Walking Your Way to a Healthier Body

|PIC1|Walking is often overlooked as the most important form of exercise - it beats other forms hands-down for convenience, and simplicity, as a natural activity that can be done anytime and anywhere! It improves your cardiac fitness, maintains weight loss and improves your posture - No wonder walking was voted as one of the most popular fitness activities in the UK!

Londoners alone spend 81 hours a year walking, and women make 30 per cent of their trips on foot compared to 25 per cent of men’s outings. And besides being a popular pastime, walking has spectacular health benefits; a recent study led by The National Institute of Health in America found that walking for 30 minutes a day, if combined with a healthy eating plan, could halve the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.


A Week's Worth of Walking

|AD|In addition to the fact that walking may help stave off certain diseases, this type of exercise works the major muscle groups in your legs and bum and will improve your circulation. And as it’s low impact it is also is easy on your joints.

In fact due to its low impact whilst still remaining a weight-bearing exercise, walking whilst being easy on joints can also strengthen bones therefore, preventing diseases like Osteoporosis. It trains you abdo muscles, helping you to stay in an upright and aligned position and improve your long-term posture.


Walking the Walk...

A good walking stance is important. It is suggested that you think of yourself as being as tall and straight as possible; pulling your tummy button in towards the spine, keeping your neck long, your chin slightly down, and then, holding your arms at a 90-degree angle, gently pumping them back and forth to begin your walk!

The other thing you’ll need before starting your walking programme is a good pair of trainers. Shoes are adequate, but most experts recommend buying a walking-specific trainer; look for one with proper arch support and cushioning, and make sure the shoe doesn’t come too far up on your Achilles heel – so that you can flex and move your ankle.

Be sure to break them so as to also avoid blisters.


A Sample Walking Week

|TOP|When beginning, aim for at least 30 minutes of walking, at least three times a week. Go for shorter, more intense walks if fitness and calorific expenditure are your goals; you should be comfortably uncomfortable – the best workouts being one's where you feel like you’re working hard but aren’t overly short of breath.

Start with the following routine below and see how it goes. You can increase the number of times you walk or the duration of your workout if you feel up to it. Alternatively, if you’re really short on time, break up your walking sessions into three, spurious 10-minutes. However, these shorter spurts of exercise aren’t ideal because you’re not stressing your cardiovascular and muscular systems as well as you should be. No matter your walking routine, be sure to rest for at least two to three days during the week, especially if you haven’t been exercising recently.

A warmup before starting any of these exercises is recommended, with caution in building up your exercise to a higher intensity so you don't strain or injure yourself.

Monday: Walk for 30 minutes
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Walk for 30 minutes
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Walk for 30 minutes
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Cross training – feel free to mix and match other fitness activities into your workout throughout the week.