Leslie Sansone Walking Videos....good or bad?

They are good for fitness beginners. It's very low impact because it's just walking, kicks, etc.

Lots of folks really like them - one of my friends uses them in her office when she does not have time to go out and exercise. As far as I can tell, they are really good especially if you are just starting out.

A lot of people like them, presumably because they're very accessible to beginners (you don't need to be coordinated at all to follow along. After all, it's just marching around). But they're not for every temperament. You need to be a certain type of person to be able to stand the way she talks.

If you're the kind of person who needs constant reinforcement and congratulations, you might enjoy them. She says a lot of stuff that makes me kind of nauseated like constantly repeating "and GOOD FOR YOU for being here. Congratulations on making healthier choices." What else is she going to talk about, I guess?

Like I said, lots of people love them. I can't stand them because I find her talk and "encouragement" infantilizing.

In terms of the effectiveness of the exercise: it's well suited to people who are very out of shape; it's low intensity obviously by design.You'll grow out of it quickly if you're younger than 50. BUT there are lots of good choices out there. Aside from just, you know, ACTUALLY GOING FOR A WALK, there are lots of free websites that stream exercise videos and it's not hard to find low intensity ones VERY WELL SUITED for a beginner. I started exercising for the first time in my life last year, in my 40s, weighing over 300 pounds so I totally get the need for low intensity stuff.

I prefer using FitnessBlender.com. You can search their site by difficulty level. A beginner should do well with the level 2 videos. If you're REALLY just starting out you can use their level 1s for a week or two but those are just stretching. You'll need level 2 to actually get some movement in.

Love them!! You can make them more or less intense.

They are great for beginners or times when you need an easy day, but want to get in a workout. Unfortunately, they aren't that great a calorie burner for me. I've been testing the workouts for months with my HRM and at 150 lbs, the 45 minute workouts are 250 or less and the hour come in around 300-ish. That's for the boosted workouts with extra arms. The only one that I use consistently is the 4 Fast Miles since it averages 320 calories in 50 minutes, with boosted/jogging, but there's low impact modifications if you're not ready for that. I also use the newer Walk to the Hits which average about 250 for 45 minutes. I really wish she would do an updated version of 4 Fast Miles as I prefer the jogging to all of the hopping that she has taken up in recent years.

If you're not a beginner, I highly recommend Jessica Smith as well. I don't know what the difference is, but I burn as many calories in her short workouts as in Leslie's long ones. She can be a little "dance-y" and I'm so not that coordinated. LOL Oh, and though I'm bored with it right now, The Biggest Loser Power Walk is great. I burn 400+ in the hour long walk.

I do kettlebell workouts 4 days a week so the cardio is extra credit and I don't have much time left to squeeze it in. I need the most efficient workouts that I can manage. I do love Leslie and would incorporate her more if I had the time for extra-long/double workouts.

I hold 3 pound handweights and do arm motions even when she isn't (my arms never stay still). I've been using them for about 10 years and they pretty consistently keep my heart rate between 150 and 170 bpm on my heart rate monitor. That's approximately a 300 calorie burn for 1/2 hour workout or 450 for a 45 minute video, for me. Burning 300 calories in 1/2 hour is huge for me!!

I don't do anything high impact, ever. So this is the biggest calorie burner I've ever done. It's certainly a lot more than straight walking around the neighborhood would get me (that's usually about 210 calories per 1/2 hour of very fast walking, for me).

To me, these videos are huge calorie burners.

In comparison to kipping? Why yes, yes it is

Wow, something must be wrong with me. I've been doing them off and on for close to 15 years and my heart rate barely gets into the zone (over 116) unless I'm jogging so I add in boosted bits here and there. At first I thought there was something wrong with the HRM but I don't have that problem with Jessica Smith and I check it with an HRM app, too. I burn about 60 calories per mile with no boosts or weights and 75-85 with boosts/weights. I even tried Frankensteining the hardest miles from various DVDs and couldn't get one to burn 500 in an hour. I'd love to burn 200+ in 30 minutes since that's all the time I have on kettlebell days!

I use them when the weather doesn't permit me to get outside. Other then I go outside and walk!