3 Mile Slim & Sleek Walk

Leslie Sansone
Year Released: 2009

Categories: Walking Aerobics


I’m reviewing this workout after doing the walking routine once and previewing the Pilates portion.

Sandra has done such a great job describing this workout, and I agree with her impressions of this workout. I’ll just add a few extra tidbits and thoughts, but I don’t have much substantive to add because she’s pretty much said all I can think of to say about this workout.

Just as an FYI, the total running time of the walking portion is about 43.5 min. Mile 1 is 14:22, Mile 2 is 13:11, and Mile 3 is 13:47, with the stretch running about 2 min.
There’s no separate warm-up, but the first about 5 min. of Mile 1 starts off slower, with the pace picking up until you’re really going at the start of Mile 2. The first half of Mile 2 was my favorite, with quick move changes (and few returns to walking in between) plus lots of intense moves. Mile 3 tapers off, with the last 3 or so min. very slow as a cool-down. Leslie also stops in Mile 3 for the squat – leg press back series and standing leg circles.
Leslie plows through the stretch, making it seem like she really did almost forget it, and it’s the same old focus on the back of the leg. When, oh when, will she remember the front (quads and hip flexors)? Or the hips and inner thighs?

Leslie’s 5 Pilates exercises are bridge, the hundred, single leg stretch – single straight leg stretch (aka scissors), criss cross, and swimming. Good for her for including extension to balance out the flexion, something some Pilates instructors forget to do! I won’t use this segment since I have so many other Pilates videos, but this is a solid introduction to a few of the key Pilates matwork exercises and should work well for those curious about getting more into Pilates. Leslie won’t overwhelm you with too much information – there’s time enough to learn all of the picky little details later. ;-)

I’d recommend this to experienced beginners through intermediates. Intermediates through int./adv. can boost the intensity by exaggerating the moves, adding impact / switching over to jogging sooner and staying longer, using boosters like hand weights (1-3 lbs. in each hand), and so on. I consider myself an int. / adv. in cardio; today I just added some oomph to my moves but didn’t use any boosters, and according to my heart rate monitor I was in the low range of where I want to be during my workout (you know, the mythical “fat burning zone”). The second mile had me in my moderate to almost moderately high range, though; it was the first 1/3 of Mile 1 and the last 2/3 of Mile 3 that shot down my overall average.

Some DVD notes: There’s a music only (aka “Leslie off”) option. There’s no way to get to the stretch from the main menu (pretty typical of Leslie’s offerings, but since I prefer to do my own more thorough lower body stretch I’m OK with this). And the DVD begins with a relatively short promo for Leslie’s Walk Leader program, which I’ve been able to skip by hitting “menu” right away.
The production values on this are good. I was able to hear Leslie, who’s just a hair louder than the music, and I didn’t find any of the camera angles distracting, although the workout starts with a tight shot on Leslie from the waist up and stays there for longer than I’d expect – fortunately it’s just walking and thus not difficult to figure out what she’s doing.

I have to agree with Sandra that from now on it’s going to take something very special to tempt me to expand my existing Leslie collection. OK, I admit it: the Pilates tagline suckered me in on this one. And it does feel different in parts, especially since I don’t have a lot of her older workouts - plus how many Leslie videos end with a Nietzsche quotation? - but part of the reason it feels different is that her overwhelmingly prolific output, especially in the past few years, has us all attuned to subtle differences that the average person wouldn’t understand (“This one has jogging into hip rocks,” “This one doesn’t use ‘Everybody,’” “She talks about posture more in this one”). I also think it’s time for her to slow down and focus on making some truly distinctive videos. Believe us, Leslie: we won’t forget you or get that bored with your existing oeuvre if you don’t put something out for 6-12 months. I’m not sure what’s left for her to do: she’s combined walking with kickboxing in Walk & Kick, she has a Yoga Walk, Punch Up Your Walk has some boxing moves, and now there’s this Pilates walk. Plus she has her walks using a band for resistance training and a step workout in the back reaches of her vault. Is a ballet / barre walk next? How about Latin dance or belly dance? Or maybe she’ll start cycling through sports: soccer walk, where you pretend to kick the soccer ball, and basketball walk, where you imagine shooting, and baseball walk, where you swing an imaginary bat, which could end up looking a lot like tennis walk...

Oh, and I do like this one. It may not be my new favorite or my most intense Leslie or even all that relevant to Pilates, but it’s a good one for some variety. I may not stick around for all of Mile 3 all of the time, though.

Instructor Comments:
I agree that Leslie is calm here – well, until she starts running around forcing apples on her crew after the stretch. And having the Pilates theme does keep her focused, with few “Say what?” moments and only one or two “walk, walk, walk, walk, walk.” But of course she’s still the same upbeat, chatty, encouraging Leslie. I like that she focuses on being strong here; I don’t mind her movement burns calories talk, but there’s not as much here. She actually cues pretty well, almost always remembering to give a heads up on a move change that’s not too far in advance. One thing that I did notice is there were a lot of tap switches to start on a particular foot; she usually does this once or twice a workout, but in this workout she must have done it about a dozen times. It just seemed odd since she always mentions that it doesn’t matter what foot you’re on as long as you’re moving.

KathAL79

12/18/2009