Walking Exercise - Walking For Fitness and Health - Get Started Today




Love to walk outdoors? The these walking tips and exercise workouts will help you get started, lose weight and have an efficient cardio workouts for aerobic performance.

In this article I will show you how to lose the gut or even prepare for a marathon with cool running tips.

Walking is an excellent cardiovascular activity especially for Beginner Exercisers. It is low-cost, accessible and undoubtedly the most popular aerobic activity.  Also since walking is a weight bearing activity, it helps builds bone mineral density in addition to heart health and aerobic fitness.
 

Some cool Points on Walking for Cardiovascular Fitness

  • Brisk walking is the best option to improve aerobic fitness. Your goal is not to walk as fast as you can but to walk faster than you normally do as this helps raise heart rate beyond normal values.
     
  • Since walking involves the lower body muscles like hip flexors, gluteus maximus, quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles, its best to stretch these muscles prior to walking.
     
  • Make sure you have comfortable walking shoes. Choose a shoe with good cushioning effect and has an ample space for foot movement on the inside.
     
  • Brisk walking is NOT running. Never walk so fast that you cannot catch your breath.
     
  • Music during walking is common but make sure you use low volume if training near traffic areas.


Start your Walk - 7 Steps for a successful Walking Routine

 

  1. You can walk outdoors in a garden, lawn or big malls. If your gym has a track, it can be used. For Beginners I suggest a brisk walk for 20 minutes, 3-5 days a week.
     
  2. A 5 mile per hour is the least speed required for aerobic and weight loss results. Any slower than that and your fitness gains will be very slow.
     
  3. Its best to stretch the muscles involved before your walking routine as discussed above.
     
  4. Keep an upright posture with chest lifted, head up and inclining from your ankles and not hips! Walk as if your head is floating in the air { like a helium balloon }, extending your spine. Also relax your Buttocks and free your shoulders.
     
  5. Start at a comfortable pace and gradually increase your walk speed.
     
  6. Place one foot directly in front of  the other. It makes walking efficient.
     
  7. At the end of you walking routine, walk slowly for 5 minutes to get heart rate back to normal. You can do some stretching at this time as warm muscles are more responsive to stretching.


Add Variety to your Walking Workouts - Top 5 Workout Tips

  1. Add time before Intensity to your walking routine.
     
  2. Move your arms in circles to increase intensity and upper body involvement.
     
  3. Increasing stride rate helps walk faster just as in speed or race walking. Since walking unlike running requires that you keep one foot always on the ground , hip rotation is very useful for brisk walking.
     
  4. Walk uphill or walk against the wind which can be seen near beach areas.
     
  5. In Interval Training workouts, you can increase intensity of walking for 1-2 minutes and then walk at a slower pace at 1-2 minutes. This is called 1:1 work/recovery ratio. Read more on Interval Training Here. Simple games like faster walk till next pole followed by slow walk and then a brisk walk till the next block form a interval training cycle.


Calories burned in Walking

Calories burned in walking depends on the distance traveled and time taken. Walking a mile takes about half the energy  as running a mile.

A 45 minute cardio session at fast walking speed burns approximately 250-275 calories.
 

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