Leslie Sansone
This is the longest of Leslie's new Express walks, the 4 mile super challenge. The set has brick walls, big windows, and a bare floor. There is quite a host of background exercisers, all in black, all with big smiles, all with slightly different form. The workout starts out slowly with the warmup, gets more brisk for mile one, VERY brisk for miles two and three, and slows down again for mile four. The cooldown is part of mile 4 as opposed to coming AFTER mile four. I would say that this workout is a little more vigorous than typical Leslie, but still, of course, quite doable. I am an intermediate exerciser and stayed in the low-to-middle range of my THR, worked up a nice little sweat, and felt energized when I was done. There isn't too much to say about a Leslie workout. She uses her usual four steps, walking in place, knee lifts, side steps, kicks, and adds in hamstring curls, double side steps, and even a grapevine during the cooldown! Unweighted upper body movements add intensity at times throughout the workout. The music is better than generic but not great. It definitely has a good beat and is energizing. Leslie is her usual perky, talky, encouraging, enthusiastic, but always completely sincere self. She talks about your blood circulating, your joints lubricating, oxygen flowing, body balancing, muscles strengthening, sweat cooling you, how well you'll sleep, how SMART you are, and basically convinces you that doing this walk means that you are not only healthy as a horse but a completely wonderful human being!
The choreography is simple, the intensity is adaptable but generally intermediate, the patter is health-focused and encouraging, what's not to like? The workout is 57 minutes long and well worth the time.
Instructor comments:
Leslie is very chatty and encouraging. I like that. But if you don't, don't say I didn't warn you! Leslie's chattiness is not irritating, in my opinion, because she is just being LESLIE. It's definitely her real personality, not a put-on.
susan p
6-6-03
Background: I currently do intermediate-level workouts (by Collage standards) for cardio. I’m recovering from a bad hip injury, so I’m trying to do mostly low impact cardio with basic-to-moderate choreography.
I wasn't sure what I'd think of a 4-mile walk with Leslie. For longer cardio workouts, I generally prefer more complex choreography or Firm-style workouts (with a new routine or activity every few minutes). I pick up choreography easily, but sometimes I don't want to think! On those days, I usually choose Firm cardios or shorter Leslie workouts (2 miles). Leslie's workouts have really helped me during recovery from a bad hip injury, but I catch myself watching the clock during these workouts because the choreography is very basic and repetitive.
Surprisingly, this 4-mile workout didn't seem so long. :) The choreography is still basic, but there is more variety than in the 1-3 mile Express workouts. There are double side steps, double ham curls, moving forward and back, and other simple variations on her usual steps. There are even grapevines at the end of mile 4! There are no pivots or turns. She doesn't use the "stretchie" in this workout.
The walking pace picks up sometime during mile 1. Miles 2 and 3 are very brisk. The pace gradually slows down during mile 4. I'd say that this is an intermediate-level workout (by Collage standards). I think that Leslie saved the best music in the Express series for the 4-mile walk. The music is much better than the music in the other Leslie workout series that I have. I recognized most of the music from Cathe and/or CIA workouts.
I haven’t tried to do this workout on a rebounder, but I think that most of it would be easy to adapt to the rebounder. Many of the steps are done in one spot, so you would only have to modify when Leslie starts moving around the room. I’ve done some of Leslie’s shorter workouts on the rebounder (1 and 2 mile walks from the original WAP set and WAP Express), and I found them very easy to adapt.
Leslie does talk constantly, which will annoy some people. Most of the chatter is about being healthy for life, or is friendly encouragement. There isn't too much talk that is specifically about weight loss, which is good news to people who find weight loss talk annoying. Leslie doesn’t talk down to her audience either, which is nice. :)
Now for a few things I didn't like about this workout:
Leslie does a tap-switch several times during the workout, for no apparent reason. No wonder half of the class is on the wrong foot at any given time! This isn't a huge problem during a Leslie workout, but it is annoying. Sometimes there is a short gap between songs, which is also annoying and makes it harder to catch the beat of the new track and start on the correct foot. A few times, you will be doing one move for a long time (like knee-ups) because Leslie will be talking about something and won't want to stop to cue a new move!
