Problems with Leslie Sansone's workouts

[blueskies]

With all the Leslie threads lately, I thought now would be a perfect time to bring up some problems I've had with her workouts.

Last year, I did a dedicated Leslie Sansone rotation for an entire month. I really just wanted to see what results I could get, both visible and otherwise. I did 4-5 of her workouts per week from her "advanced" collection--all the 4- and 5-milers she had available at the time. No change in diet.

At the end of the month, I had no visible physique changes. This didn't surprise me in the least, but I was curious to see if there would be any difference from when I started.

The big thing, however, that I did experience was a major increase in bodily aches and pains--namely my lower back, knees and hip flexors. I found this really strange in an exercise program that people have claimed to use when their back and knees couldn't take other more intense programs. I started thinking that maybe it was just me until I came across this review (scroll down to the review from JL) over at Amazon. I was especially interested in the orthopedic surgeon and physical therapists's take on the squatting side steps. I realized that maybe some of the motions Leslie uses might not be so biomechanically sound, especially in the manner she designed in the workouts where they are repeated over and over and over again. Her basic 4-5 steps sound so refreshingly simple and inocuous, but in reality, aren't you really asking for major overuse injuries by performing these movements all the time?

I'm curious to hear if anyone else has/had similar problems with Leslie, or just has a general dislike of her routines.

[kas97]

I LOVE Leslie's workouts, but the side steps also bother my knees. The 1, 2 and 3 mile workouts are fine for me, but to this day I can't do 3 mile Leslie walks on consecutive days. The longer workouts are killer on my legs and in fact, I had the flare up when her first 5 Mile Advanced workout came out, and haven't done it since (5 or 6 years?), nor have I ever done her other 5 mile workouts all the way through in one sitting. I don't know if it matters, but I am also overweight.

[Donna D]

One move that has always bothered me with Leslie's workouts is when doing the tap outs in a squatted position - I refuse to do them - they bother my knees. If on any given day my knees are achy, I decrease the range of motion with some of the moves.

[Lorelai]

I'm pretty new to Leslie and her workouts, but I had this experience yesterday. My left knee, particularly, felt a little bothered. For reference, I'm 23, so it's hard to blame it on anything other than the workout! Anyway, I think for me it's when I get tired, and subsequently, sloppy, plus trying to keep up when she's doing fast double side steps. Actually, I just figured I was wearing the wrong shoes (I do need to get a proper pair of walking shoes), plus getting tired and sloppier in the movements. For me, staying with singles a lot of the time helps. But that's just me!

ETA: Also, she does this combination that she uses the side step to transition into, where you do a knee lift (but more angled in) from that wider stance. I'm not explaining that well, but my knees really didn't appreciate that one! It's in 5 Day Slim Down, forget which mile, but it's one, two, or three...

[Eibhinn]

When I do a lot of Leslie Sansone workouts, I typically experience an improvement in my flexibility, and don't notice any aches and pains...... BUT - I modify. I don't care if it increases muscle engagement - I don't squat during side steps because it doesn't feel good/right to me. I also don't squat during tap outs because my knees feel twingey if I do. I also don't do the rapid fire back and forth lunges because they hurt my knees - I just extend my legs to the side, keeping my torso facing forward, and add bicep curl arm movements to increase the intensity. Although I can do the jogging/boosted walking, I find the boosted kicks uncomfortable, so I just switch to low impact for that.

For a little while, I was doing Leslie for all my cardio. I think you're right that it's not good to do exactly the same thing over and over and over again due to the potential of overuse injuries, though, so I've tried to add more variety to my cardio routines again. Or at least more variety to my Leslies.

[Artist of Eyes]

My Physical Therapists that have been aware of fitness DVDs recommend her workouts. I've even done the side steps with bands as apart of hip and lower back PT which I was involved with for almost 18 months. Some people's mechanics might put them at an increased risk for pain, but I imagine it's not the norm. It's also quite possible for two other things to be happening:

A) Your form is off or poor. Remember there are many muscles being used here. Sloppy movements, poor footing, or weak muscles in general can cause this.

B) You're doing too much too soon aka Overtraining. Too much of anything, even good, is bad. It may not be Leslie's workouts at all, just that your body was not ready for this much activity (4-5 miles) 5 days per week. it could have been overkill and your body mutinied.

