Walk it Off With George: Walk And Groove

This workout is part of the "Walk with George" set. It is sold as part of a two-disk add-on to the infomercial and retail sets available at Collage. I already had the retail set and did not want to shell out for the infomercial, so the two-disk add-on set seemed like a good bet for me.

A little background on me, I am a choreography klutz with two left feet, so walking-type workouts, with their simpler choreography, are a staple of my cardio routine. I have many Leslie Sansone workouts and find that I can still get high intensity workouts from them by modifying up.

I found that this George workout did not suit my needs as well as the Leslie did. I loved Petra and found her to be a wonderful instructor, but the workout was just not that intense for me. I think the extra emphasis on arm movement in Leslie's tapes really helps keep the intensity high. Walk & Groove on the other hand had no arm movements. A few of thr background exercisers halfheartedly pump their arms a bit, but Petra does not cue or comment on this (other than a few vague enjoinders to make the moves [our] own) and George never moves his arms at all.

I did appreciate having some extra moves though. In addition to the usual walking staples of marches, side steps and such this workout adds grapevines, toe taps and a few other like moves. There is also a lot of directional work: taking the moves forward, backward, to the side etc. That was really nice and I think worked the body a little differently. On the minus, these new moves were introduced using the much-maligned "take it from the top" technique whereby a sequence is taught, then a new move is added and the whole thing repeated, then a new move taught, then the whole thing repeated etc. I never minded TIFTT in the past because I am a klutz and it helped me learn the moves, but in this case where the moves were so simple (marching in place, marching in place to the front, to the side etc.) I really get now why so many Vfers hate this technique.

My overall verdict? I do like walking workouts, and I do need a break for Leslie sometimes, so in spite of the lower intensity I am not sorry I bought these. But I don't think I will buy further workouts in the series. They are just too light for me, and not as amenable to modifying up.

Instructor Comments:
I really like Petra. She is friendly, cues well and smiles a lot. She has a great personality.

Joanna

I really love this workout. It is 40 minutes long. Very simple dance moves, I don't think even someone who was choreographically challenged would have a problem with this. This is not a hard, heart-pumping exhausting cardio workout (I have plenty of those), but something to do on a light day, coming back from injury, an add on, or just because you feel like moving. I like this workout so much, I did it 8 times the first week I got it. It is very easy to modify to make it a little harder if you want (more arm movements, etc) I have used this workout on days when I just didn't feel like working out because it is so much fun with no dread factor. The music is nice, it goes well with the moves. Did I mention I really love this workout?

Instructor Comments:
Petra cues great and is easy to follow. George mainly lets Petra lead this and adds some motivational pointers.

Terri P