This is a “walking” style cardio workout with five miles, named as follows: Classic Walk, Sculpt Your Arms, Slim Your Legs, Trim Your Tummy, and Speed Walk. Despite some of the mile names, this is not a circuit-style workout. You are on your feet and moving at an aerobic pace throughout.

On the DVD menu, you can choose from Warm-Up (about 5 minutes, during which Leslie introduces her basic steps), each mile individually, and a Cool-Down (which includes a comprehensive stretch). Choosing from the individual options returns you to the menu afterward completion, but if you hit “next“ on your remote it will move you directly to the next menu option. There is also a Full Workout option, in which all of the individual elements flow together, but are chaptered so you can use the “skip” buttons to move quickly to the mile (or miles) you want.

In her intro it is apparent Leslie designed this DVD mainly for those exercisers who like to do a daily mile with her. However, with a little button-pushing it is pretty simple to string together several miles for a longer cardio workout.

Leslie is by herself in this workout, in her studio. I own a lot of Leslies, and I prefer the ones where she works out with a group -- to me they are just more fun. On the other hand, Leslie is noticeably calmer here, so those who found her too hyper in her most recent videos might prefer her here. The atmosphere is also more intimate, almost cozy -- kind of like you happened to drop by her studio after hours and there is Leslie alone, designing some new routines. Having her by herself also let me slip easily into my "Leslie zone" where I just follow her cues but otherwise can let my mind drift.

Hey -- this one has new music! Hooray! Not totally new, but probably 90% new. The music volume was okay, although I wouldn't mind having it cranked up just a bit more.

Except for the last mile, I found the pace decent, but not super-intense (for example, nothing like the Mary Kay mile in Weight Loss Walk). While Leslie keeps mainly to her four basic steps (marching, side steps, knee-ups and kicks), she also used other steps frequently, such as kickbacks (hamstring curls), tap-outs, hand to opposite knee, and others. For the toning miles Leslie emphasizes her moves that work that particular area of the body, but she doesn’t restrict certain moves to only one particular mile -- for example, I saw double knee touches appearing in both the arms and the abs miles.

Leslie is casual about cueing move changes, and this DVD is no exception. She cues on the move, rather than before, more often than not. But since there is no choreography per se, I’ve never found this an issue.

The first "classic" mile features her four basic steps. To me the pace is not exactly wussy, but not overly-challenging either.

The second mile emphasizes upper body. Leslie doesn't use weights or other resistance tools as she does in many of her other workouts, though. I slipped on 1 lb. hand weights when I tried this out, and was glad I didn't use my heavier weights as Leslie sometimes used faster arm movements than she usually does when walking with weights. I thought the pace was good.

In Mile 3 Leslie does some fun (and new) variations on her side steps. She also does a brief set of side-to-side squats, and two short sets of stationary lunges. If you don't care for these moves, you can either keep them shallow, or just walk or substitute another Leslie move.

During Mile 4 Leslie reminds you to incorporate a standing crunch when you do kicks or knee-ups (she's done that in other recent videos). She also does quite a few set of hand touches to the opposite knee.

Mile 5 is the "speed" walk and of course it was my favorite! The pace is quite brisk, with one optional “boosted walking” (jogging) segment towards the end. Hopefully this is a preview of what her next 5-mile workout will be like.

Overall, although this one isn't the most fun or most challenging Leslie out there (IMHO), I think it was a good purchase given the reasonable price and the variety of options it presents.

Bottom line -- I'm glad I got this one! I can see myself using the individual miles as extended warm-ups for toning or weights, and stringing together 2-3 miles as I did today for a cardio workout.

Instructor Comments:
A much calmer Leslie here.

JustSandra