Walk Strong

This is from her original WATP series and Leslie comes on in the beginning and says she has just turned 40. It is an interval workout -- about 3 minutes of her "walking" and then 3 minutes of weights. There are 4 background women with Leslie - one doesn't use weights, one uses 3lbs, one uses 2lb walk-away weights (balls) and one is wearing weighted gloves. Leslie uses 5lb dumbbells for the weight intervals. It starts out with a warmup "walk" and she introduces her basic 4 steps. Then the pace of the walking intervals is brisk -- she often adds arm movements, and gets your heartrate up. The weight intervals are surprisingly good! I say "surprisingly" because I expected beginner-type moves, and not a lot of reps. She actually does compound moves and does enough reps whereas if you use heavy enough weights, you can get a solid intermediate workout. An example of the compound moves are squats with side delt lifts, plies with upright rows, & squats with bicep curls. She does both sides evenly (for those of you who want to be symetrical!) For upper body, she works biceps, triceps, side & front delts, and back (she skips chest and abs), and does the most work on biceps and shoulders -- but triceps are done for a few sets (kickbacks and french presses.)

The workout clocks in at 30 minutes and Leslie tells us that it it the equivalent of a 2 mile walk.

I used 5lb weights throughout (because it is 100 degrees today and I wanted to go easy!) but next time I will raise the weights. The upper body work is done at a good pace -- not too slow but slow enough to use heavier weights than 5lbs.

The music was typical Leslie - although the walkinig music had some vocals in it. All in all, I liked this a lot as an interval workout which can be made harder or easier -- the workout goes pretty quickly, and for me, there is no dread factor. The workout does not seem at all dated, and is a nice addition to a Leslie collection.

This tape is a welcome addition to Leslie’s Walk Away the Pounds series. It’s an abbreviated circuit workout: 3-minute walking sections are interspersed with 3-minute strength training sections for about 30 minutes.

Leslie puts her class to good use showing modifications: she herself uses 5-pound hand weights, another exerciser uses Leslie’s weighted balls, another uses weighted gloves etc. I thought the strength work would be too easy, but Leslie uses compound moves in every section to work the body surprisingly thoroughly in the short amount of time she has. There are lots of squats, a few lunges and dips, and a healthy selection of upper body moves. The walking is the standard Leslie fare, but at only three minutes a go, it flies by.

The fast-paced compound moves would be very challenging to a beginner, and the instruction is minimal. But the relatively low-rep, low-boredom circuit mix is great fun, and Leslie is very relaxed and enthusiastic. More advanced exercisers would probably best enjoy this tape as a light circuit/endurance day, perhaps with a yoga tape add-on. I really enjoyed this tape and consider it a worthwhile addition to my collection.