Leslie Sansone’s Belly Blasting Walk DVD promises a total package of cardio, toning and belly flattening for every person, regardless of their age or fitness.
Who’s the trainer?
Leslie Sansone is a fitness expert and TV personality who bought walking home – literally. She believes that you can walk yourself slim is a fun and easy to follow cardio routine that engages all your muscles in the comfort of your front room.
Walk yourself slim is a fun and easy to follow cardio routine that engages all your muscles in the comfort of your front room
What happens?
There’s two one mile walks that last 15 minutes each. There are four easy steps that are the core of this program – walking (obviously), side steps, leg kicks and knee lifts. Naturally, you start off slow with small steps, but gradually the movements become faster and bigger, whilst working out your arms too. You’ll add movements in such as squats, swiveling your hips, jumping and jogging but you will always return to walking.
These cardio sessions are followed by two Belly Blasting Floor Sessions to sculpt and tone your muscles. Session One is the Abs Workout followed by the Healthy Back Workout in Session Two. Both last roughly ten minutes each.
The Abs Workout entails curl ups, extending legs straight above you in a 90 degree angle whilst flexing your toes to work your calves, then lowering each leg to the ground and back up. You’ll also have to hug your legs into your chest then stretch them out straight in a alternating routine, and finally a few sets of bridges to work out your glutes. The hardest part of this section for me was holding a bridge position whilst taking one leg off the mat, extending it straight and holding it. Also, my legs were shaking when I had to hold them in a 90 degree angle for too long.
The Healthy Back session starts with positioning yourself on all fours and extending one leg out straight whilst stretching out the opposite arm. Soon you’ll be raising and lowering your leg followed by pulses, all to work your glutes and core. This is followed by raising one leg and bending it so your heel is facing the ceiling which you will then lift and lower. This is followed by half push-ups, supermans, half planks and full planks. At the end of the session, I found the full plank quite difficult to maintain.
What’s the promise?
To blast that belly fat away. Leslie states that the two miles that you do during this workout will ‘reduce the waistline , burn those calories, burn off the extra weight around the middle’ and if you do the floor sessions ‘two or three times a week, you’ll see a big change’. You heard it from Leslie’s mouth.
Upsides
The way the workout is broken down into four sections means time goes by really quickly, which I always think is a plus. There’s no equipment needed either (apart from a mat) so there’s no need to spend loads of money, yay.
I personally liked Leslie’s encouraging approach – she has a very calming and friendly aura so you immedialtely feel relaxed. However, I can see how some women would find her annoying.
Downsides
Although my legs were becoming tired during the session, I didn’t feel a huge impact on my body and I didn’t sweat a lot. My abs hurt a little the next day, but not much, so although the workout was quite enjoyable, I didn’t feel like I had a full-on workout, which would be a great thing for beginners. Leslie herself says she’s not sure how many calories we’re burning which some people may be happy with, but I prefer to know the specifics.
Level of difficulty?
I would recommend this for beginners, especially people who enjoy walking but hate the cold because let’s face it, we live in England and it’s usually cold. It’s fun, easy to follow, not too intense, and you get a lot of encouragement from Leslie. However, I think if you’re quite fit then you won’t feel that you gain much from this workout.
Healthista Rating: 3/5
Buy your copy of Belly Blasting Walk DVD here.
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