Weight Loss Walk

This is one of Leslie's older workouts which has been re-released on dvd. I would say it is one of the less dated- looking ones, although they do wear leotards in the latter few segments.

Leslie leads about three sections in a living room set with a window behind her. After a somewhat cheesy opening where she kicks her "husband" out of the room so she can exercise, she does the first segment, which is about a mile, herself. There is no pop-up graph like in her later videos, but she does make reference to half-mile and mile landmarks.

She is joined by a class for the rest of the dvd, and leads them through a walk aerobics routine. There are a few different moves here beyond the base four used in her later Walk Away the Pounds, which was nice. The changeover is also much more frequent. You seldom stay with anything for longer than a few sets of 8. Leslie fans looking for some variety will be pleased with this routine.

I love Leslie and do her workouts often, but it is difficult for her to sustain my interest for a complete hour. I might do this workout in sections, but I doubt I would often do the whole thing. Still, I am pleased to have it as it offers some variety in the moves. I would recommend this one.

I think this is one of Leslie's first/older workouts. I like the dvd because you can choose between 3 different walks or combine them.

She doesn't use the weighted balls or any of her newer 'gadgets' in this workout. In all she's in a 'house' with a 'window' behind her that changes seasons...rain, fall, etc as the workout progresses. She starts off like she's in her living room and exercises alone. this is the warmup and 1 mile walk. It continues into the next walk or she tells you to forward to the cooldown. The next walk is 1 1/2 miles as is the 3rd walk. I like doing the 2nd, 3rd, then the 1st for the cooldown. In the 2nd and 3rd walks she opens the doors to 'friends' just stopping by. seems like there are 3 people with her...a guy shows up in the last walk. I think this dvd is fun because she does some lunge type moves to the side to the heartrate up that I haven't seen in her new walks. I like the change of pace and I really felt those lunge things, esp the doubles! I think her WAP is easier for an absolute beginner, but I really enjoy doing this walk when I have to exercise indoors for the variety. You still march in place and do the traditional moves she's famous for, but the added moves can be made higher impact with a hop if you want. I like having something different.

This was a nice no-brainer and I felt I got a reasonably good workout to boot! I really enjoy choreography but I have a definite learning curve and can only handle so much new choreo at once. This gives me a nice break from learning my Christi tapes.

The set is a living room with a window where the whether changes outside and a couch. The first "mile" of this video is just you and Leslie. I did not like this part for this reason. At the beginning of the second mile, the door bell rings or there's a knock or something and Leslie answers the door. Of, course, there are people out there who come in and join right on in. This happens again at the next mile or so. This reminded me so much of Richard Simmons it wasn't funny. I swear he does something like this in his Groovin in the House video. Anyway, this is basically just walking in place with some very basic aerobic type moves thrown in every now and then to spice it up.

All in all, I feel I got a decent workout at about an intermediate level due to the length of the workout and the speed at which you "walked". I do think that if I had only these "walking" videos I would expire of boredom, however, I'm one of those people who enjoy learning choreography. I like to be so busy trying to figure out what I'm doing that I forget I'm working out. But at the same time, I need these easier choreography videos as a nice break too. If you don't mind the repetitiveness of it and are at an intermediate level, this would be a good choice for you.

This is a definitely a beginner's video, however it is a very long workout if you do all three 20 minute segments (The tape is about 63 minutes total). As much as I like the instructor, I did not feel I got much of a real workout-and I am not an advanced excerciser by any means. It is primarily walking in place with some basic low impact aerobic steps. It really gets kind of boring after the first twenty minutes or so. The best part about it is the instructor-she is an excellent teacher for beginners.

