Cardio Walk for Weight Loss – Madeleine Louis (2008)

From the cover:

This is the workout to get you moving and rev up your metabolism. Cardio Walk for Weight Loss integrates fitness-walking movements with low-impact aerobics techniques, creating energizing 10-minute indoor workouts almost anyone can do anytime, anywhere.

Review: based on the idea that three ten-minute periods of exercise are as effective as a thirty-minute workout but easier to incorporate into the rest of life, Cardio Walk combined three ten-minute workouts (80% cardio and 20% strength training) with a flexibility segment. Like the recently reviewed Super Shredder Circuit, the Cardio Walk DVD can be programmed to play in the order you prefer, or you can follow the routine as performed, which I did.
This is a really low-impact program, though there are some higher impact options involving light jumping, and it primarily comprises stepping from side to side, marching and other similar moves, combined with arm work (including hand weights). None of which sounds particularly exciting. Yet somehow I found myself sweating more heavily during this DVD than I think I have with any other program, and my pulse was ticking along at 125bpm (up at the 80% mark for me).
What I liked: the introduction includes a very clear overview of the program – based on research, what doing the workout entails, and what the exerciser should be aiming for. In this part and in every segment she discusses the exertion target: on a one to ten scale, where one is sitting on the sofa and ten is more than we’re looking at here, the aim is five or six, maybe seven. Madeleine also says several times in each section that, if things are getting too much, hands can be put on hips and the arm parts forgotten. The choreography is fairly easy even for someone as uncoordinated as I, without being mind-numbingly repetitive. There’s also a very nice cool down section that includes well-held stretching, in contrast to some other programs that treat this element far more cursorily.
What could have been improved: in the opening Madeleine says that one of the performers will do the higher intensity version, the other will show a modified variant, while she’ll aim for something in the middle; however this was rarely the case – while the performer on the right did more high-impact moves, the performer on the left also held weights, jumped along a bit, and didn’t consistently move at a modified pace or leave her arms out of it.
Does it do what the blurb promises? I’d rather get my vigorous exercise out of the way early in the day, in one block, and add incidental exercise and walking later on. Even if I worked from home I think I’d be unlikely to pop on a DVD several times a day. I’m not the mother of young children, though – thinking of friends who are, I think this kind of program could be well integrated into a routine that otherwise wouldn’t allow for half an hour of continuous exercise.
Overall: I didn’t have high expectations for what’s essentially a walking DVD. I was happily surprised to discover that Cardio Walk is an effective workout that, though probably too tame for the kinds of athletes shown on other workouts I’ve recently reviewed, really pushed this out of condition chick - Alex