Leslie Sansone: 5 Mega Miles with Toning Band by ANCHOR BAY by Andrea Ambandos

I had considered skipping purchasing this one after reading a particular review about the production of the DVD. I'm so glad that I took a leap of faith and just decided to experience it for myself. The curiosity was too great. I am so impressed with Leslie because the mega miles consist of toning, speed intervals, strength intervals, and ab concentration. It's almost like an all-in-one workout except for floor work.***Menu Screen***1. Play All2. Mile 1 (with or without music)3. Mile 2 (with or without music)4. Mile 3 (with or without music)5. Mile 4 (with or without music)6. Mile 5 (with or without music)***Pros***- Music: Picture it this way; if you can remember Janet Jackson's video called Rhythm Nation, then you certainly remember the dim and dark background or area she danced through. The music in this DVD reminds me of that, only replace Janet and her dancers with human beings wearing a cyborg suits exercising with Leslie. That's exactly what the music reminds me of in this workout. I think her choice of artist this time is more favorable. When you first listen to it, you may not pick up the beat right away. But when you do the full workout at least a second time, you'll enjoy the music more. You will definitely pick up the beat if you choose the 'music only' option, which is why I'm glad that option is available becuase the music is actually very nice this time. The warm up song repeats into mile one, mile 4, and then the cool down. I would give the music a 4.5 out of 5. It really helps you move.- Clock: The clock at the bottom only appears when you have 10 minutes left until the mile is over. So, by the time that second song hits, the clock will appear and it will stay there. But I'll say this; those are the LONGEST 10 minutes ever! It does seem like the miles on this DVD are a lot longer but that's probably because the miles are more challenging. It's MEGA.- Her Friends: There's one guy and the rest are women. There's one woman that's probably as old as Leslie but the rest are like collage age. All are in good shape. I think Cain/King is the guy's name but I like watching him sometimes because his moves can be fancy. Their apparels are really nice. They change colors throughout the workout. There were a few things they wore that I actually wanted to buy, like Leslie's really cute shirt she wore during the second mile. There's a woman name Angela there that wore a lot of nice and cute things.- Energy: This entire workout requires a lot of water intake, patience, push, and energy. When I first did it, water never tasted any better, but it also ran out faster. If you're like me, You can just do all the five miles at once and I've been waiting on her to do a really good challenging DVD and believe me, this is it. Unfortunately, this may not be a workout for those who are a little older. This is HIGH intensity. If you're around my weight (170-157) you can surely do this. But there's a reason why she has younger people with her in this workout.**Cons**As you saw up above she's got all miles and then each individual mile listed on the menu screen. However, if you choose to do 'play full workout' option, it does not give you the option to choose 'with or without music'. That's only for the individual miles. But there is a trick. Just choose mile 1 'music only' and the workout will continue to go on from there. It won't bring you back to the menu after you're done with a mile. It will just keep going, even if you choose music only. The only bad thing about this 'trick' is that if you do start from mile 1 on the menu screen, you miss out on the warm up because the warm up is ONLY part of the 'play full workout' option.There is no warm up or cool down option on the menu screen. BUT, your DVD remote should have a 'next' or 'next chapter' button. Just choose that at the beginning of Mile 5 to skip to the cool down. The cool down has it own chapter even though it's not on the menu screen.It looks to me like those responsible for her DVD layout were perhaps rushing through. But please do not let this influence your buying options. The workout is still fantastic and it's a good experience where you'll know a different atmosphere, music, and faces. And again, if you're like me and just do all the workouts at once, this should not bother you much anyway.This is the only MAJOR con I think of because you don't have a lot of freedom. I understand many of her fans would love to schedule and make their own combination mile settings. We should get the word out more on her Facebook page.- Key on movesLeslie does get off step here and there or she'll forget to warn you when the kicks, etc, are coming up. It's not severe. But I'm sure we're all veteran walkers now. So, it should not be much of an issue to keep up with her.*************************Miles**Mile 1 (Classic Low Impact)It's claimed to be low impact...but it's not and I like that because I like competitive workouts. There is boosted walks and a lot of arm movement as well.Mile 2: (Walk & Tone)This mile will get your teeth gritting, especially when she exaggerates the moves longer due to talking too much. This band mile features stretching the band in front of you, behind you, above you, and to the sides. She'll give you a few SMALL breaks in between, but you'll find yourself quickly returning to the bands. On this mile, you do not stop moving completely, you will continue to move with or without band use. I was already very tired by the time it was within 2 minutes of the band usage. VERY competitive stuff! I know most people would prefer she leave the band as a separate thing from the entire workout. But look at it this way; You are getting your arms TONED. You'll have sexy beach arms instead of jiggly flesh. Think of the cute tank tops you can wear. All Leslie is doing is applying more concentration at another area of the body.MIle 3: (Speed Intervals)Intervals! Yes! There is a lot of jogging and shifts, plus side kickboxing. Bri is also in this workout and she'll provide a low-impact version for this mile only. The intervals are done three times throughout the mile.Mile 4 (Strength Intervals)By the time you get to this mile, you're probably already be very exhausted and don't feel like doing a SECOND mile of band workout. This band workout as actually more pleasant because it's targeting the bottom such as your legs. There's the word interval again, so for three times, you'll go back and forth through fast walk and band workout. There is some pausing because you have to do lunges and squats. And I'm grateful for the pauses because that gives you time to gather your energy.I DESPISE Lunges, so, I just substitute for squats. I think there is a little bit of boosted walk in this mile along with four-knee set. If you think by going back and forth to the bands and pausing is losing your progress, you're NOT, because she provides excellent arm toning where you feel the burn, plus she makes up for the 'pauses' with the fast walk intervals.Mile 5 (Ab Walk)I really wanted to reach through the screen and yell at Leslie to tone it down! Ugh, I was so tired! But I can't be a hypocrite because I wanted this! I wanted a tough workout. She will use knees (one, and four sets). She will do the 'skater' move about two times, side steps but also with a turn while reaching out. She uses the 'cha-cha' twice. The cha-chas were just too much. I was so tired. When she did it the first time, I thought she extended it out a wee bit too much, but again...she was talking. :pCool Down & StretchThe cool down is when she'll introduce a lady that has lost a BUTT LOAD of pounds. You can see her story on Leslie's website. Very good encouragement. The cool down is usual, but the stretch was pretty short. All she gave was just the reach upward, forward, and sides. That's it. There was nothing for the legs. But I have a feeling that maybe it had something to do with the length of the DVD. Maybe she was not allowed to have a full stretch session. Who knows. But we all know her by now. You can just do them on your own. Plus her stretches are never really long enough for your body to get a REALLY good amount of stretch anyway.**Additional Information**When I first did the full workout, I burned 598 calories. When I did it a second time, it was 570. The third time, it was 607 calories. The trick is to just make sure you exaggerate arm movement. You'll burn more. Even when she did not use arms, I did anyway. So for a workout that's almost 600 calories, that's basically TWO meals burned off.