Some people's bodies will just respond differently to different things. But it's also wise to keep in mind that durantion and quanity could have also played a huge role in this as well making it not so much an issue with her workouts persay, but the way in which one used them. The possibilities here are many.

[blueskies]

I'm glad to read that I'm not the only one bothered by the side step moves in the squatting position, and now thanks to your replies have some useful examples for modification. I really like the suggestion to add in some upper body strength training moves whenever you modify or decrease muscle engagement in the lower body.

Typically at the end of Leslie's routines, I find most of the time she really neglects stretching out the front of the leg--an area that gets worked pretty hard during her workouts. I wish she would focus more on stretching the quads and hip flexors than doing the bend-over stretches for the hamstrings.

[txfitmom]

I actually did have problems doing Leslie's workouts a few months ago. At first I was not interested in trying Leslie workouts, but then I kept hearing good things about them so I traded for a few of them. At that time I did a 1 month walking challenge with Leslie workouts and I was doing approximately 2-4 miles of Leslie walks per day 5-6 days per week. I usually did her 30 minute walks, but several times I was doing the longer 45 minute walks.

At first, I was really enjoying the walks and proud of myself for keeping to a workout, even if it was just walking. I was curious to see if I would lose weight as well, but guess what, nothing, absolutely nothing, no inches, weight, or anything. In fact, I would almost think that I got bigger especially in my lower body. My pants were actually fitting tighter at that time.

I also had another major problem from doing the Leslie walking workouts, my legs ached terribly bad at night and I started having mysterious bruises showing up on my calves. I honestly thought there was something medically wrong with me, but I went to the doctor and they could not find any reason that I would have bruises from a medical standpoint. I seriously think that the longer walking workouts I was doing with all of the repetitive movements of marching, kicking, knee lifts, etc was traumatizing my legs somehow. I have never had this happen with any other walking workout or any other workout. I did do a little research on the Internet and found some people complained of bruising on the legs from excessive running, elliptical, etc, so it is possible that it could have been caused from the Leslie workouts.

Anyway, at this time, I will not be going back to Leslie workouts, maybe I will try them again someday, but I don't want to take the chance that I will have leg problems again and I did not lose any weight anyway, so I am moving on to workouts that actually work for me. I wish I had been one of those success stories that lost a lot of weight with Leslie, but it was not to be.

[blueskies]

Originally Posted by Artist of Eyes

My Physical Therapists that have been aware of fitness DVDs recommend her workouts. I've even done the side steps with bands as apart of hip and lower back PT which I was involved with for almost 18 months. Some people's mechanics might put them at an increased risk for pain, but I imagine it's not the norm. It's also quite possible for two other things to be happening:

A) Your form is off or poor. Remember there are many muscles being used here. Sloppy movements, poor footing, or weak muscles in general can cause this.

B) You're doing too much too soon aka Overtraining. Too much of anything, even good, is bad. It may not be Leslie's workouts at all, just that your body was not ready for this much activity (4-5 miles) 5 days per week. it could have been overkill and your body mutinied.

Some people's bodies will just respond differently to different things. But it's also wise to keep in mind that durantion and quanity could have also played a huge role in this as well making it not so much an issue with her workouts persay, but the way in which one used them. The possibilities here are many.

I agree with you on the concept of overtraining, which is why I didn't do a 6-7 day/week rotation with her workouts. And prior to doing the Leslie rotation, I had been doing various workouts from Si6, including Keep It Up. I've been working out to videos for over 20 years. While I do agree with you that too much of anything isn't a good thing, I was not coming off years of inactivity. Also, given that I do have a fair amount of exercise experience, I'm pretty confident that my form wasn't off in Leslie's workouts.

You mentioned that you did side steps with bands as part of your PT. Were they done in the manner that Leslie does them in her workouts? Or did you do them slowly, with many less repetitions? There's a huge difference between the two methods.

I think that it's important to note here that even in workouts that are supposed to appeal "to the masses," so to speak, problems can still be inherent in the design. Simple does not always mean safe.

[Vintage VFer]

Other factors to consider are:

* Properly-fitted, supportive workout shoes.

* The flooring of your workout area.

Both will have a huge effect on the safety and comfort in most workouts.

I have a ton of Leslie workouts and have had no ill effects so far. We're all different though.