This workout (and every other workout in the WAP Express series) begins with a very annoying "walk, power walk" song. Luckily, the more I hear it, the easier it is to ignore. I thought it would drive me nuts the first time I heard it! The stretching segment is inadequate because there are no stretches for the quadriceps and hip flexors. Be sure to add these stretches after the workout!
DVD features:
Unfortunately, the DVD version of this workout isn’t chaptered! I wish they had put a chapter at each mile marker. If you just want to do part of the workout, you will have to FF or “search by time” (if your DVD player has this function). Here are some convenient time points:
end of warm-up: 5:40
1-mile marker: 16:02
2-mile marker: 28:26
3-mile marker: 42:32
beginning of cooldown: 49:40
4-mile marker: 54:46
Bottom Line: If you are looking for a long, low-impact aerobic workout with very basic choreography and an encouraging, chatty instructor, this would be a good choice.
Instructor comments:
See the review for instructor comments.
Colleen (VF username: Colleen)
8 Sep 2003
Leslie Sansone Express 4 Mile Super Challenge
Basics:
This walking workout is 57 minutes in
length. Intensity-wise, it depends on
what you put into it. I went all-out and
got a moderate-to-moderate/high
intensity workout. There are no props
used in this workout, even though it is
part of a DVD set that includes the
'stretchie' band. The set is very large,
clean, and well-lit. The flooring is hard
and shiny, and the walls are brick. The
production value. on the whole, is very
high. All of Leslie's crew are dressed in
similar black outfits.
Details:
The moves you will do are straight
walking in place, side-to-side steps,
knee-ups, front kicks, hamstring curls,
and some double side-to-side steps,
some walk-up and walk-backs. all the
moves, at one time or another, and
throughout the body of the workout,
incorporate long lever arm
movements. this helps a lot with the
intensity, as you can really extend your
arms while working the lower body
movements, and get a good workout.
Leslie's banter is fine; she is chatty as
usual. I don't think her banter here is
as engaging as it can be in some of
her other workouts, but she's fine here-
typical Leslie. the music is the same
music Cathe used for Cardio Kicks. I
love this soundtrack, and am very
pleased that Leslie used it here.
Modifications:
This is a very good workout for an int/
adv exerciser who wants a low-impact,
full-body movement workout, with no-
brainer choreography, that is gentle on
the body, but vigorous. This would be
a great workout to modify with
weighted gloves or by holding 1-2 lb
hand weights to up the intensity. The
moves, both upper and lower body,
are simple enough that weight could
easily and comfortably be added for
most of the workout.
Kathy Weller
5/12/04
This is the longest Leslie workout I have. I was at first wary of getting it because I already have the 1&2 mile express and worried this would feel exactly the same. It does feel similar (as all Leslie workouts do, she seldom varies the program) but it turned out to be a nice addition to my collection.
The workout features the same set as the other Express workouts (and the same annoying faux vocal warm-up music) but Leslie and the usual background class have different clothes. They also get into the faster part of the workout impressively quickly, right after the warm-up. This was a nice change from the other Leslies I have, where it does not really get interesting until the half-mile mark. Unlike the other Express workouts, we don’t use any stretchie bands or toys in this, and the little pop-up progress meter only appears every mile instead of every half-mile.
Many Vfers have often complained that Leslie talks too much. I never really noticed that until this workout. Perhaps the longer length just made me more aware of it. But for me it was not a deal-breaker. I really like Leslie’s workouts and am happy to have another one for variety.
Joanna
09/27/04
Leslie leads a group of exercisers in a large, loft-like set. She goes through her usual four or five moves. For those that don’t like a lot of chatter, her constant stream of conversation may be too much. I like how she introduces people she has apparently known for a long time. Some also may find her too bubbly.
This workout would not be intense enough for me if I didn’t add some weights in my hands, at least, part of the time. With it running an hour, it is a nice long cardio session.
Instructor comments:
She is bubbly, warm and supportive. She also talks A LOT.
Laura S.
September 29, 2004