A little background for context - I considered myself an intermediate exerciser and have been working out (mostly weekends) for over 20 years. I only tried Leslie Sansone's workouts in Nov 2022.Review on the workout - I just did the full workout, overall I like the workout. Doesn't feel boring (music is nice and pace is good) and definitely feel worked out. The DVD is chaptered as follows.1. Full Workout2. Mile 1 - Classic Low Impact Walk3. Mile 2 - Walk & Tone (you tone while walking using a flat resistance band)4. Mile 3 - Speed Intervals5. Mile 4 - Strength Intervals (walk / tone / walk / tone / walk / tone) - need a flat resistance band6. Mile 5 - Ab WalkThere are no separate chapters for the warm up and cool down - you can only access them in the full workout. Meaning, the warm up is separate from the Mile 1 and the cool down is separate from the Mile 5. Also, for the cool down, there is no stretching for the quads, hamstrings and calves which is solely needed when you finish 5 miles. No biggie as I just throw in my own stretches for the lower body. There is a countdown clock for the last 10 minutes for each Mile, which is nice. I bought the DVD used, so I use my own flat resistance band (Super Exercise Band - 7ft long green (light) band). I was wearing an Apple watch during the workout and got 411KCAL for active CAL, 511KCAL for total CAL, and average heart rate of 132 (range 98-157) - YMMV.

