Walk And Jog
Leslie SansoneYear Released: 2001
Categories: Walking Aerobics
I'm a regular exerciser, and I've always viewed Leslie Sansone as being more for beginners. I do have one of her other videos, WATP for Abs, 3 Miles, that I like to use when I want a longer, lower intensity, "no-brainer" workout, but I wasn't sure if Leslie could produce a shorter routine that would still provide the intensity I'd want. After reading so many great reviews of Walk and Jog, I decided to take a chance on it, and I'm so glad that I did!
Walk and Jog is basically an interval workout in which Leslie alternates segments of her traditional walking moves with gentle jogging. The workout begins with about a 6-minute warm-up which quickly got my heart rate into my target zone and kept it there. Leslie then introduces the intervals, first by upping the pace of the walk for 3 minutes, then by transitioning to 2 minutes of jogging. Again, it is a very light, fairly low-impact jog that you can easily tailor to your desired intensity level. During the jogging intervals, Leslie incorportates other moves such as front kicks, corner kicks, and leg swings (a pendulum move). There are a lot of kicks and knee lifts throughout the walking segments as well, which I really liked, as I these provide some extra core work. Also, Leslie increasingly adds arm movements to up the intensity. There are a total of 4 intervals, and then the workout ends with a 4-minute aerobic cool-down, bringing the total time in at just under 32 minutes.
I found the intensity level of this workout to be exactly what I was looking for, as I stayed in my target heart rate zone virtually the entire time, including the warm-up and cool-down. The workout could be easily modified to suit your own personal intensity level--one of Leslie's four background exercisers keeps it low impact the entire time, but you could also add additional arm movements or even light weights if you were looking to up the intensity. Leslie says that the workout is equivalent of 2.5 miles, and the time really does fly by--I couldn't believe it when she said we were halfway through. Finally, not only was this workout effective, but it was fun too! I especially enjoyed the jogging variations, and since I don't like high-impact work, I loved that these segments were kept pretty soft and low (yet still intense!). I think this video would be suitable for a wide range of exercisers, and I highly recommend it.
Instructor Comments:
Leslie tends to be a bit too chatty for my liking, but she comes across as so genuine that it's hard to really fault her for it. She gives plenty of good form pointers here, and she cues well--I like how she visually points and says "this side" rather than cueing left or right.