The Walking Fitness Plan

Unfortunately so many people have the mentality where if you are not vigorously exercising, then you will not shed the pounds. However, one of the healthiest forms of exercising is actually walking. Walking works every muscle and joint in your body and also assists in avoiding serious injuries. For those with more mobility, a more vigorous walking routine is best where you walk briskly and fast-paced. However, those with injuries or other obstacles should walk at a more normal pace. Here’s how to walk your way to shedding those pounds!

• Walk at Lunch: Most employers give you an entire hour to have your lunch and the best way to spend that hour is 45 minutes to eat your lunch, and you can use the other 15 minutes to get a quick walk in. Even if you just walk around your work building, 15 minutes of walking burns about 50 calories at a medium brisk pace, so there is an extra 50 calories you can erase off your caloric intake for the day. Try and make it part of your routine to go on walks every lunch hour. You would be surprised the difference it makes.

• Listen to Music: Listening to music while exercising has shown that it increases your motivation to keep going. Music, especially music that you enjoy, stimulates and distracts the brain so you don’t think about how tired or sore your feet are, you keep trucking along. Studies show that fast paced music is best for studying. It helps you maintain your speed, and motiviates you to keep on going. Any type of music is good for walking just as long as you enjoy it.

• Walk Briskly: Obviously if you are going to saunter along at a slow pace, walking isn’t going to do much and you won’t lose many calories. What many people do is put wrist weights or ankle weights on and walk briskly so you are burning as many calories as possible without an intense, vigorous workout. Power walking is even more tiring than jogging, and works a lot more muscles in the process. A simple tip here is to walk as if you’re in a rush. Set a destination and time how long it takes you to walk there. Do it again the next day and try and get there even faster. Simple tricks like this help you push yourself to work harder.

• Work on Extending Your Distance: Getting in the habit of walking a particular distance each day is great, but sometimes you should push yourself to walk that extra block or walk around your walking path twice. Push yourself and you’ll feel much more proud and confident after your workout. A simple tip here is to set markers that aren’t too far away when you are walking. Tell yourself “I’m going to get to that traffic light”, and then do it. Once you get there, pick another marker and push yourself to get there. Keep on doing this, and before you know it, you’ve walked 2km!

So always remember that although walking seems like very light exercise, it’s extremely beneficial and you can do things to push yourself further and work your muscles further.