Search - George Foreman: Walk It Off With George 2-pack on DVD

Two fun walking workouts adaptable to a wide variety of fitn

Beth Cholette | Upstate NY USA | 01/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've always liked George Foreman's lovable, big teddy bear-like personality (at least how he's been in more recent years), so I was interested in checking out his workouts. However, one concern I had was that they would be too easy for me, as I am an experienced exerciser, si I was pleasantly suprised to discover that the workouts could be easily modified to make them more challenging. Although George is a prominent feature during both videos, the workouts are actually led by veteran instructor Petra Kolber, with George making occasional motivational comments throughout.

The first workout, Circuit Walk, incoporates some minimal toning moves--eg, squats, lunges--into a basic walking workout. Petra starts the workout with a basic aerobic warm-up, leading you through simple steps such as marches (the "walk"), side steps, heel taps forward, knee lifts, and the "George shuffle," which is just a walk forward and back; the warm-up lasts just over 5 minutes. Things start to move a bit more quickly for the main cardio segment of the workout, although the steps remain very basic. Petra does add a few variations such as front and side stomps, but everything is very easy to follow, especially since Petra always previews each new move first and tells you that you can stick with the walk if you are having trouble following along. During the cardio portion, there are also a few toning moves included in the form of squats and lunges. After about 23 minutes, you begin cooling down by returning to the moves from the warm-up, and then the last couple of minutes of the workout consists of a few simple lower body stretches, bringing the total time in at just under 32 minutes.

Walk and Box offers a 44 minute basic walking workout but adds interest with a few boxing moves--mostly boxer shuffles and basic punches--as well as "boxing blasts," which are four 1-minute higher intensity bursts interspersed throughout the workout. Petra begins with a basic aerobic warm-up that is approximately 6 minutes long; however, I found that the warm-up quickly raised my heart rate into the fat-burning zone. The main body of the workout consists of very simple steps such as the basic walk (marching in place), side steps, boxer shuffles, and the "Foreman shuffle" (marching forward and back with a tap). Petra relies on George to introduce the punches--jab, hook, and uppercut--and then she incorporates a "fitness" version of each. During the higher intensity drills, Petra gives you various options, including a fast walk/shuffle, jogging, or mock jumping rope. The workout ends with a 4 minute cool-down which consists of two minutes of slowing the heart rate followed by two minutes of stretching.

I am an intermediate exerciser, so these workouts were a bit on the easy side for me, but I had no problems modifying the intensity to meet my needs (eg, adding weighted gloves, making the movements bigger and more bouncy, incorporating more knee lifts, doing the toning moves double-time, etc.) and thus keeping my heart rated elevated throughout both workouts. However, both workouts are also quite doable for beginners; Petra frequently encourages you to go at your own pace, and the large group of background exercisers follows this advice. As compared to Leslie Sansone's walking workouts, I find the Walk It Off with George series to be more fun: the music is more upbeat, George is a big goofball, and he and Petra have a great rapport. Overall, I find these to be very enjoyable workouts that I know I will use often--highly recommended!"

Double the Fun!

JenJen | Paola, Ks USA | 07/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My husband and I have been doing the George Foreman Fat Blasting Walk DVD and liked it so well we decided to get some more of his dvd's to keep us from getting bored. The circuit walk really works your butt and thighs without being too hard to do--lots of squatting and lunges, though. We really liked the walk and box, because it works your muscles and is a lot of fun at the same time. My husband likes doing the Foreman dvd's because they're not "girly" and the steps are simple and easy to learn and I like them because we can do them together."