Problems with Leslie Sansone's workouts

[susan p]

I did an every-day-with-Leslie challenge in September and walked 100 miles with that woman in 30 days. That was 4-5 miles a day, 6 days a week. I didn't have any issues at all, but let me tell ya, outside of special circumstances (like that challenge, which was inherently time-limited to 30 days), it's a bad idea to do ANYTHING every single day.

I wouldn't run every single day; I wouldn't strength train every single day; I wouldn't do Pilates every single day; I wouldn't do step every single day; I wouldn't do Zumba every single day; I wouldn't do kickboxing every single day.

Doing ANYTHING every single day with no variety is a recipe for disaster imho. Even something as low-impact as Leslie. Overuse injuries are called overuse injuries because they occur when you, well, overuse your body in a particular way!!

Leslie is certainly saf-ER than most workouts, but even during my September challenge with Leslie I did a lot of walking outside for my miles (I'd typically do 5 miles of Leslie indoors one day and a 5 mile walk outdoors the next, and keep alternating) because I KNEW I just couldn't/shouldn't do exactly the same workout for that long daily.

So, long story short (too late!) I completely agree that Leslie can be risky too, if do too much. I also completely agree that her stretches are inadequate if you are doing Leslie daily.

[renee mcfar]

Even Leslie says that you should change up your workouts. She said this today, in mile 5 of her Fat Burning Walk.

I am new to Leslie and only have a few of her workouts. I don't intend to buy more,as I plan to use them with other cardio workouts.

IMHO, the workouts I have of hers, she does not take time to warm you up or properly cool you down. The stretches leave a lot to be desired. Therefore, I add a bit of my own warm up,cool down and stretches. If I don't add the extra stretches, my legs will wake me up hurting at night too.

Everything in moderation! My goal for 2012!

[naturallove]

I have been doing a lot of Leslie lately and I agree that even with low-impact, gentle workouts like hers, it is important to make sure you listen to your body and balance things out. I started using weighted gloves with all of her workouts to 'boost' them and it aggravated my shoulders. I stopped doing that and I realized that I still could get a good workout and bigger range of motion without them!

I will also say that I deliberately balance my Leslie workouts out with workouts work opposing muscle groups. (I have never done a Leslie cooldown and the little that I've seen suggests that they aren't at all sufficient for my needs.) For example, Leslie's walks have a lot of hip flexion, so I follow up a Leslie with Classical Stretch, which has a lot of hip extension or even barre (barre has hip flexion but also plenty of hip extension when working the glutes).

[blueskies]

Wow, everyone! Thanks for all the helpful suggestions--I'm amazed at the variety of approaches everyone has taken to make Leslie's routines work for you. You've all given me a lot of food for thought.

Ironically, it may seem that I don't like Leslie, but the truth of the matter is, I like her very much--corny comments and all! The fact that I was hurting after doing a month of her routines saddened me a little, kind of in the same way I felt after having to abandon all Ellen Barrett routines due to their making my back hurt. Both Ellen and Leslie have wonderful personalities (in much different ways, of course!), ones that I enjoy working out with. I just didn't want to have to abandon Leslie, too!

Keep the suggestions coming, everyone. Another question: any good recommendations for safe hip flexor stretches?

[susan p]

Maybe you could alternate Leslie and Ellen?

Just like alcohol is an enjoyable thing in small quantities, but can actually kill you in larger quantities, maybe you could enjoy SOME Leslie and SOME Ellen to your great benefit even though you can't do TOO much of either alone! The dose defines the poison! lol.

[blueskies]

Originally Posted by susan p

Maybe you could alternate Leslie and Ellen?

Just like alcohol is an enjoyable thing in small quantities, but can actually kill you in larger quantities, maybe you could enjoy SOME Leslie and SOME Ellen to your great benefit even though you can't do TOO much of either alone! The dose defines the poison! lol.

I wish I could do Ellen workouts, Susan, but doing any one of them causes severe back pain for me. I'm not sure exactly what does it in her workouts, but I think it's mainly due to all of the forward bending/rotation-type movements, combined with the turnout. Kind of like guzzling the whole bottle of vodka in one shot.

With Leslie, I didn't really notice the pain until I completed the month-long rotation. It didn't happen right away, so I was concerned that, over time, the continued use would make things worse unless I could do something to modify them, thus the reason for this thread.

The consistency-lover in me wanted to take care of all my cardio just by doing Leslie, but the message I'm getting from the thread so far is to mix things up (no surprise there). Although it does seem that some people can do Leslie routines pretty frequently with no problems.

[susan p]

Rebecca, I LOVE Ellen but I also have issues with her. I have a lot of tension in my back/shoulders (upper trapezius) and no matter HOW hard I focus on keeping my shoulder blades pressed down and in, that tension builds up in that area and if I am not careful I can get muscle spasms that almost completely freeze me up, very very painful. I have a great chiropracter but I don't really want him to be my best friend, ya know? So I get my Ellen fix doing her Flat Belly Walking workouts, and I can do her Crunch Super Slimdown one too.

[eaocon]

I did a lot of Leslie in 2009, and I did have a problem with my hip flexors.

At one point I had such pain in my right hip flexor I actually thought I had appendicitis!

I had to back off on doing her workouts all the time...now I don't do them at all, but I still have them, and occasionally do one of them.

[Artist of Eyes]

Originally Posted by susan p

Maybe you could alternate Leslie and Ellen?

Just like alcohol is an enjoyable thing in small quantities, but can actually kill you in larger quantities, maybe you could enjoy SOME Leslie and SOME Ellen to your great benefit even though you can't do TOO much of either alone! The dose defines the poison! lol.

Exactly. Everyday or at the amount that the workouts were used are just too much! That's IMO were the biggest issue lies.

[blueskies]

Originally Posted by eaocon

I did a lot of Leslie in 2009, and I did have a problem with my hip flexors.

At one point I had such pain in my right hip flexor I actually thought I had appendicitis!

I had to back off on doing her workouts all the time...now I don't do them at all, but I still have them, and occasionally do one of them.

You know, now that you mention it, it's amazing more people don't have hip flexor problems from doing her workouts. In just one of her routines, think of the tremendous amount of marching, front kicks, and knee ups that occur. Whereas actual walking is a much more natural movement, with legs alternately bending, straightening, moving forward, bending, and stretching back so you're not constantly overworking the quads and hip flexors, Leslie's workouts focus on many movements that, let's face it, don't occur naturally during the course of most people's days. It's not a surprise, then, that doing even just one of her workouts can cause overuse problems in body parts that weren't meant to be overworked.

I maintain that the design of her workouts can cause biomechanical issues due to the extreme repetitive nature of the movements, made worse (for some) by the frequency of performing her routines.

Seriously giving thought to whittling my Leslie collection down, if not getting rid of it altogether.