Walk Away the Pounds: Ultimate Collection

The Ultimate Collection contains 4 walking workouts of different lengths. A 1 mile walk that is 21:30 minutes, a 2 mile walk that is 32 minutes, a 3 mile walk that is 49 minutes and a 4 mile walk that is 57:30 minutes.

These are all walks that can be done by beginners–or, if you need more then there are ways to increase the intensity. In all of the walks I incorporated things to increase the intensity. First, I wore a 4 pound weighted vest and 1 pound weighted gloves. Leslie’s arm movements to accompany the lower body moves are pretty sparse so I also added upper body moves to everything (big ones like Jessica Smith does in her cardio walks) and finally, I increased the intensity of a lot of the moves. For instance, when Leslie does front kicks they are always low (though some of her background exercisers do put more effort into everything)–I always did high kicks. So, though you are welcome to follow the walk as Leslie presents it, if you need more then it is pretty easy to increase the intensity. I actually got solid, low impact cardio walks from all 3 walks when I did all of the above to increase the intensity. That’s another thing. I am currently limited to only low impact cardio. If you are not, then you can always bump things up by adding impact–jog instead of march in place, instead of low jacks do full jumping jacks.

In miles 1, 2 and 3 Leslie also adds some upper body resistance training using 2 pound weighted balls (Mile 1) and a resistance band (Miles 2 & 3). None of them are long segments of resistance training, but I won’t lie–in all of them I started to feel the burn.

The biggest draw back to these walks is Leslie’s fake-sounding cackle. She does it a lot. And her need to do shout outs to all of the background exercisers–over and over and over again. We get it. You know them. Some are grandmothers. Some have babies. Blah, blah, blah. In the 3 and 4 Mile Walks Leslie talks about how you have to do different things so your body doesn’t become accustomed to the same movement and she uses her workouts as an example of cross-training. Huh? Her walking workouts are extremely repetitive. She clearly doesn’t know the definition of crosstraining. If you don’t think Leslie is repetitive, take a look at the workout breakdowns–I had to write “repeat” more than anything else. Plus, compare the workout breakdowns to each other–they are all very similar. And doing Leslie’s workouts only is not cross-training, just FYI. Not unless you are also doing other types of workouts in addition to hers, such as Barlates, kettlebells, heavy weight training, biking, etc. That is cross-training.

Mile 1: Get Up & Get Started is 21:30 minutes; 3:30 minute warm up (during the warm up she reviews the 4 main steps she uses: marching in place, side steps, low front kicks and knee lifts) and 5 minute cool down/stretch. You are marching in place between most moves. During this workout Leslie uses weighted balls that are 2 pounds each. I just used 2 pound dumbbells and also wore one pound weighted gloves and a 4 pound weighted vest. Since this is just a one mile walk, Leslie treats this as if you are a beginner and gives lots of instruction. It starts out very easy and, like I do with all of Leslie’s walks, I added arm movements to everything to increase the intensity. The upper body moves she does with the weighted balls actually burned my arms out! But I am currently limited to lifting no heavier than 3 pound handweights (and with the 2 pound dumbbells and 1 pound weighted gloves, I was using 3 pounds of resistance). However, I have been doing a lot of Tracy Anderson workouts and she seriously burns out your upper body with only 3 pound handweights, so I have been building up endurance–and this still burned my arms out. Anyway, not a bad walk if you do things to up the intensity (unless you are a beginner, that is). I did this walk in combination with Mile 2 (below) for a 3 mile walk.

1. March in place faster than the warm up
2. Step side to side
3. While marching in place, reach arms overhead then pull them down to shoulders
4. Hamstring curls; add swinging arms side to side
5. Repeat #3
6. Alternating front kicks; add reaching alternating arms toward feet as they kick
7. Repeat #3
8. While marching in place, reach arms in front of you then pull arms back to ribs
9. (Leslie and crew are now holding the weighted balls) March in place
10. Step side to side; add bent arm side raises
11. Repeat #3 (except now you’re doing it with weighted balls in your hands–or handweights in my case)
12. Still marching in place, push arms/balls straight out to sides of body then pull them back in keeping hands/balls at shoulder level
13. Alternating front kicks; add pushing hands/balls out in front of you
14. Alternating knee lifts; add overhead press
15. Wide march; regular march
16. Set balls aside but keep marching

Mile 2: Brisk Walk is 32 minutes; 30 second intro, 5 minute warm up and 2 minute stretch. You are marching in place between most moves. You need a resistance band for this workout. I also wore one pound weighted gloves and a 4 pound weighted vest. There are no arm movements to any of the moves until #12 (except for runner arms while marching in place) which is 15 minutes into the walk–so just like I do in all of Leslie’s walks, I added my own arm movements. Though very repetitive, this wasn’t a bad cardio walk. I did Mile 1 (above) first then did this walk. I was sweating and between the two cardio walks I burned 400 calories, plus my arms got some nice work.

