Title: Leslie Sansone's Just Walk series: Mix & Match Walk Blasters, 5 Mega Miles, Walk to the Hits (all are Anchor Bay Entertainment releases since August) and Walk Off Fat Fast (to be released Dec. 2)
Format: widescreen, stereo DVD
So these are not audio discs to strap on for walking down the trail? No. This is like Grandma's tried and true indoor aerobics classes from the 1980s and '90s.
The music is beats-per-minute-ized electronica -- stereotypical gym-DJ remix. But Leslie Sansone's such a seasoned exercise leader that her cues are easy to understand and follow, and she creates an unintimidating, cheerful atmosphere.
Is it walking in place or what? Sansone long ago rechristened group dance aerobics "walking," and so all these discs hold blocky dance routines -- the simple choreography of backup singers or a high school pep squad in Iowa. It's not Bollywood, not Zumba, not even Jazzercise.
• The 10 10-minute video clips on the Walk Blasters disc are meant to be combined into build-your-own low-impact workouts.
m 5 Mega Miles comes with a stretch resistance band for use with two of the five routines. The workout segments can be played as one 93-minute workout or individually.
Expect some jogging and some wider side-to-side stepping that will require more than the usual 6-foot square of clear floor in the living room. The band stretching is not as easy as she makes it look.
"Oh, I love that word 'mega,'" she says. "It's big."
• On Walk to the Hits: Radio Remixes, the relentlessly thumpy mystery music is especially loud. Along with the usual simple stepping and kicking, Sansone leads brief bouts of high-impact jogging and bouncing.
And although the routines are simple, she does include grapevines, which dance-aphobics dread.
• Walk Off Fat Fast will "drop" in stores Dec. 2. It includes 20-, 30- and 40-minute low-impact aerobics routines. The footwork progresses from the shortest workout to the longest, from super-duper easy to slightly more complicated and demanding; but none of these moves qualify as dancey.
Expect basic low-impact basicness: marching in place or forward and back, stepping side to side, big or little kicks, knee lifts.
Especially pleasant: Sansone's backup exercisers aren't hideous, but for the most part they aren't hotties; and never are they underdressed or in need of sturdier undergarments.
On Walk Off Fat Fast, her little crowd includes a well-preserved 80-year-old (seriously, she looks 60). And 5 Mega Miles has a woman who has lost 140 pounds.
Potentially annoying: Sansone never stops talking, and every so often she cackles.
Amenities: All the discs have a "play with music only" option -- but using that will quickly teach you to appreciate how Sansone's chatter hides the musical monotony. The soundtrack's all stuff from cardiomixes.com.
Can I do it barefoot? No.
If I own one of her 29 earlier workouts is there any reason to buy the newer ones? Even if you love her style, boredom eventually will make putting that disc in the machine feel like a punishment. Having several releases lets you sweat while watching people wearing different colors.
And some of the discs are low-impact workouts, some higher; it makes sense to read the jacket flaps carefully.
Developer's credentials: Sansone's a longtime fitness star who has served on the leadership council of IDEA (International Dance Exercise Association), an international education group that pioneered certification when Granny was a girl and aerobics was trendy. She holds eight exercise-leader certifications, including those of the American Council of Sports Medicine and the Cooper Institute.
She was inducted this year into the 10-year-old National Fitness Hall of Fame in Minooka, Ill.
Fitness Hall of Fame? It's an industry accolade for the nation's most entrepreneurial instructors and trainers who have worked in the biz for 25 or more years and who evince "genuine concern for the welfare of others" and "the personal practice of a 'healthy lifestyle.'"
Starting next year, these honorees also must be at least 55 years old, which will make induction into the hall a de facto admission of aging.
Cost: $14.98
ActiveStyle on 11/24/2014