Belly Blasting Walk

This dvd contains a two mile walk that focuses on the midsection and includes 2 bonus core workouts. You wont need any equipment for this workout. Leslie leads in a large space with 5 background exercisers.

Belly Blasting Walk (30 min): Exercises include: walking, kicks, knee ups, side steps, squat twits, double jacks, skaters, hip touches to hit the obliques,jog up & back, squat & twist, punches pendulums, single leg hops, mock rope, cross knee pulls, and ends with a stretch.

Core One (10 min): exercises include the hundred, teaser, bridge, scissors, bike and single leg stretch.

Core Two (10 min): exercises include bird dog, table core work, donkey kick varitionas, superman, knee pushups, knee & full planks, and concludes with child pose.

This is a beginner routine that can be easily modified for most exercisers. The instruction style is definetly targeted towards beginners and Leslie is her normal chatty self, having a great time walking with her friends. I received this dvd to review.

This is the first Leslie Sansone workout I have done in some time. I have tended to find her routines somewhat repetitive and not quite intense enough for my intermediate level, even when she attempts to take things up a notch (such as with her Walk Away the Pounds - Walk and Kick and Walk Away the Pounds - Walk and Jog, both of which I owned for quite awhile). In this latest DVD, however, Sansone adds quite a few new moves, and I'm happy to report that it just might be a keeper for me.

The Main Menu of this DVD offers four different options: 1) Play Entire Belly Blasting Walk, 2) Play Belly Blasting 2 Fast Miles, 3) Play Belly Blasting Floor Session 1, and 4) Play Belly Blasting Floor Session 2. I will break down each individual segment below. As always, Sansone is teaching live in a large studio, and she is joined by five young, long-haired, all-female background exercisers; everyone is attired brightly in pink and yellow. One of her background exercisers shows a few modifications when Sansone specifically asks her to do so, but otherwise, low-impact modifications are NOT shown throughout the workout.

MILE #1

As always Leslie introduces her four main steps, which includes the walk (marches), side steps, knee ups, and kicks. However, she adds MANY more variations here, including knee lifts with twists to the thigh, shuffles with punches across, larger squats with twists, and jogs forward and back with twists. As you can see, Sansone incorporates many rotational moves with the specific intention of targeting the core. Although this mile is fairly intense overall, Sansone builds up gradually--i.e., my heart rate did not hit my target zone until about 8 minutes into the 15.5 minute segment.

MILE #2

This mile begins at the quick pace where the first mile left off. (Note: The song "The Heat is On" is used in both miles to set a fast pace.) Sansone adds even more new moves here, including side-facing shuffles with a punch, jumping rope and hops, and small plyo jumps. At about 26.5 minutes, she begins slowing things down for the recovery period, and at 29 minutes, she starts about 2 1/2 minutes of very simple stretches, beginning with the upper body and then moving on to the lower.

FLOOR SESSION #1 (10.5 minutes)

This section focus on flexion. Sansone incorporates traditional exercise such as curl-ups and bridgework. She combines these with Pilates-inspired moves, including her version of the hundred, single leg stretch, and scissors. Sansone moves VERY slow through this segment, and I did not think she provided effective instruction for the Pilates exercises.

FLOOR SESSION #2 (10.5 minutes)

Sansone notes that this segment will focus more on extension. She begins on hands and knees for alternate arm/leg raises, incorporating both straight and bent leg lifts. Coming forward, she performs half push-ups and half plank, and then coming all the way to a prone position, she moves through variations on supermans, including raising just the legs, just the arms, and alternate arm/leg. Sansone is constantly moving in this section, flowing back to an elbow plank, adding in a few more push-ups, brief holding a full plank, and coming back to hands and knees to repeat the arm/leg raises. She finishes by holding full plank for 10 seconds. I liked this segment much better than the first corework section; it felt much more effective.

Overall, this is a nice new offering from Leslie Sansone. I really enjoyed the new moves that she incorporated into the walk both to increase the intensity and to target the core. I do wish that she had picked up the pace a bit sooner in Mile #1--and similarly, that she had delayed the start of the recovery a bit in Mile #2. However, I do like that there is a chapter break at the start of the second mile, so I do have the option of skipping directly to that point; I may even try doing the second mile twice! In the end, I definitely would recommend this DVD.

Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this workout.

I decided to try this workout, even though I haven't been thrilled with Leslie's most recent DVDs. And, I'm glad I did because I really enjoy it. It follows Leslie's formula, but includes newer moves that support the goal of the workout - to work your core.

It is a 2-mile walk. Leslie has 5 exercisers backing her up, all from a younger generation than her original pals. I didn't love the background exercisers, but they didn't annoy me either. The set is the same one she has used in the past few DVDs and I like it because it's light and airy and they seem to have plenty of room. The music seems to be pretty good for one of Leslie's workout, but I have a hard time hearing it, so I can't describe it very well.

The goodness of this workout, to me, seems to be in the walk itself. It is a high-energy program that starts with aerobics and Leslie begins with a review of her usual four basic steps. Like all Leslie's workouts, it's easy to follow, but the way she puts the moves together is different and the actual moves she uses are different. How is it different? The moves are more varied and the impact/intensity options are higher with many of the moves.

One thing to make a note of is the lack of a modifier. Most of the descriptions I have read have said something like, "There is always one exerciser that always keeps it low-impact." I think that was the intention, but it just didn't happen. Early on, Leslie turns to Brianna and tells her to show a low-impact option so that people can follow that option. Brianna does that move and then goes back to the same moves everyone else is doing. She only goes low impact the 1-2 other times Leslie told her to show the option. This is something they really need to fix, especially if they are going to claim they have it in the description. However, for experienced modifiers, it is extremely easy to modify the moves and just take out the impact.

