Fat Burning Walk

Denise Austin's Fat Burning Walk claims that you will get 4200 steps, but according to my FitBit I didn't clear 4000, even with all of my morning activities prior to doing this. Denise does all of the basic moves that an indoor walking workout usually includes, but she adds some dancy steps, some side to side hips (I would call them hula hips). She also adds skaters, and several other impact moves that she builds up to. She has it broken down into themed sections, the first section which has unweighted arm movements like bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, etc. The second is slim sprints, which has some higher impact moves, the third she classifies as hill climbs, and also has a lot of hill climbing type moves. The next is what she refers to as rolling hills, and this is sort of an interval section. Lastly there is one with soccer kicks and the like and this one they call sports star. The cool down is pretty good and thorough, but this probably has the most impact of any walking workout I've ever done. If you don't like Denise's voice, or sayings like "burn that butter" there's an option to do it without instruction.

I like walking workouts, so I was happy to receive a copy of Denise Austin's Fat Burning workout to preview. The menu options include the Walking Workout, the Abs Workout, and Music Only (nice for those who "can't stand" Denise's voice.) She begins with basic marching, then does a few side steps before returning to what she calls "easy walk." Next are knee lifts, hamstring curls, and double side-steps; she returns to "easy walk" after each of these moves. We march forward and back, then to the corners of the room and back; this is level one. Level two adds bicep curls, and level three adds overhead punches.

Upper body work is next, including more bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, and chest & shoulder presses. Then comes the "endurance challenge" where we do traveling side-steps (chasses) with an optional jump at the end, double side-steps with weight shifts at the end (a fun, dance-like move where you shift your weight from one leg to the other), shuffles with weight shifts, and jogging (modify with brisk walking.)

The next phase begins with hamstring curls and double hamstring curls, then walking forward with alternating knee lifts, walking back with alternating knee lifts, soccer kicks, Charleston walk (kick forward with one foot, then return and step back with the other foot), squats with kicks, squats with side leg lifts (add arms.)

After this, Denise says "let's vary our intensity!" and we jog forward and back, add overhead arms to high knee lifts, march (then jog) in a circle (this felt a little silly), do some running man knee lifts, quick feet (aka happy feet or football feet), side steps forward, side lunges with jump rope arms, side steps with arm circles, and skater side jumps with arm punches.

We end with a nice cool down, walking side to side with graceful arms (overhead rainbow arms, arm circles, etc.) followed by deep breaths while arms circling overhead.

I have done a lot of Leslie Sansone walking workouts, and this is definitely a step up from that (no pun intended, ha-ha!)