If the Bender Ball's claims are true, then all you married women better watch out for your husbands' hands. Throughout the entire infomercial for this 9-inch inflatable plastic exercise ball, women comment about their husbands' satisfaction with the Bender Ball's results. And one of them says, multiple times, her husband can hardly keep his hands off of her. While I can't confirm those claims, here's what I DO know: The woman behind the product, Leslee Bender, says that using this little green ball to perform a variety of abdominal and Pilates-type exercises is 408 percent more effective than regular crunches. Bender says a regular crunch is a rather limited exercise, since you can only move forward and not backward. But with the Bender Ball placed beneath your lower back, you're getting both extension and flexion, which you'll do in three different levels on the workout DVD that comes with your order. From start to finish, the workout is about 15 minutes and targets all of the muscles in your core. One independent study found that a mini-ball like this helps increase activity in your abs, since it's increasing range of motion from 50 degrees all the way up to 90 degrees. So yes, it appears that the Bender Ball might be more effective than doing regular crunches. But if you don't want to spend $20 to have this product shipped to you, you could always pick up a playground ball or foam roller, which will work just as well. And you might want to keep in mind that when you purchase the ball and DVD, you're also agreeing to buy two additional workout DVD/videos every month for an additional fee. Many customer reviews say they weren't aware of this rule until the mystery charges showed up on their credit card statement, so keep that in mind. To learn more about other products you've seen on TV that may, or may not, be worth your money, check out other videos in this series.