Title: Leslie Sansone Just Walk: Walking Off the Pounds (Anchor Bay Entertainment)
Target audience: Grandma and her friends who fondly remember the 1990s as the heyday of group aerobics classes, and anyone else who uses a word like "heyday" without blinking.
Skill level: beginner to intermediate
Format: widescreen stereo DVD with five chapters: three low-impact aerobics routines (15 minutes, 13 minutes and 18 minutes) that can be run together into one "3-mile" workout; a 14-minute floor-work session focused on back and abdominal muscles; and a 4 1/2-minute chapter of testimonials from three women who have lost a lot of weight.
The group behind workout leader Leslie Sansone is large -- 10 people -- two men and eight women of various ages, and the background dancers speak up, so it really sounds like they're having fun.
The three "miles" were taped as one workout, so Mile 2 and Mile 3 start with music already playing and people talking. Mile 1 has the warmup and Mile 3 has the cool-down. She does lower the intensity to walking in place in between the chapters.
Sansone's "walking" program is exactly like those old-fashioned aerobic dance classes, but not the confusingly dancey kind, the super-simple classes where anyone could follow along without preamble instruction. Mostly you do four steps over and over in time with mindless electronica from musclemixes.com: walking in place, side steps, step kicks and knee lifts. She seasons the mix with hamstring-curling kickbacks; marching (or jogging) forward and back; double sidesteps; toe taps; and wide-legged knee lifts.
To build intensity, she has you swing your arms about. Halfway through Mile 2, she adds "boosts" -- jogging in place for a few seconds.
In Mile 3, she introduces "the mambo" -- plant one foot, step the other forward and then back.
Typical comment: "Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk."
Any fancy amenities? The three workouts can be played without her instructions, just the music.
Can I do it barefoot? No
Gear required? floor mat for the abdominal chapter
Space required: at least 8 square feet
Distractions: Sansone has a horsey laugh.
Who is the presenter? A member of the National Fitness Hall of Fame in Minooka, Ill., Sansone began teaching aerobics in a church basement in Pennsylvania in the 1980s. Her Walk at Home program includes more than 100 fitness DVDs and four books. She has eight exercise-leader certifications, including those of the American College of Sports Medicine and the Cooper Institute.
Price: $14.98
ActiveStyle on 01/11/2016