by Few forms of exercise have exploded in popularity in recent years such as walking training. Walking is not only accessible to most, but a growing number of research has shown that regular walks support your health and healthy parent.
Although science suggests that all walks are favorable, you can get more out of your walking training by challenging yourself. “If you can push yourself and increase your heart rate, it is really useful,” says Albert Matheny, personal trainer and co-founder of Soho Strength Lab, to Yahoo Life.
Pushing yourself while walking training helps with things like burning more calories and building muscles, and it can also be your heart health, fitness coach Tyneka Pack, founder and chief executive officer of Impackt Fitness in Owings Mills, MD., Says Yahoo Life.
“If you challenge yourself, your heart works hard and builds up the endurance,” she says. But Almoni Ellis, a personal trainer in Chesapeake, Va., Yahoo Life says that your body adapts to become more efficient as you walk more. So it helps to continue to increase your training to get the best results. “With all exercise, while your body adapts to the movement, it requires an increase in intensity and effort to constantly move forward,” says Ellis.
Do you want to take your walking training to the next level? This is what trainers recommend, plus why walking in the first place is so good for you.
Why is walking so good for you?
A stream of recent research has regular walks linked to impressive health benefits. A British Journal of Sports Medicine analysis of data from more than 30 million people showed that those who did for 75 minutes of moderate intensity exercises (such as a bright walk) had a 23% lower risk of dying early.
Another study, published in the Lancet, followed 700 adults with lower back pain for three years. The researchers discovered that those who were asked to follow a six -month walking program had fewer problems with back pain and more time between back pain flares than those who did not follow a walking routine.
Walking can even support your mood. A study by JAMA psychiatry showed that running can reduce the risk of depression by 26%for one hour a day. “It also strengthens your muscles and bones and also reduces the risks of chronic diseases,” says Pack.
How to make your walks more challenging
Matheny emphasizes that walks are better than none, especially if your activity level is currently lower than you would. But when you are ready to make the intensity a notch, experts recommend making these changes to make your walking training more challenging:
Pace
It is easy to be satisfied with exercise with whatever speed feels good for you. But if you feel comfortable at your current pace, it’s time to lift things to the next level. “Increasing your pace will make it more challenging,” says Pack.
Matheny proposes to move at a speed where you start breathing heavier and trying to keep that. Taking shorter steps instead of longer steps, as well as bending your elbows to about 90 degrees and pumping your arms for Momentum, can help you retain a faster clip. Once you feel good at higher speeds, he suggests that you push the pace to the point where you could almost break into a jog, while you still stay on a low-impact training.
You can also keep track of your speed with a fitness app to keep an eye on your progress.
Do interval training
Interval training simply means alternating between low intensity and intensity activity in training. “Interval training offers your body the chance to push itself and at the same time make a good recovery between intervals possible,” says Ellis. By keeping your body ‘guessing’, it can help to improve your fitness and calorie burn, Matheny says. “This is a great way to record a low-impact” high intensity interval training, “says Pack.
There are a few ways to approach this. One is that you can simply move faster during your walks for a certain period, such as a minute or two, before you slow down to recover and then accelerate again. But Matheny says that you can also record things like step-ups on a park bench during your walks to quickly increase your heartbeat before you continue with your walk.
Add more distance – but not too much at the same time
Just like any form of exercise, increasing the intensity or distance increases the risk of injury too quickly. “Ten thousand steps a day is the Sweet Spot,” says Pack. “But for someone who is perhaps only 3000 steps a day, they can gradually add more distance in time.”
She proposes to add another 1000 steps a week until you hit your goal step. “Perhaps the first goal is to hit 4,000 a day for a week; then 5,000 the next week,” she says.
Use weights – but no hand weights
Matheny recommends adding weights to your walks to push yourself “after you feel that you cannot walk faster.” But experts agree that a weighted cardigan is a better option than using hand weights. “Hand weights can throw away your normal current walking pipe,” Matheny explains the risk of injury, Matheny explains. “It doesn’t give you good arm training,” he adds. Pack agrees. “A vest gives equal weight distribution; hand weights cannot and can be more difficult on joints,” she says.
With many weighted cardigans you can add more weights over time to increase the intensity, giving you many kilometers from this investment. “Wearing a weighted cardigan and adding resistance is a great option to challenge your body during walks,” says Ellis. “That improves bone density and reinforces your core reflection.”
Turn up the slope
This is easier if you are on a treadmill, but you can also walk outside hills. Walking on a slope “will increase your heartbeat and include more buttock muscles and hamstring involvement,” says Pack.
If you are on a treadmill, she recommends walking at different slopes to take on the challenge. So that may mean that I would walk with a slope of five before you are over to eight and then back to five, all in the same training. For outdoor walks that can simply mean that he will find a hilly route in your area, says Matheny.
In general, trainers emphasize the importance of keeping things fresh to get the most out of your walking training. “Challenge yourself,” says Matheny.
