How hard we tried to walk when we were toddlers and how much we liked to walk as kids! How hard we are trying to avoid walking! Why are we getting used to sit without doing any work? We hate to lose at least a penny we earn. Then how can we lose the invaluable health? We try to find a reason to give ourselves to stay away from work-outs.
We don't need to bring the sky down to earth or break the mountains to stay healthy and active. Walking for an hour a day keeps us healthy. This helps us to stay away from any sickness and keeps us active life long.
Start walking and in a few days you will find the pleasure in it. Walk in the direction of health. But let us see what experts said about walking routine.
Set a target
You should set a target when you think of going for "walking". You must set your walking routine according to the set target. If you are walking as a part of cardio-vascular exercise, walking for 3-4 days a week at moderate speed is enough but if youare walking to lose weight, you should walk 5 days a week. You should walk fast in this case for around an hour a day. Instead of craving for more distance from the very first, start with a less distance and increase it every week. You can achieve one hour time a day within 10 weeks from starting 10 minutes a day. To set a target of losing 3500 calories a week through walking is a good way of achieving the results. You can check whether you are burning the calories as set with the help of pedometers, calorie counters available in the market. To maintain the required heart rate, you can use a heart rate monitor and check the heart rate frequently. These heart rate monitors are available in many models like watches and you can go for them.
How the calories burn?
While walking, the way the calories burn depends on the time you are walking and also on your weight. For example, if a 60 kg. person walks at 5 km per hour speed, the calories that burn are 180-200 while a person with 80 kg weight can lose 220-240 calories for the same time and speed. You can burn on an average 300 calories per an hour easily through walking.
How much time you should allot for walking
For normal health benefits, one can walk for 20 minutes to an hour. If you can not walk continuously for an hour, you can divide the timings and can walk for 4 times a day for 15 minutes each time. While you are walking for the first 8 minutes you lose carbohydrates, for the next 12 minutes you lose proteins and after that you lose the fat content which means that you start to lose fat only after 20 minutes. So, walking for less than 20 minutes or 20 minutes a day doesn't yield much results. You shouldn't add the time taken for warm up and cool down in the total time . You should do hand exercises for warm up for 10 minutes before walking to relax the muscles. After walking you have to do stretching exercise for 10 minutes to cool down.
Heart Rate
By observing and maintaining the heart rate while walking yields desired results. While counting heart rate, 220 beats a minute is said as the maximum heart rate. If you cross this rate, your heart can not bear that. You can set 130-140 beats as the target and this can help you in burning the fat greatly. If you can not achieve the desired results with your routine walking, you can increase the speed.
What doctors have to say
- Going for a brisk walk 5 days a week for one hour each time reduces the risk of getting paralysis by 50%.
- Heart and lungs become strong with walking and you can not catch a disease very easily.
- It helps in letting out the waste materials in the body.
- Reduces the weight in a healthy way.
- Reduces the risk of getting type 2 diabetes, heart problems, cancer, Arthritis, sleeplessness, and other common diseases.
- Reduces blood pressure and helps in decreasing harmful cholesterol.
- Walking reduces stress, psychological problems and reduces the risk of getting impotency.
- Makes muscles, joints, and bones stronger.
- Helps in changing mood, body language, and daily routine for good.
Food
Afte making walking a part of your daily routine, it is important to design your food habits in a good way. You should reduce taking fat components and prefer taking protein rich food. Don't ever stop taking breakfast as it is a must. Instead of taking more food at a single time, take less quantities more times. This gives good results. Walking make your body get dehydrated. You should take water more frequently to maintain the body temperature constant. You can take water before starting your walk, after completing your walk, or while you are walking. But take water in little sips.
Where, when, and how?
Don't walk under hot sun. You can walk at any other time than on a hot sunny day. Morning time is more preferable. You should give a gap of 1 hour after breakfast and 2 hours after meals to start walking. Don't go for walking on a hard floor. It is dangerous to go walking after heavy meals or without taking food for more time. Carry a water bottle along with you while going for a walk. For obese people, old people, or people having long term illness, doctor's advice is a must.
Walking Test
It is better to go for walking than trying difficult exercises. Jogging provokes knee problems and it is helpful only when going for any running competitions. To maintain a healthy life, walking is the best exercise. One can ever make the exercise routine in this way- start with walking, jog after some time, run for some time and end the session with walking.
While walking take care of
Feet should be parallel while walking. They should be at a distance of shoulder length. While taking a step, the toes should touch the floor first. Move the shoulders naturally. You should keep your head straight without bending it front or back. You should maintain the posture well while walking. You should walk with your body straight. Your body should be in a way that it should stretch. You should tighten your abdomen muscles while walking. Keep your spine straight. You should sway your hands with your eyes fixed at a distance of 15-20 feet in front of you. You should inhale and exhale air freely. By taking breath rhythmically is more advised.
Etiquette
If you are walking in a group, you should behave well. You shouldn't disturb other's privacy if you are walking in a park or any public grounds. You shouldn't comment on their exercise style. You shouldn't talk on phone or with the person next to you loudly as it disturbs others and even you can not concentrate on your walking. It is a good habit to wish people who come to walk like you everyday.
