The Bean product reviews

To be honest, after seeing the usual run-of-the-mill infomercial running last thing at night, I was, to put it mildly, quite sceptical as to the effectiveness of such a flimsy-looking device. I was thinking "How on earth can a bean-shaped inflatable cushion help me work my abs and prevent damage to my back? Don't they have machines prices at $1000+ to do that? So how can this thing really do much?"

The simple answer is, of course, that it doesn't... but what it does do is allow you to do all the normal exercises without any pain, strain or damage to your lower back. It is comfortable, and with the separately inflated comfort bubbles, you can fine-tune the level of support to suit your body type and needs.

With a long-term back injury to consider whenever exercise is concerned, I have to be very careful in my selection of fitness equipment... by deflating this bean a little, I was easily able to give it more freedom to conform to my back and give it the maximum of support. Normally, even a single set of 8 sit-ups would usually result in extreme pain... but not any more. Not only does The bean support my back fully, it allows me to do a range of exercises, making it very functional. This also includes a number of stretches, for before and after as well.

Easy to set up, easy to use, easy to store... it even comes with a foot-operated pump so you can take it anywhere and use it, regardless of whether there are any powerpoints nearby. Though the volume capacity of the pump isn't too great, you might find it takes you a fair while to fully inflate The Bean. I found it a good investment to go to The Warehouse and buy a larger-volume pump.

Overall, I have found The Bean to be a highly effective fitness aid, amazingly comfortable, easy to use and work with, and above all, far cheaper than many of the bigger, bulkier machines. And they even throw in a decent amount of patches, just in case you pop a comfort bubble or the cat decides to claw it, or... whatever. The bean has helped me get right back into my fitness regime, and alleviate the near-constant back-pain I have suffered for the last 6 years.