This is some tape! If you've got some pounds to lose, this tape will be a welcome addition to your fitness program. It is low impact and low intensity and LONG! You will burn fat before you're done. What I really like, however, is that this time is mega user-friendly. There are actually 3 segments that you can use any way you want. Segment 1 is a mile walk, while sections 2 and 3 are each 1 1/2 miles. You can use 1, 2, or all 3. Just fast forward to the cooldown at the end. If you do the whole tape, you will have walked 4 miles in about an hour! I like the versatility of this workout. Collage Video rates it at the beginner/intermediate level, but there's no reason that an advanced person wouldn't benefit from a brisk 4-mile walk! This is a great tape for klutzes like me who can't stay with the fast-movers with upbeat attitudes that blur me, i.e., Donna Richardson. (I love her, but her moves, I know they're supposed to be easy, confuse me. I wind up marching along to her music.) Leslie is easy to follow and fun. She'll give you a walk for your money!

I wanted to put in a review of this because I think it deserves to be a Favorite. In my opinion, this is an ideal beginners video because it really gives a new exerciser a good base and gives them something to work up to. Leslie is very encouraging, and friendly. She urges to go at their own pace and do what they can. The video is set up with a warm up, three aerobic segments and a cool down, so you can do as many segments, or as few, as you want. This is perfect for beginners- start with one segment, work up and eventually- do the whole thing. It works well if you have time contraints and don't want the same 20 min. workout every day... on this video, there's three! Leslie's cueing is usually fine. But these steps are very basic so its not hard to get back into it in a couple of seconds. What isn't so good- the music is boring. The exercisers look bored most of the time, though they do look like "real" people of different ages. Leslie seems to have trouble staying on the beat so you spend some time marching in place while she "catches the beat" again. The steps are very repetitive. Basic steps are okay, but she doesn't put them together. You do one step, then march. Another step, then march. And each time you do a certain step, the arm motions are the same. Also, there is dead air between songs, so the music doesn't really flow. Beyond those few things, this is a great workout for beginners who want to start slow and work up. This video will give an exerciser a lot of options until they are ready to move on to more challenging videos. It also can make a nice addition to the more advanced exerciser who wants a basic, low impact tape to rotate on off/ recovery days. Very motivating and friendly.

I bought this tape last summer ('97) when I was restarting my fitness programme from scratch following problems with my back. I was looking for a longish, low-impact tape, with no sudden jarring or twisting movements. And this was it: it's a super-low-impact, super-easy tape based on walking, with a few extra moves for variety (e.g. knee lifts, kicks, shuffles and box step). There are no difficult moves here, and just about anyone should be able do it. It's definitely a good tape for people who are out of shape and are put off by the idea of dance-type workouts, for older exercisers who want/need to go gently - and, of course, people getting back into a training programme after illness or injury but wanting to start off carefully. I'm so glad I found this tape when I did.

There are three 20-minute segments of increasing intensity, representing 1 mile (beginner pace), 1½ miles (beginner/intermediate) and 1½ miles (intermediate). The music is lively.

Leslie Sansone is joined by three different exercisers in each section, working out in her living room. They are all "normal" people, a couple of whom have lost quite a lot of weight following her Walk Off Weight System, which consists of this tape and a companion toning video "Firm Off Weight" (I don't have this tape, so can't comment on it). In both videos the amount of exercise done is expressed in miles, the goal being to "cover" a particular number of miles each week.

I still use this video if my back feels delicate or if I'm feeling a little under the weather. Other tapes offer a wider variety of steps, so I find this a little boring if I do it too often, but it makes a nice change now and then. Because the tape is in sections it lends itself to use in a combination workout. For instance, I've done section 2 and/or 3 of this tape after first doing a lower body tape or some time on my stairclimber. (Since finding the Forum I've discovered the joys of combos!!)

According to Collage, this is a beginner/intermediate-level tape. I'd say it's very good for beginners, but more of a light-day tape for intermediates.

This is a good video because it's long and you can do a lot with it. I take it a segment at a time, combining the warmup with whatever segment I'm doing that day, then I go right into the cool down. The other participants in the video are also nice because they are attractive people who seem "real" and not 18-year-old hardbodies. In segments two and three, you can see a middle-aged woman as one of the participants. If you do the whole tape, it's four miles, but I don't do that much in a day. I like the fact that the warmup and cool-down are both around five minutes each, which I think is just right.