it is difficult to skip backwards and forwards to the different exercises as the page numbers 'don't work'. The illustrations lose a lot in the black and white format, and are also difficult to enlarge. Similarly the tables don't work so well either.However, after laboriously making my own notes and bookmarks I did manage to use it.In summary - a great book packed with useful exercises, but the paper version is probably better until the technology of ebook readers catches up.

Ellie Herman was recommended to me by my Pilates teacher. Good pictures and instructions, so you can tell what to do. Plenty of advice on how to approach Pilates for different possible medical reasons. Exercises from beginner to advanced.