Lowcarbezine!

Product Review: Walk Away The Pounds

Long-time readers know that along with "Low Carb Cookie God," another of my titles is "Used Exercise Equipment Girl" - I've written more than once about taking advantage of the huge after-market in exercise equipment, constantly fed by the abandoned good intentions of the folks who bought the equipment new. Accordingly, when I was at the Goodwill last weekend, I checked out the exercise equipment. I found nothing interesting, but hit the jackpot when I checked the videos: I found 8-count-'em-8 exercise videos that interested me, and each was only $2. Such a deal! I couldn't turn it down.

I haven't gotten around to trying them all yet - I've hardly had time - but I started right in using a two of them: A couple of tapes from Leslie Sansone's Walk Away The Pounds collection. I had purchased a couple of these tapes for my mother a while back, and had tried them while staying at her house, so I had an idea of what they were about.

For those of you who are truly out of shape, and looking for a place to start, let me recommend any and all of the Walk Away The Pounds series. These are home exercise at its most basic: If you can walk in place, you can do these tapes. There are only four moves - marching in place, stepping from side to side, kicking gently, and knee lifts. No dance steps, no complicated choreography - just walking.

Yet these tapes actually get your heart rate up. I am a long-time power walker; for 20 years I have walked with hand weights as my preferred exercise. I didn't expect walking in place in front of my television to be much of a workout. Yet I find that I feel muscles in my legs and butt doing these tapes that I don't feel when I'm out walking around the neighborhood, except when I'm going up a good hill.

Sansone incorporates some arm movements with light weights or power bands into her walking routines; beginners can simply do the arm movements without the weights or bands. Since I am a long-time Heavyhands walker, ( http://www.heavyhands.org/ ) I use a 3 pound weight in each hand during just about the whole "walk," to bring it up to the sort of intensity my body is used to. This is very easy to do; I encourage you to use some light weights with these tapes as soon as you're fit enough. While Leslie Sansone uses spherical "Walk Away Weights," they're not essential; I use the same dumbbells I use for walking outdoors.

The advantages of the Walk Away The Pounds tapes are obvious - it's an extremely accessible form of exercise, approachable by anyone who can walk, yet it's a pretty effective aerobic workout, and if you use weights, it gives you some toning as well. If you have concerns about the weather or the safety of your neighborhood, if you have small children at home, or - like my sister - much of the year you can't get home early enough to walk before dark - no problem; you can get an effective walk in front of your television. You don't need a lot of room to do these tapes, either, unlike many aerobics tapes I've tried that require you to push the furniture back to the walls. Perhaps best of all, you can get in a good, brisk walk indoors without spending huge sums (not to mention lots of space) on a treadmill. I've seen these tapes as cheap as $6.99 a pop at Target.

Disadvantages? I can only think of two: If you're a serious exerciser, who likes more complex routines, and wants a very strenuous workout, these tapes are probably not for you. And I warn you, Leslie Sansone is relentlessly perky. Because the exercise itself is quite simple, it doesn't need complex calling, so instead she keeps up a steady stream of exceedingly chipper chatter that can grate after a bit. Or not; I've read reviews from people who like the perkiness factor.

The Walk Away The Pounds series has a lot of tapes/DVDs in it, ranging from "1 mile" (fifteen minute) walks to "3 mile" (45 minute) walks. There's even Walk Away Abs, though I haven't tried it. I've taken to doing my 1 mile tape as soon as I've finished my first pot of tea in the morning, and following it with 6-8 minutes of strenuous ab work. I do try to get in a "real" walk (with my weights!) later in the day, weather permitting, or do my Latin dance aerobics if it's nasty out, but if I get caught up in work and don't get around to it, at least I've had some exercise. It definitely helps to energize me for the rest of the day.

In short, the Walk Away The Pounds series is a great place to get started with exercise, and is surprisingly useful even for those of us who have had the exercise habit for a while. Check 'em out.

Here's a link to the three tape set complete with weights: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005T33K/lowcarbohysoluti

Posted by HoldTheToast at March 26, 2004 04:23 PM