I play it for motivational music too. A good workout.

I have many of her videos. I like them all well enough, but there are 3 that I LOVE and this makes that list. The other two are the walk to the hits videos. I love this because you get a complete workout as in mile 1 is basic, mile 2 really works out your arms with a resistance band, mile 3 is some serious cardio with HIITs, mile 4 does some deeper muscle work including lunges, bicep curls, and squats, and mile 5 keeps you focused on squeezing in your abs.There is a 5 minute warm up in the beginning, but the first 5 minutes of mile 1 is the same song and same speed, so if you wanted to skip this you could. There is also a longer cool down at the end that I normally skip because the last 5 minutes of mile 5 is slower. I do a few stretches on my own and am good to go.I am a step counter so I will say that step wise you won't get 10,000 steps off of this. I usually end up with right at 9,000 when I do the warm up through the end of mile 5. This is mostly due to mile 4. You stop walking 3 times, once for lunges, once for bicep curls, and once for squats. You probably only really walk 1,000 steps in this mile.Start to finish I usually plan on spending about 1 hour and 20 minutes on this, im not really sure if the last 13 minutes is cool down or what cause I have never watched that far, I have watched a few minutes of the cool down before switching it off.Leslie can be kind of cheesy and she really is not in this one, and she says things that keep me on track, like reminding me how good it is for my body and my muscles, and focusing on muscles works them more, etc.The music is pretty good. Music wise, walk to the hits is my favorite, but this one is not bad, and the music switches at a minimum every 5 minutes so that is good too.

Every one of Leslie Sansone's walking videos is fabulous. You get a good sweat on if you want or you can go a bit slower. Your choice and Leslie will show you compensations so you get an effective workout. She'll also show you how to ramp up if you're feeling strong.Not happy the DVD didn't work and I learned of that fter the return window had closed.

I love all of Leslie Sansones workout videos, Im always amazed how fun and fast it goes by! And you don't have to do all the miles if you don't feel like it!

Notevole,sono molto soddisfatta . La banda elastica poi è perfetta .fa lavorare tutti i muscoli.grazie leslie.

Puh, dieses Programm hab ich heute früh gemacht und ich muss sagen, dass ich bei der Letzten der fünf Meilen dann schon ganz schön kaputt war.Die Stretchys werden mitgeliefert, es wird abgewechselt zw. Intervalltraining, Kräfitungsübungen und Low Impact Walks.Mir gefällts, ich kann es abspielen und finde es nicht fair, einem guten Sportprogramm so wenig Sterne zu geben, weil man selbst nicht den passenden Player hat

I would perceive myself to be an advanced exerciser (I regularly workout to Cathe Friedrich, Paul Katami, Patrick Goudeau , Michelle Dozois) and I must admit I did wonder how a "walking" dvd could in any way fit in with my exercise schedule. However , I have recently been trying to increase the number but vary the intensity of my workouts and I decided to give Leslie a try, as she has so many devoted "followers" and I'm hooked!! I love the fact that if the weather's miserable (and I live in Northern Ireland so more or less the norm!!) I can "walk" anything up to 5 miles. The 5 miles in this dvd are all different (although all Leslie's walking dvds are based on 4 steps, basic march, side step, knee lifts and front kicks) with 2 of the miles using a fitness band (included with the dvd). I honestly don't find the workout boring, Leslie changes the steps quite frequently and its motivating to see on screen you've walked another mile. Leslie can be a bit irritating at times to be honest but I love the workouts so much I just get on with it!! I use 1.5kg had weights and I do get a good low impact workout that energises rather than exhausts me with zero dread factor!!!