I've mentioned in at least one previous post that I've been a longtime fan of Leslie Sansone, the inventor of Walk at Home aka Walk Aerobics.
We go way back! Back in the early 2000s, my mom ordered a 3-video set of Sansone's workouts from QVC (the Walk Away the Pounds series.) She didn't love them because she felt like they were too easy. She let me have them, and I loved them enough for the both of us. Sansone has a unique philosophy in the aerobics world: The steps are not what's important - moving is what's important. It fits in well with my whole egalitarian thing; it's equal opportunity exercise for the uncoordinated among us.
I pretty much memorized the videos, so I sometimes did the movements while I was listening to music or watching TV. I lost about 25 pounds on study abroad in Southern Africa in 2003 by doing Walk at Home in all of the random hotels, homestays, and huts we lived in for six weeks, and I lost about 30 pounds when I was living in Ireland from doing Walk at Home in my room to iTunes.
That's the backstory.
Anyway, I went to Target yesterday and picked up a new Sansone DVD, the 5 Mile Fat Burning Walk. It's a 65-minute workout if you do all 5 miles, but you don't have to.
I just finished it and I LOVED this one! My VHS tapes of her came out in 2000, and this DVD came out in 2008, but the steps are still the same basic formula with a few added flourishes to keep it interesting. But it's actually nice that you don't have to spend the whole hour making sure you're watching her or thinking about what you're doing because the steps are so easy.
One of the added flourishes in this workout is a 2-minute "boosted walk" at the end of each mile. This "boost" is actually jogging in place instead of marching, which gives those who can handle it an extra challenge. However, Sansone realizes that lots of people turn to her workout because they can't handle extra fitness challenges, and she is very clear that people who shouldn't be engaging in high-impact aerobics should not do the "boost." To drive this point home, most of the people in the video don't do the boost. Only Sansone and one back-up exerciser do the boost in miles 2, 3, and 4.
I'd say this is slightly more strenuous than the average Sansone workout - but that's not saying a whole lot. I'm still "Class II obese" and I could get through the whole thing and felt good afterward, but it was a slightly tougher workout than I've ever experienced from her. I sweat a decent amount, but still not as much as when I have a brisk elliptical workout. On the other hand, she engaged a lot more of my muscles, especially my shoulders, glutes, quadriceps, and outer thighs.
This video also tells the story of Nicole, one of the back-up exercisers who lost over 100 pounds through Walk at Home. One of my favorite aspects of this video is that Sansone introduces the viewer to her cast members, like they are old family members. At the end of the video, each of them is introduced as part of the credits and it mentions what they do in life, whether they have children, and whether they are in other Walk at Home videos. It's pretty cool.
The only thing I dislike about the video is that Sansone leads the first and fifth miles alone, with no back-up exercisers. Sansone is most entertaining when she's interacting with her cast members, so I would have preferred to have them there for all five miles.
This is first-rate. Highly recommended.
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