Walking Workout

Well, after my volleyball game tonight, I wanted to do just a little something, so since a few of my Facebook friends were talking about the Walk Away the Pounds DVDs, I thought I'd go for a walking workout.

Let me first say that I used to do these before I was a runner. They were harder for me then. I am pretty good at running now, so it takes a good deal of pace or incline for me to really get my heart rate up when I walk (when I walk on the treadmill, I go at a 4.5 mph pace typically with 3 or higher incline). But, nonetheless, I was curious about a walking workout and remembered a gal on YouTube who has several--JessicaSmithTV. I really wanted to do the Walking Exercise - Indoor Jogging (power walking, running, cardio, fat burning). However, it was 40 minutes and had lots of jumping (so I would probably love it) and I didn't want to do that right before bedtime (and didn't have 40 minutes to burn).

Since I wanted something shorter and low impact, I found this 26 minute one. I have done enough jumping for today and my knees needed a break! So, I decided on this one-->  Walking, Exercise: Dance Walk (walking workout, low impact, fat-burning cardio)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1AU_yr2-mc

Of course, I forgot to hit START on my heart rate monitor, so I don't have data. The highest I saw it get was the 130s and most of the time it was between 110 and 125. So, I didn't get a really high heart rate going on this, but it was low impact, so I didn't expect to get too high.

What I Liked:

• It was low impact and only 26 minutes.
• The moves were not super easy. It was not JUST walking. She incorporated lots of arms. 
• There was a "swimming" arms move while moving side to side that I really liked. 
• I think this would be a nice group workout for beginners. It's not super difficult and since there's nothing high impact, no jumping, no push-ups or "hard things" it would be good for building confidence for those just starting out with exercise.

Concerns:

• If you are a runner, this might not be for you. You aren't going to get a crazy cardio rush from it, but that's the trade-off for low impact.
• If you are looking to burn major calories, since this is a shorter workout, it might be difficult to do.. unless this is more at your fitness level. 
• It might be a little boring for some people. I was distracted by the People's Choice Awards on TV, so I didn't mind it. 

Recommend? Depends. It really depends on who you are. Though I prefer higher heart rates on my workouts, I did still enjoy doing this and did work up a slight sweat. And, I could feel it in my legs. The arm movements were nice since I was sore from serving 200 volleyballs today and needed a nice stretch.