She starts slow through the warm up and into the first mile. Then, she boosts the tempo and layers in the new variations. some of the newer moves include:

> forward jog with a double twist

> jump rope arms with a hop

> jumping squats

> mini squats with twists

> larger squats (done slowly) with torso twists

> knee lifts while bringing the arms up and over to the knees and hips

The boosted pace lasts into the second mile. Then, it slows gradually until the cool down. The walk comes in at just under 30 minutes. To me, this was a fun workout and the only annoyance was the lack of a modifier.

Following the walking workout are two floorwork segments. Each is around 10 minutes. In the first segment, you lay on your back and do crunches and bridge work. In the second, you are largely on your hands and knees (although you do some planks, push ups, and supermans). I really like Leslie's attitude in this. She encourages you to do what you can and to take a break when you need to. She just comes off to me as genuine and caring and pragmatic in these segments. If you like hard core work, you probably won't enjoy these segments, but they seem good as beginning to intermediate core work. In these segments, Leslie is by herself and is friendly, motivating, cheerful and informational.

This is a higher intensity (and impact) Leslie with a standing, core focus. I love the menu options on this dvd. You can play everything (the walk and both abs) for a 53 minute workout. You can choose just the 2 miles (30 minutes), or each individual ab floor session (at 10 minutes each). The walk includes your typical Leslie moves (walk, side steps, knee ups, kicks) but with lots of core reminders (keep core engaged, etc). The pace is quick and Leslie throws in some moves that pump up the impact and intensity (half jacks, jogging boosts, those hideous pendulums, jump rope). There are also many moves included to work your core from a standing position (side taps with torso twists, skaters, squats with a torso twist, punching moves). The floor work includes a good variety. Floor Session 1 is all flexion (done on the back) and with a pilates flavor. Floor session 2 is extension (and all done facing the floor) with moves like plank, bird-dog, back work and pushups. All in all, another good new workout from Leslie. I love this new set and 2 miles is the perfect Leslie length for me.

Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this workout.

I decided to try this workout, even though I haven't been thrilled with Leslie's most recent DVDs. And, I'm glad I did because I really enjoy it. It follows Leslie's formula, but includes newer moves that support the goal of the workout - to work your core.

It is a 2-mile walk. Leslie has 5 exercisers backing her up, all from a younger generation than her original pals. One of them is her daughter, Brianna. I didn't love the background exercisers, but they didn't annoy me either. The set is the same one she has used in the past few DVDs and I like it because it's light and airy and they seem to have plenty of room. The music seems to be pretty good for one of Leslie's workout, but I have a hard time hearing it, so I can't describe it very well.

The goodness of this workout, to me, seems to be in the walk itself. It is a high-energy program that starts with aerobics and Leslie begins with a review of her usual four basic steps. Like all Leslie's workouts, it's easy to follow, but the way she puts the moves together is different and the actual moves she uses are different. How is it different? The moves are more varied and the impact/intensity options are higher with many of the moves.

One thing to make a note of is the lack of a modifier. Most of the descriptions I have read have said something like, "There is always one exerciser that always keeps it low-impact." I think that was the intention, but it just didn't happen. Early on, Leslie turns to Brianna and tells her to show a low-impact option so that people can follow that option. Brianna does that move and then goes back to the same moves everyone else is doing. She only goes low impact the 1-2 other times Leslie told her to show the option. This is something they really need to fix, especially if they are going to claim they have it in the description. However, for experienced modifiers, it is extremely easy to modify the moves and just take out the impact.

She starts slow through the warm up and into the first mile. Then, she boosts the tempo and layers in the new variations. some of the newer moves include:

> forward jog with a double twist

> jump rope arms with a hop

> jumping squats

> mini squats with twists

> larger squats (done slowly) with torso twists

> knee lifts while bringing the arms up and over to the knees and hips

The boosted pace lasts into the second mile. Then, it slows gradually until the cool down. The walk comes in at just under 30 minutes. To me, this was a fun workout and the only annoyance was the lack of a modifier.

Following the walking workout are two floorwork segments. Each is around 10 minutes. In the first segment, you lay on your back and do crunches and bridge work. In the second, you are largely on your hands and knees (although you do some planks, push ups, and supermans). I really like Leslie's attitude in this. She encourages you to do what you can and to take a break when you need to. She just comes off to me as genuine and caring and pragmatic in these segments. If you like hard core work, you probably won't enjoy these segments, but they seem good as beginning to intermediate core work. In these segments, Leslie is by herself and is friendly, motivating, cheerful and informational.

Leslie's latest walking workout is a HIT! In addition to her basic fast-paced walking, she throws in punches, jumping rope, and … plyo jumps! The music was a step up from her usual fare as well, although it was hard to hear at times. Her 30-minute "walk party" is followed by 20 minutes of core toning. One 10-minute segment focuses on flexion; the other focuses on extension. Neither segment is overly strenuous - and neither segment is going to give you those six-pack abs, if that's your goal - but the moves will definitely help you tone your core. Most of the moves were taken from Pilates; and while she moves slowly and doesn't do very many reps of any of the exercises, you can always move at your own pace (I did!)

I really enjoyed the soft music of these two toning sections and felt it was a nice complement to the walking portion of the workout.