1. March in place but faster than the warm up
2. Step side to side
3. Alternating low kicks
4. Wide march
5. Hamstring curls
6. Alternating knee lifts
7. Repeat #3
8. Repeat #2
9. Repeat #6; add traveling forward 4 steps and back 4 steps
10. Repeat #3
11. Repeat #4 & 5
12. While marching in place, reach arms overhead then pull them down to shoulders
13. Repeat #2; add claps
14. Repeat #12
15. Still marching in place, push arms straight out to sides of body then pull them back in, keeping hands at shoulder level
16. Combine #12 & 15–push arms overhead, return to shoulder leve then push arms out to sides and pull back to shoulder
17. Repeat #3; add reaching alternating arms toward feet as they kick
18. Repeat #11
19. Repeat #9
20. (grab resistance band) March in place and hold band in front of you, arms straight with about 2 feet of band between your hands, open arms out to side then bring back to start (chest fly while marching)
21. Bring band around back (still holding one end of band in each hand) and push band/arms out straight in front of you and pull back to shoulders (marching chest press)
22. Repeat #4
23. Repeat #2
24. Repeat #3
25. Bring band around back (still holding one end of band in each hand) and, with arms straight, bring arms from sides of body together in front of body (marching chest fly)
26. March in place and hold band overhead, arms straight with about 2 feet of band between your hands, and lower straight arms to sides of body then return to start
27. Set band aside and continue marching in place
28. Repeat #4
29. Repeat #6
30. Repeat #3

Mile 3: Advanced Walk is 49 minutes; 5 minute warm up and 3 minute stretch. Equipment: resistance band. You are marching in place between most moves. There are zero arm movements until 14:30 minutes into the walk (#9 below). Just like all of the other walks in this collection, I wore my weighted vest and gloves, plus I added arm movements to everything. I actually got a solid cardio workout doing all of that! I added on a 10 minute segment from her Mix & Match Walk Blasters collection (will post soon) and in the hour long walk I burned 500 calories (according to my FitBit), so not bad! Leslie is very irritating, with her cackling laughter. My husband got out of bed early this morning and heard her. He came to stand in the doorway of the workout room, staring at the TV with a WTF? look on his face. Afterward he commented on her frightening laughter. So, its not just me! But nevertheless, I still got a solid cardio workout.

1. March in place faster than the warm up
2. Step side to side
3. Alternating low front kicks
4. Alternating knee raises
5. March wide
6. Hamstring curls
7. Repeat #2
8. Double side step
9. While marching in place, reach arms overhead then bring them back to shoulders
10. Still marching in place, push arms straight out to sides of body then pull them back in, keeping hands at shoulder level
11. Combine #9 & 10–push arms overhead, return to shoulders then push arms out to sides and pull back to shoulders
12. Repeat #5 & 6
13. Still doing hamstring curls, reach arms overhead in a V then pull arms down, bringing elbows into side of body
14. Repeat #3; add reaching alternating arms toward feet as they kick
15. Repeat #4; add pushing arms straight in front of you
16. Repeat #12 & 13
17. March forward and back
18. Repeat #2; add claps
19. Repeat #8
20. Repeat #17
21. Repeat #16
22. While marching in place, open arms to side in a goal post, open and close bent arms in front of chest (bent arm chest fly)
23. Repeat #14
24. Repeat #6; add traveling forward and back
25. Repeat #2
26. Repeat #8
27. (grab resistance band) March in place and hold band in front of you, arms straight with about 2 feet of band between your hands, open arms out to side then bring back to start (chest fly while marching)
28. Bring band around back (still holding one end of band in each hand) and push band/arms out straight in front of you and pulse band out (pulsing chest press)
29. Repeat #28 but this time arms are crossed in front of you
30. Hold band against belly (still holding one end of band in each hand), and pulse arms back behind you (pulsing tricep kickbacks)
31. Repeat #30 but only do it on one arm at a time
32. Repeat #2
33. March in place and hold band overhead, arms straight with about 2 feet of band between your hands, and lower straight arms to sides of body then return to start
34. Repeat #3
35. (Set band aside) March in place
36. Repeat #2
37. Repeat #8
38. Repeat #5
39. Repeat #4
40. Double knee lifts, alternating legs
41. Repeat #2

Mile 4: Super Challenge is 57:30 minutes; 5 minute warm up and 2:30 minute stretch. You are marching in place between most moves. Though very repetitious and subject to Leslie’s chatter and irritating laughter, I got a good steady state cardio workout. Like all of the others, I wore a 4 pound vest and 1 pound gloves, plus I added arm movements to everything, made a point to kick high and raise my knees high. I burned nearly 500 calories. So not bad. I was sweating a lot, too. So if you can stand Leslie and the constant repetition of moves, then this is a solid low impact cardio workout. And honestly, if you don’t like choreography and want simple but effective cardio, then these workouts are solid. As a visitor suggested, I may return to these with my own background music and the volume muted. These are actually perfect when you want to get in some thoughtless exercise.

1. March in place faster than the warm up
2. Step side to side
3. Alternating low front kicks
4. Repeat #2
5. While marching in place, reach arms overhead then bring them back to shoulders
6. March forward and back with a clap
7. Hamstring curls; reach arms overhead in a V and pull arms down to shoulder level and push back overhead
8. Repeat #2 with claps
9. Repeat #5
10. Repeat #3; add reaching alternating arms toward feet as they kick
11. Repeat #2; add moving forward and back
12. Repeat #8
13. Repeat #5
14. Alternating knee raises; add moving forward and back
15. Wide march in place
16. Repeat #7
17. Repeat #6
18. Alternating knee raises
19. Repeat #2
20. Double side steps
21. While marching in place, reach arms overhead then lower hands to shoulders then push arms straight out to sides and bring hands back in to shoulders
22. Repeat #10
23. Wide knee lifts and tap knee with opposite hand
24. Repeat #8
25. Repeat #10
26. Repeat #23
27. Hamstring curls; changes to double hamstring curls each leg
28. Repeat #5
29. Repeat #19 & 20
30. Repeat #21
31. Wide march in place
32. Repeat #3
33. Repeat #18
34. Repeat #29
35. Repeat #27
36. March forward 3 steps and back 3 steps
37. Repeat #18
38. Double side steps; add hamstring curl after second side step
39. Repeat #29
40. Grapevines
41. Repeat #3
42. Repeat #18
43. Repeat #36
44. Repeat #2