Ultimate 5 Day Walk Plan

Ultimate 5 Day Walk Plan is another Leslie Sansone DVD I got for $1 at the yearly library sale. Its a pretty neat concept. The DVD contains 5 one mile walks that she labels with colors (blue, yellow, green, purple and red), plus it contains 4 very short and basic strength segments (abs, arms, legs, chest/back) and a stretch. Plus a warm up and cool down. You can approach this DVD several ways. You can do it as a program; Leslie has it set up with premixes labeled for each day of the week: Monday is a 3 mile walk (Yellow, Red and Green) + Abs (50 minutes). Tuesday is a 4 mile walk (Blue, Yellow, Green and Purple) + Arms (62:30 minutes). Wednesday is a 1 mile walk (Red) + Legs (25 minutes). Thursday is a 2 mile walk (Yellow and Green) + Chest/Back (37 minutes). And Friday is a 5 mile walk (all walks) + the full body stretch (74 minutes). All of the premixed daily walks also include the warm up and cool down. Or you can program your own walk and/or strength session.

That is how I approached it. One day I programed 3 of the walks (plus the warm up and cool down), all of the bonus strength segments and ended with the full body stretch. On a different day I just did 2 of the walks plus the warm up and cool down. As usual, I wore my 4 pound weighted vest and weighted gloves for all of the walks. I added additional arm movements but Leslie actually incorporated more arm movements than usual into these walks. In fact, I found these to be a bit more intense than some of her other cardio walks that I’ve done–at least the 3 walks I chose to do the first day (blue, yellow and red). The Blue Mile actually had some impact. I am currently medically limited to no impact, but I did not find it terribly high impact and I just did it anyway. I don’t appear to be suffering any consequences from it. The other two walks (purple and green) were less intense than the ones I did on the first day. It seems like she had a lot of grapevines in purple and green. Anyway, I did like this collection of cardio walks. Leslie was Leslie–cackling laughter and inane babbling, but I still liked enjoyed the walks–especially blue, yellow and red.

The Warm Up is 4 minutes and cool down is 5:30 minutes. The bonus full body stretch is 3:30 minutes and is done on a mat. It is a very basic, gentle stretch and it is all done lying on your back.

Blue Mile is 12:30 minutes. You are marching in place between every move. This walk actually has a bit of impact.

1. March in place; add traveling forward and back
2. Step side to side; add opening and closing arms wide with a clap
3. Low alternating front kicks
4. Repeat #1
5. Repeat #2
6. Double side steps w/ opening and closing arms wide w/ a clap
7. Alternating knee raises; add raising arms overhead then bringing hands down to thigh that is lifting
8. Repeat #1
9. March in place while pushing arms from shoulder level to overhead
10. Step side to side
11. March in place but pace increases
12. Double side steps moving forward and back on a diagonal w/ opening and closing arms wide w/ a clap
13. March in place while alternating reaching arms overhead then out to side
14. Boxer shuffle; add alternating punching arms overhead
15. Jump ropes
16. Half jacks (lifting arms only to shoulder level but jumping jack feet)
17. Alternate #15 & 16 doing 4 reps of each
18. Repeat #12-14
19. Alternating front kicks; add reaching arms toward feet as you kick
20. Repeat #1 but with claps
21. Step side to side
22. Repeat #3

Yellow Mile is 12 minutes. You are marching in place between every move.

1. March in place
2. Step side to side
3. Low front kicks; kick higher while pushing arms out in front of you
4. Alternating knee lifts; add tapping hands to top of thigh as it raises
5. Repeat #2
6. Hamstring curls; add reaching arms out in front of you
7. Heel digs
8. Repeat #3
9. March in place while pushing arms from shoulder level to overhead
10. Alternate tapping toes out to side (low jack legs)
11. March in place but pace increases
12. Double knee lifts, alternate sides; add woodchop arms
13. March forward and back with claps
14. Repeat #9
15. March forward 2 steps and do 2 low jacks then march back 2 steps and do 2 low jacks
16. Repeat #2; add opening and closing arms wide with a clap; changes to double side steps (same arms)
17. Repeat #9
18. March forward and back with claps
19. Repeat #12
20. Repeat #9

Green Mile is 12 minutes. You are marching in place between every move.

