Walk Slim: 4 Fast Miles is a walking cardio workout from trainer Leslie Sansone, and is part of her “Walk Slim” series. When I first started working out in 2012, I mostly did The Firm. However, I had a few of Leslie’s DVDs that I did on my off days (Walk Away The Pounds). When I became more fit, I got rid of them because they were too easy for me and felt like a waste of my time. But for some odd reason, I recently picked up this DVD along with a few other Leslies at Goodwill. While I still love my more intense workouts, I’m wanting to add some lower intensity workouts to give my body a break. Mostly with regards to cardio. I love my intense strength training workouts, but can only take higher intensity cardio in small doses. So I’m on the lookout for less intense cardio workouts that leave me energized rather than spent on the floor. Plus, while I love step and hi-lo workouts with complex choreography, I don’t always have the mental acuity sometimes. So more basic workouts like these fit the bill.
In her intro, Leslie introduces her “Walk Slim” series. She gives her more advanced walkers a 10-day challenge where you do this DVD for 10 days in a row (no thanks, I need my variety). For those new to exercise, she recommends starting with the “Fast Start” DVD then progressing to the 3 Fast Miles (gradually adding a mile at a time) before tackling the 4 Fast Miles 10-day challenge. With this DVD, you can also choose one of the four miles. It won’t let you program your own walk, but you can easily chapter back to the menu and choose another mile if you’d like.
If you’re new to Leslie’s workouts, they feature “walking aerobics.” All this means is that they are variations of walking steps. Leslie has four basic steps in each of her workouts: marching in place (that she cues as “walking”), step touches (cued as “side steps”), knee lifts, and kicks–with variations of each of these (directional changes, double side steps vs single, double knee lifts, etc.). Another basic move that she does a lot in her workouts is hamstring curls (that she cues as “kickbacks”). So really there are five basic steps. Leslie also incoporates other moves, too. (tap-outs/lunges, mambos, grapevines, etc.) Generally you will do a move for a while (sometimes adding variation), go back to walking in place, another move, back to walking, and so on.
This was a very enjoyable cardio walk (with a few caveats that I will mention later). It was also more intense than the other Leslie walks I remember doing years ago. First off, the pace is faster. Next, the workout features 25 minutes of intervals. You alternate three minutes of fast walking aerobics with two minutes of what Leslie calls “boosted walking.” The latter is basically jogging alternated with higher impact variations of Leslie’s basic moves–side steps become leg swings/pendulums; kicks and knee lifts are done with impact. If you choose not to do higher impact, there are two cast members on screen right who demonstrate low impact during the “boosted walking” intervals. After the intervals, you do more fast walking before going into a slower cool down section and ending with a short (and inadequate IMHO) stretch. Periodically a countdown clock appears at the bottom of the screen, and sometimes on-screen graphics appear to let you know when you have reached a mile goal. According to my Fitbit, I was in my cardio zone for just over 1/2 of the workout and burned just over 450 calories. Not bad!
That brings me to the caveats. First off, while Leslie uses all of her basic moves, kickbacks don’t appear until you are over halfway through the routine. She even comments that she missed doing them. I missed them because they give my quads and hip flexors a welcome break from the kicks and knee lifts. Also, as usual with most of Leslie’s workouts, arm movements are minimal. Sometimes she does her “reach up/pull down”, or “reach out to the sides/pull in” arm moves while walking in place. The female background exerciser in the back row was adding more arm movements, as did I. That (along with putting more energy into the steps) also helped to increase the intensity. I could also see wearing weighted gloves in the future. Next, the setting is bare bones. It looks like a high school auditorium, particularly with the black curtains all around the cast. Speaking of the cast, they also appear crowded together on the large studio floor. They should’ve been spaced out more. While the music was enjoyable (instrumental except for remakes of “New Attitude” and “I Feel Good”), the interval section alternates the same two songs. I recognized the boosted walking song from the warm-up Cathe’s Rhythmic Step, and the slower song from another Cathe workout. It gets a little repetitive. Also, the stretch is inadquate–only focusing on the calves and hamstrings. I added my own stretching afterwards. You will especially need to add hip flexor and quad stretches after the knee lifts and kicks.
I like Leslie. She is very likeable and has an upbeat, friendly demeanor. However, she is very chatty (which I don’t mind at times and do mind at others) and has a cackling laugh that sometimes gets on my nerves. She also picks on Jimmy, one of the cast members, a lot. But I still like her. During the cool down section Leslie brings up one of her cast members–her daughter and they share a moment together. It was a sweet touch. Leslie’s niece is also one of the cast members. When “I Feel Good” pops up, Leslie pays tribute to James Brown and an off-screen crew members hands her a James Brown doll. This only lasts about a minute or so.
Walk Slim: 4 Fast Miles is approximately 47 minutes and requires no equipment.
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