On Sunday, I decided that I wanted to go to the gym on Monday, but I thought I was going to be super sore from my hike up to see Soda Creek Falls. My husband suggested that I take Monday off from working out. I jumped at the excuse not to work out. Turns out I wasn't sore though, but I hadn't packed my bag and didn't wake up in enough time to do that and still get to the gym, so I skipped it. My stomach was a bit wonky Monday night, so I didn't plan on going to the gym on Tuesday morning. When I woke up, my belly was doing okay, but again the bag wasn't packed and I didn't wake up in enough time to deal with it, so I popped in a Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds DVD. A couple years ago, I purchased a few of these DVDs as a stepping stone (pun intended) into getting back into working out. I only had Tae-Bo tapes at the time, and I knew I wasn't ready for those, so I tried Walk Away the Pounds. I thought that I had donated them to Goodwill a couple moves ago, but I guess I was wrong!
So the general concept is just walking in the comfort of your own home. She says that there are four basic steps that you do. They are marching in place, side stepping, kicks and knee lifts. She also has you do kickbacks, even though they are not part of the four basic steps. The DVD that I selected this morning has five different routines on it. There is a 1 Mile Get Up and Get Started (18 Min), a 2 mile With High Calorie Burn (30 Min), a 30-Minute walk which is 2 miles, a 30 min Walk & Kick routine that doesn't have the miles listed, and a 1 Mile walk that's titled Leslie Sansone Power Mile(20 min).
I did the 1 mile Get up and Get Started routine. It's pretty much the most basic work out routine you can get. There is a group of people in a big room and they are all marching in place to start. They are all wearing a similar color scheme, and they are in varying shapes and ages. They are all female except for one male. One of the females is rather fit and actually has a 6-pack. There are a couple of thin females and a couple of people who would be considered plus sized. No one would be considered obese or morbidly obese. Leslie Sansone does a little introduction, and then the work out begins.
You start off by marching in place for a little bit. You then rotate between marching in place and the other three basic moves. She then introduces kick backs. She incorporates your arms into the mix as well. Sometimes she has you raise your hands over your head and then pull them down, other times you stretch them out in front of you and pull them back, and at other times you stretch them out to your sides and pull them back.
As you progress into the walk, you'll see a mile counter on the bottom of the screen. It pops up at 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, 3/4 mile and right at the end. Leslie also points out when you've reached those points in the routine. She's very upbeat during the workout. She talks pretty much non-stop during the entire workout. I did the work out this morning, but honestly can't remember what she rattled on about so it couldn't have been too annoying. The music doesn't really add to the experience, but it's not annoying. They increase the beat of the music as you progress into the routine. This helps you move your feet faster since you move to the beat. Once you get towards the end, they slow the music down to prepare you for the cool down.
After you've gone through all of the four basic moves and stretched your arms out a bit, she has you pick up the weighted balls. I do not have the weighted balls and did not use anything as a substitute. While using the weighted balls, you do the same four basic moves that you did in the beginning and you move your arms around in the same manner. Once you've hit the mile marker, Leslie will congratulate you and then bring you through a very brief cool down that consists of some deep breaths as you stretch your arms up over your head and then bring them down a few times. You will also do a brief leg stretch.
Overall, I liked the workout. I was able to keep up with the people in the DVD, but I was breathing a lot heavier than the people in the DVD. I found myself taking water breaks, but I only did it while we were marching in place and I kept my feet moving while I was drinking. I was a bit bothered by the fact that no one in the video even looked out of breath. I will report on the rest of the workouts on this DVD as time permits.
Below is my BodyMedia screen shot for the day. The workout is the big blob of blue at the beginning. The other blue blips are from walking around at work. I have a desk job, but I have to go out to the shop pretty regularly.
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