Walk On: 4 Mile Power Walk

4 Mile Power Walk is one of Jessica Smith’s newest cardio walk collections. This DVD contains 4 approx. 15 minute cardio walks plus a warm up and cool down. Choose “play all” and do a 73 minute cardio walk or pick and choose what you want to do. The workout is chaptered so you can do your warm up then skip to whatever walk you want to do then skip on to the cool down/stretch. The first time I did this workout I chose play all but only did the first 3 miles then skipped forward to the stretch for a 57 minute cardio walk. I used Mile 4 another day to warm up for a Tracie Long 30 minute cardio workout. When I did the first 3 miles I found this a steady state cardio walk. In 57 minutes I burned 400 calories. I didn’t break a sweat until Mile 2 and even then it was more of a “sparkle.” But I love Jessica’s cardio walks, so this is not a problem for me but if you are looking for more intensity, you will not find it here. I found these walks less intense than many of Jessica’s other cardio walks. Again, not a problem for me, but FYI to others who need more. I did find Mile 4 more intense than the first 3 miles. I think I also liked Mile 4 the best. But they were all good cardio walks.

As an aside, I am a little frustrated with Jessica. I asked for all of her new workouts for Christmas. They were all ordered for me as gifts but her Get Strong DVD was canceled! It was in stock when the person ordered it and Amazon canceled it on them with no explanation. And now it is out of stock with no ETA on when it will be available again. So my gift giver was quite PO’d by this. I am, too! Especially since, of her 4 new workouts, that one and this one were the ones I wanted the most! I will of course order it when it is back in stock.

The warm up is 5:30 minutes and the cool down/stretch is 6:30 minutes. Jessica has two background exercisers with her: Beth who shows higher impact versions of some of the moves and Jessica’s mother Debbie, who shows easier versions of some of the moves. But IMHO Beth’s variations did not jack up the intensity much and Debbie’s variations didn’t modify much. All of the walks are set in a huge room with a wall of windows behind them and the beach and ocean behind that. Each mile has a workout timer that counts up from zero to 15 minutes. There are arm movements with most of the lower body movements even if it is not mentioned in the break down. However, one thing I noticed in these walks is that Jessica did do some moves with no distinct arm component. Between every move you are also marching in place.

Mile 1 is 15 minutes.

1. March forward and back
2. Double side steps
3. March (or jog) forward and back
4. Repeat #2
5. Alternating hamstring curl
6. Double side step + lift inside leg out to side (leg straight)
7. Alternating low step kick moving forward then alternating taps to the side as you travel backwards
8. Grapevine
9. Wide low shuffle 8 steps forward and 8 steps back
10. 4 hamstring curls + 8 insole taps
11. Alternating low step kick
12. Alternating toe taps to side
13. Wide stationary toe taps
14. Side to side steps; changes to a pattern of double side steps then step side to side 2x
15. 3 steps + one knee raise, alternate knees
16. March forward and back
17. Double side steps; add a cross over kick after each double side step
18. Step side to side w/ scissor/cross arms (arms are straight)
19. Wide stationary toe taps while pushing arm out across the chest to the side

Mile 2 is 15 minutes. This walk is done to a faster beat than Mile 1.

1. Step tap side to side w/ bent arm chest fly arms; changes to double side steps (same arms)
2. Double arm hamstring curl; add traveling forward and back
3. Repeat #1 & 2
4. Alternating cross-over toe taps
5. Double side steps w/ scooping arms; changes to side to side step w/ scoop and clap arms
6. Heel digs on one foot (tap one heel in and out while other foot remains stationary); add running man arms; changes to heel tap with hamstring curl
7. Alternating knee lifts; add reaching arms overhead and bringing them down to knee as it raises; add traveling forward and back
8. Double side steps w/ insole tap
9. Toe tap out to side–remain on same side, w/ running man arms; changes to two taps to each side; changes to singles (one toe tap to each side)
10. March forward and back
11. Lateral skaters
12. Shallow step squat side to side
13. Wide double knee lifts
14. Repeat #11-13
15. March forward and back

Mile 3 is 15 minutes. This workout starts at a slower pace (like Mile 1) but then about 5 minutes in, the beat speeds up.

1. Side to side step tap w/ wide arm circles, alternate arms
2. Double side steps
3. Repeat #1
4. Hamstring curls w/ cross chops
5. Step knee raise corner to corner (alternating knees)
6. Repeat #1 & 2
7. Repeat #4 & 5
8. Double side steps done on the balls of your feet while also twisting your hips; add twisting the upper body/arms
9. Cross over step side to side w/ a shuffle between sides
10. Step forward + triple step + step forward with other foot
11. Alternating cross toe taps to the front; add pushing the arms up overhead
12. Repeat #8-11
13. Wide stationary toe taps w/ alternating cross punches; changes to cross punching overhead
14. Alternating stationary toe taps
15. V steps, alternating lead leg; changes to a turn step w/ arm movements
16. Wide heel digs while pushing opposite arm overhead
17. Step side to side; continue same side to side step, but face the side now
18. Low impact jacks
19. Narrow hamstring curl
20. Repeat 18 & 19
21. March forward and back

Mile 4 is 15 minutes. I feel like this was the most intense of the 4 walks.

1. March forward and back; add alternating overhead punches
2. Wide stationary toe taps w/ congo drum arms
3. Hamstring curls w/ speed bag arms
4. Wide alternating knee raises while pushing arms overhead
5. Repeat #1-4 two more times
6. Alternating heel digs toward the corners of the room; add alternating single arm reach overhead
7. Wide stationary toe taps while pressing arms down toward tapping foot
8. Repeat #6 & 7
9. Grapevine variation (cross step in front instead of behind)
10. V steps
11. Alternating rear toe tap while in semi-squat w/ big running man arms
12. Lateral skaters
13. Repeat #10-12
14. Face the side and march or jog backwards then turn around and march or jog backwards in the other direction (back to where you started)
15. Walk or jog in two large circles (figure 8 pattern)
16. Repeat 14 & 15
17. Repeat #1
18. Double side steps w/ jumping jack arms out to sides (not overhead)
19. Repeat #14 & 15
20. Repeat #1
21. Repeat #18
22. Hamstring curls
23. March or jog in place while pushing arms overhead