1. March in place
2. Grapevine
3. Low front kicks; kick higher while pushing arms out in front of you
4. Step side to side
5. March in place while alternating reaching arms overhead then out to side
6. Repeat #2; add one hamstring curl to the end of each grapevine
7. March forward 2 steps and back 2 steps with claps
8. March forward 4 steps and back 4 steps
9. March in place while pushing arms from shoulder level to overhead; changes to pressing arms in front of you at chest level
10. Alternating knee lifts; add raising arms overhead then bringing hands down to thigh that is lifting
11. Repeat #3
12. Repeat #6
13. Repeat #5
14. Alternating knee lifts; add reaching opposite arm overhead and tapping knee when it lifts; changes to double knee lifts (same arms)
15. Repeat #8

Purple Mile is 12 minutes. You are marching in place between every move.

1. March in place
2. Step side to side; add opening and closing arms wide with a clap
3. Low front kicks; add reaching opposite arm out toward kicking leg
4. Alternating knee lifts, tapping hands to thigh as it lifts; changes to raising arms overhead then bringing hands down to thigh that is lifting
5. Grapevine; add claps
6. Mambo forward and back then out to the side and back
7. March in place while alternating reaching arms overhead then out to side
8. March in place but pace increases
9. Alternate tapping legs out to side; add hip pivots as you tap; add punching arms out to front as you tap
10. Hamstring curls; add pushing arms out in front of you then pulling arms back; changes to reaching arms overhead and pulling them down
11. Boxer shuffle; turn body to side (still shuffling) and add a front jab
12. Repeat #5
13. Repeat #4; changes to double knee lifts (same arms)
14. March in place while pushing arms from shoulder level to overhead; changes to pressing arms to the front at chest level
15. March forward and back with claps

Red Mile is 11:30 minutes. You are marching in place between every move.

1. March in place
2. 3 steps + 1 tap
3. Low front kicks; add reaching opposite hand toward kicking foot; changes to reaching arm overhead
4. 4 side steps forward and back on a diagonal with claps
5. March in place while reaching arms overhead then out to side, then down, then out to side then back overhead
6. Repeat #2; changes to 3 steps to side + 1 tap
7. March forward and back with claps
8. March in place but pace increases
9. Hamstring curls; add reaching arms overhead in a V then pulling arms down
10. Repeat #4 & 5
11. Double side steps; add claps
12. Alternating knee lifts tapping hands to thigh as knee raises; changes to double knee lifts and arms change to more of a woodchop
13. Boxer shuffle; turn to side and jab to front
14. March forward and back

Abs is 4 minutes. Equipment: fitness mat. Very easy, beginner level. Not a lot of reps of anything.

1. Lay on back, knees bent and feet on floor, alternate raising leg off floor, bringing knee into chest
2. Same start position as #1, place hands in thighs and crunch head/shoulders up, running hands up to knees as you crunch
3. Still on back, knees still bent, raise feet off floor, raise head/shoulders and extended arms straight along sides and hold for a few seconds then extend legs straight to ceiling and start pulsing arms (modified hundred)
4. Repeat #1
5. Bicycle maneuver
6. Still on back, extend arms straight overhead and legs straight to stretch

Legs is 3 minutes. Easy, beginner level. No equipment is used. Since I currently cannot lift anything heavier than 3 pound hand weights (medical restrictions), I swapped out my 4 pound weighted vest for my 12 pound weighted vest for these exercises.

1. Reverse lunges
2. Squats; pulse squats
3. Reverse lunge + step out to side squat

Arms is 3:20 minutes. Equipment: dumbbells (Leslie uses 5# dumbbells). Again, I am currently medically restricted from lifting anything heavier than 3 pound hand weights. So I cheated a bit. I have been making good use of resistance bands since I can’t lift weights. I used my 3 pound hand weights but I also stood on a resistance band and had one end wrapped around each dumbbell. I felt this much more done that way! Especially the tricep work!

1. Hammer curls; she takes a brief rest then does alternating hammer curls and ends with more double hammer curls
2. Overhead tricep extensions (French press); she takes a brief rest then does some more

Chest & Back is 3 minutes. Equipment: Fitness mat. I cheated a bit on this one, too. I am also restricted from doing any plank based moves, so I did wall push ups when Leslie did knee push ups.

1. Push ups on knees
2. Bird dog holds
3. Repeat 1 & 2