Walk Away the Pounds for Abs with Leslie Sansone - Three Miles: Super Fat Burning (2003, VHS)

One of the things that I know, and yet want to reject, is the fact that in order to lose weight you have to do two things .eat right and exercise. I ve tried every short cut known to man to avoid both of those things, but the fact remains, my body has to burn more calories than it takes in, in order for the scale to start heading in the direction that I want it to go.

We have an exercise bike, and I tried to ride it everyday, but I got bored so quickly and just wasn t committed to being sure to actually use the bike for something other than a clothing rack.

Some years back I walked three miles a day and noticed that while it was slow, I lost weight. Okay walking, walking would be good for me. It is cheap, easy to do and doesn t take too much time each day.

I bought one of Leslie Sansone s walking tapes and set out to get some exercise right in my own livingroom. The tape that I bought was great and really got me started moving. My only problem was, this tape is two different workouts, a one mile and a two mile walk. As I built up endurance neither of these walks were enough. I tried doing the one mile and then fast forwarding to the two mile but it was too much cooling down and then warming up again. I also knew that I needed to do some sort of strength training and do lots of work on the area of my body that seems to just bulge out the most .my abs and waist.

One day, while in Wal*Mart, I found my solution. I knew I enjoyed the walking tapes and decided to purchase another of Ms. Sansone s tapes. This time, I bought a set that includes:

Walk Away Belt for Abs
1 mile tape
2 mile tape
3 mile tape

While I have done the 1 and 2 mile walks, I ve walked the 3 mile tape many more times, so I decided to start with reviewing it.

The Walk Away Belt

Included with the set that I bought was an exercise belt that is used during all three of these walking workouts.

The band is a 4 foot long black belt with Velcro on it so that it is adjustable to most any size waist. It is a heavy gauge belt with industrial strength Velcro so that it can be opened and closed over and over again without losing its grip.

Attached to the back of the belt are two blue round thick rubber bands, each of them are 13 inches long with handles on the ends. During your workout, when not using the belt, you simply tuck the handles into the front of the belt. While doing the walking work out at several different times Leslie encourages you to take the bands out and the ab work out begins.

This belt adds resistance while encouraging you to stand up correctly and keep your spine in good alignment. This belt also engages your abdominal muscles and helps you to firm up your upper body. My back, arms, chest, midriff and waist can really feel it when I m stretching the bands out or up. The intensity that this belt adds to my workout is burning fat and calories along with each push- pull of the bands and the natural resistance from my body, is wonderful strength training, for me.

The movement with the bands is as simple as an open and close of your arms to pushing your arms up and down for what feels like a very long time, in reality it is probably only a minute or two. (Yikes, I timed it and it is only 35 seconds it feels much longer and the arms and upper body really get a good work out during this time) The different movements that are used with the bands maximize the benefits to all of the muscle groups of the upper body.


Walk Away the Pounds for the Abs Mile

One of the things that I really like about any of Ms. Sansone s workouts is that you can follow them right from the start. She professes four basic steps, walking, side steps, kicks, and knee lifts. She also adds a fifth step, which is a kick back or hamstring curl. Those are the simple steps that are used throughout the entire workout.

This tape is 45 minutes long, with a good warm up and cool down time at the beginning and the end. After hitting the 3 mile mark, there is an additional cool down and then a gentle stretch before the tape is done.

The intensity of this workout builds up until you are moving at a pretty fast pace and your breathing becomes faster and the heart rate steps up as well.


The Setting

One of the things that I do like better about my other Leslie Sansone tape is that the workout looks as if it is taking place in her living room. It probably is a studio, but it has the set up of a home. On this tape, it looks like a studio with nice hardwood floors. The background is pleasant, with green carpeted steps and a soft glow of pink panels behind the 8 people that are working out. It just doesn t have that homey feel to it.

In this video 7 people besides Leslie are doing the workout. The group includes people of different ages, different body types and also has a man doing the workout as well. Everyone is using the ab belt except for the man but he follows along with the arm and upper body movements.

Everyone is dressed in gray and pink workout suits. The man has gray pants and a gray shirt but all of the women have either gray pants or shorts with pink midriff or tank tops.


My Feelings

One of the things that I really like about this tape is the ease at which I can follow it. It is not that it is such a easy lazy workout that your not being challenged, but rather that the steps are easy to follow, even when you are doing them very fast.

The pace of the workout makes you sweat! I know that I don t love sweating, but I also know that a good workout that is challenging enough makes you sweat. That is a plus. My body is doing what it should do during brisk activity. This walk is definitely brisk and includes approximately 10 minutes of strength training as well. While that isn t a very long time for the strength training, doing this tape twice a day gives me good 90 minutes of brisk activity along with 20 minutes of challenging strength training.

I also like that there are more people in this video that you can follow along with. Although everyone is walking at the same pace, seeing how high others lift their legs or deep they sit into sidestep helps to encourage me as I follow along.

The first few times doing the tape I liked that Leslie explained the moves she was about to do throughout the tape. Now that I ve done this tape over 60 times .I m getting tired of hearing the instructions. I don t know how they could get around that, but sometimes her saying I ll show you one and then you follow along irks the beejeebers out of me.

The music in the background really moves with the pace of the workout as well. It encourages me to keep moving briskly and if it weren t for the positives of the beat, I d turn the volume off on the tape and turn on other music. There is one point at about the middle of the workout that the music is a latin beat and it just fits so well. It is upbeat and fast and encourages a very fast pace.

This tape has made me feel more coordinated and flexible and I find I am able to stand on one foot without holding onto something for balance. I know that seems like a silly thing to feel encouraged by, but as I gained weight I realized that putting on pants or taking off my socks required support. I don t like that feeling at all. Now that I ve been doing this workout, I can stand, lift one leg and pull my sock off. Hey, it s the little things in life.

I would very highly recommend this tape for anyone that is wanting to get into shape again or just can t get out to take walks. This workout includes much more than just the walking and is a good way to promote overall good health.

The set that I bought was $24.88 at Wal*Mart. I couldn t for the life of me figure out why it cost almost fifteen dollars more at Target until I went to Ms. Sansone s website at:

www.walkawaythepounds.com

It was then that I saw that some sets include vitamins and menu cards as well as the belt and tapes. My set did not include these, but I am content with what I did receive.
This video can also be bought at Half.com used for as low as $7.99. That price does not include the other two tapes or the belt, but if you already have these it is a good way to get this 3 mile fat burning tape.