Walking Your Way To Fitness

Did you know that walking is often the perfect exercise for most age groups? Walking is a popular exercise because it does not cost anything or need any special equipment to do. You don’t need to drive anywhere in order to participate in the exercise because you can just walk out your front door.

There are many benefits to walking including health benefits such as reducing the risk for diseases such as type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and heart disease. You can also lose excess body fat or maintain your healthy body weight by walking on a regular basis. The health benefits of walking include reducing your risk for heart attack and stroke, being able to manage your blood pressure, reducing your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, strengthening your bones and connective tissues, reducing your risk for breast and colon cancers, losing weight or maintaining your healthy body weight, avoiding the need for gallstone surgery, and also being a good physical fitness. There are also mental healthy benefits to walking that go along with the physical health benefits such as improving cognitive function and reducing the symptoms of anxietydepression and stress.

There are several different types of walking that you should explore in order to see which type fits your walking purpose best. The two basic formal types of walking are called power walking and race walking. Some people refer to power walking as speed walking (same thing). Race walking is more of a sport and power walking is for recreational purposes. Both types of walking are really good exercises for your body and will help to improve your overall physical fitness. If you just want to take a stroll or walk the dog or push a stroller this type of routine walking is also good exercise.

Just like any exercise program you should plan out what you will do and prepare for the first day of your exercise program. You will need to plan out the route you will take, what to do in inclement weather, how to protect yourself from stray dogs and strangers and what to do in case of a medical emergency. If you own a cell phone it is a good idea to keep it charged and on you when you walk. Make sure you have properly fitting walking shoes, loose clothing and dress in layers. Wear clothing appropriate for the weather. Wear sunscreen and always tell someone that you are going out for a walk, where you intend to walk and when to expect you back.

Plan to walk slowly for the first five minutes as a warm up for your muscles. Increase your pace until you are getting sufficiently warm from the physical activity. Now that your warm up is done you should stretch your muscles including your calf muscles, quadriceps, hamstrings, chest muscles, and also your lower back muscles. The stretching should last for 5 minutes.

Avoid injury by not over striding, instead use powerful push offs by landing your front foot close to your body and walk heel to toe. Do not walk flatfooted. Keep your torso upright and lean forward or backward in order to slow down. Elbows should be at a 90-degree angle. Try to keep your hands in a relaxed position and your head upright with your eyes looking forward. Concentrate on keeping your neck and shoulders relaxed.