Walk Away Your Waistline

I’m reviewing this workout after doing it once.

General workout breakdown: This walking workout that includes some “firming” work for the upper body runs just over 45 min. In approximate terms, mile 1 runs 15 mins.; mile 2 runs 15 mins.; and mile 3 runs 13 mins., finishing with about 3 min. of stretching. The first mile starts off a little slower to warm you up, and the last mile has a slightly slower song at the end to cool you down. In general, the pace is moderate to brisk.

As with all of Leslie’s walking videos, there’s no real choreography. You simply do a step until Leslie has you return to walking. In addition to walking in place, steps include side step, knee lift, little front kicks, kickbacks (hamstring curl), and tap outs, as well as a few arm variations (reach up, reach out, etc.). The toning exercises include holding the band out, shoulder press, chest press, biceps curl, triceps kickbacks, and similar moves.

Level: I’d recommend this to experienced beginner through low intermediate exercisers. Leslie has many programs that might be a bit better for true beginners, as she doesn’t spend a lot of time instructing, especially during the strengthening exercises, here. Still, those newer to exercise could ease that transition by doing it a few times without the Walk Belt to get comfortable with the moves. Solidly intermediate exercisers could make this more intense by adding some impact (e.g. doing a skater hop instead of side step), knot up their Walk Belt to add more resistance, etc. I’m normally an intermediate / advanced exerciser, but my seemingly yearly ritual now of getting sick and slipping back to a beginner / intermediate level means that Leslie’s workouts are an invaluable part of my workout collection. Even so, I personally don’t find this one as challenging as my favorite Leslies, which tend to be the more intense or advanced ones (like Walk Slim series).

Class: 4 women (Mary Kay and Jo, two of Leslie’s usual instructors, and Lucia and Kathy, two of Leslie’s students) join Leslie, who instructs live.

Music: upbeat instrumental music. You’ve probably heard some of it before, too.

Set: the Walk Slim studio set, with wooden floors and black curtains on the walls; on the walls are photos of people stretching, walking, and participating in other types of exercising as well as some photos of Leslie, her daughter, and a friend sharing a laugh.

Production: clear picture and sound. There are lots of different camera angles, most of which are helpful. There are some times when the camera doesn’t show someone’s feet during a change in moves, comes in from an oblique angle, etc., however.

A bar along the bottom of the screen lets you know how many miles you’ve covered. As per usual, Leslie determines mileage by the pace set according to the bpm (beats per minute) of the music; in other words, the average person walking at that pace would cover 3 miles.

Equipment: sneakers and Walk Belt (optional).

Space Requirements: If you can step to each side and kick in front of you, you have enough space, although you might have to stay in place for some series. If you can take a step or two forward or backward as well, you have enough space to do the workout as is.

DVD Notes: The main menu selections are full workout, mile 1, mile 2, mile 3, stretch, and credits.

Comments: This is a pleasant workout. It doesn’t bring anything wildly new and exciting to my existing Leslie collection (Walk Slim Fast Start & 3 Fast Miles, Walk Slim 4 Fast Miles, Advanced 5-Mile Walk, 3 Mile Weight Loss Walk, and two Target special compilations which include Walk & Jog and Walk & Kick) - could I be reaching my Leslie quota? I don’t think I’m saying that just because I don’t have a Walk Belt. There wasn’t as wide a variety of steps in this workout as in some of Leslie’s other ones, like Walk Slim 3 Fast Miles or Walk & Kick. I guess as someone who would love to do complex choreography more often I need a little more variety within the workout itself to keep me interested.

You know, I didn’t feel that I was missing all that much without the Walk Belt. On the one hand, I turn to Leslie for cardio and prefer to do my own strength work; on the other, the Walk Belt wasn’t used as often throughout the workout as I was expecting from the title. I suspect that those of you who are eyeing this workout in the hopes of using your booster may be disappointed to hear that.