How I learned to walk -- and run
This is how most of my conversations about exercise used to go. Someone would ask if I ran. I would reply, laughing at my own stupid joke, "only when chased."
When I was in high school, they made us jog around Delaware Park in Buffalo -- a 2 mile loop -- to get in shape for lacrosse season. I couldn't do it. After a week, I quit and joined the softball team. No running there.
I'm thin, have always been thin, but was feeling awfully tired last October when my doctor told me I had to exercise. I told her I couldn't, no time -- full-time job, two kids, blah blah blah. She told me which DVD to borrow from the library. Anything by best-selling fitness guru Leslie Sansone, she said.
Six months later I was running 2 miles around my neighborhood. Now, I do it as often as five days a week (am I sounding like a cheesy infomercial?).
But Sansone doesn't sell running. She has made her fortune advocating walking. The first time I watched one of her 130 (!) DVDs, my editor at the time, a marathoner, couldn't hide her disdain. "You walk in front of the television?" she asked. "This is exercise?"
But it is exercise and I hear Sansone's voice in my head urging me on when I take to the outdoors. "From this tree to that tree, I'm gonna jog," she says, explaining how to build endurance if jogging is your goal. Yesterday, I got to hear Sansone's voice for real, on the telephone, pitching a new program and telling me about her latest video, "Walk Your Belly Flat."
"Don't watch it. Don't try to describe it. Just try it," is what she tells people who turn their nose up at walking videos as exercise. "If you try it, you're a believer," she said. "When you start talking about walking in front of your television, you sound a little kooky."
Trust me, her videos -- which come in bite-sized 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 mile increments -- are a full body workout, something even the uncoordinated can follow. They are brisk walks and core training exercises, hardly marching in place in front of the TV, which is probably what my editor was envisioning.
"It's not a joke of a program -- it is low-impact aerobics," she said. "We've stripped away everything that's complex. If you can walk, you can follow every aspect of our program."
For someone who has interviewed governors and senators, I was oddly starstruck by this 48-year-old fitness instructor from the suburbs of Pittsburgh. When I told her how I can now run because of her, she seemed genuinely excited to be talking to a real-live success story. "This is years of this and I still don't believe it," she told me. "I'm thankful for being the ambassador of walking."
Sansone started out teaching walk aerobics at a local fitness center and the classes were always full. One day, in the mid-80s, a class member asked if she could film the session so she wouldn't miss her walking while on vacation. Then everyone in the class wanted a copy of the tape. Fast-forward more than 20 years and this woman is the undisputed queen of walking.
Now that she has conquered the home market, Sansone is trying to return to her roots. She wanted to talk to me about the "walk leader" certification program she has started to train people across the country to teach her walk workouts in their communities. Sansone will be holding workshops later this year and into 2010. There are details at her website, www.walkathome.com. Getting the Leslie Sansone seal of approval will run you more than $1,000.
Sansone still does some teaching herself. She's on hiatus right now, but come October, she'll be back at the front of the room every Monday night at her Walk Productions studio in New Castle, Pa.
Comments
you actually have me considering trying her out. i used to love running, but it's rough on my knees. perhaps this is a better option.
Posted by: maryann | August 25, 2009 9:55 AM
I started using her DVD's borrowed from the library after surgery when I couldn't do my more advanced exercise DVDs. Four years later, I still do one or two of her workouts per week in rotation with strength and more hi impact routines. She is very motivating and I like that her cast consists of all ages and sizes. (I am 46 and I think her workouts are effective and knee preserving!)
Posted by: stasia | August 25, 2009 2:02 PM
I wore out one of Sansone's Walk Aerobics tapes years ago -- must have been one of the first ones, because it was a VHS and the quality was what we'd now consider laughable... and I think she was going by a different last name (maybe her maiden name?). It was strangely addictive, fun and effective, turning this one-time couch potato into an avid walker. I've been thinking of picking up one of her newer DVD's lately to get me re-invigorated. Thanks for the reminder!
Posted by: Linda | August 25, 2009 2:43 PM
I just completed Sansone's certification and I was an avid convert to her program a couple of years ago. It's great for maintaining fitness when the weather discourages you from going outside and it is a great supplement to any other workout regimen. I'm incorporating fitness into my career coaching business. I now help people get their physical, as well as their professional lives in shape!
Posted by: Jackie Jones | August 26, 2009 10:50 PM
Great review of her and her program. Got my wife then me started with a walking routine. Her enthusiasm is infectious. As a result we've both become advocates of the benefits of walking. We'll have to take a serious look at her certification program
Posted by: Tom | September 22, 2009 5:09 PM
I never run! I've had asthma since childhood and ever since my school made me run cross-country at about 13 years old I've avoided running. I didn't like the discomfort caused by my exercise induced asthma. I found other ways of exercising such as badminton and "walking". I'm now 49 and walking/hiking are my main exercise methods. I live in the UK and have been thinking of how to get more out of my walking activities. I would also like to find a way of exercising at home during the darker winters. Nice article! I'm off now to check out her certification program.
Posted by: Richard Griffin | March 1, 2010 2:18 PM
Great article! I discovered Leslie through a link from Dr. Oz. I've always been active, but structured exercise always became boring to me after a few days/weeks. I started walking at home last November, 3-4 times a week, and am so impressed with how I feel and look now (in March) that I don't want to stop exercising this time. I weighed 140 and am 5'4" and 51 years old so am not too heavy, but found my shape was "spreading out". In this short time, I have lost 2.5" off my waist. I've only lost a few pounds, but have found that my body shaping is amazing. If you haven't tried any of Leslie's DVD's, consider it. I love the outdoors, but during the winter months, this is an excellent, safe and warm way to keep moving.
Posted by: peggy | March 2, 2011 8:45 AM