Walking is an incredible physical activity that can do wonders for your overall health and fitness.
Going for a nice, brisk walk everyday comes with a host of benefits like shrinking your body fat, improving heart health, boosting energy levels, cutting tension and stress levels, strengthening your immunity, and enhancing coordination as well as balance.
If these benefits were not enough, researchers from the University of Leicester have also shown that as little as 10 minutes of brisk walking a day is associated with longer life expectancy.
Adding a reason to pace up that walk, they shared that brisk walkers have up to 20 years’ greater life expectancy, compared to slow walkers.
So with these amazing benefits in mind, put on your walking shoes and follow these smart walking habits to yield the best results from your daily walks.
1. Aim for more than one walk everyday
If going for a walk is good, then going for two walks is too good! Increasing your number of walks per day will help to increase your daily activity as well as your step counts. This will also prevent you from getting tired from one long walk. One of the best ways to schedule two walks in a day is by placing one after your lunch and another after dinner. This also comes with more benefits as research shows that taking a light walk after eating can help in moderating the body’s insulin and blood sugar levels.
2. Carry light hand weights
If it’s not challenging enough, is it even worth it? Walking is already an easy task for most people. So, in order to yield the maximum benefits, you need to up your game and add some challenging elements. A great way of doing this is to switch to power walk, which involves walking while carrying light weights.
This will push your body to work a little harder and you will end up burning more calories and building more muscle. Make sure you do not overdo with the weights, as it can lead to a neck or shoulder injury.
3. Alternate your walking speed
Extremes are not meant for a classic physical activity like walking. To get the most out of it, keep switching between moderate and vigorous pace. This power walking style will challenge your body, elevate your heart rate and increase your calorie burn. If you are not very comfortable with speed walking, just start by adding 20 seconds of high pace in between your regular walking pace.
4. Ditch all elevators and escalators
Taking time out for walking helps you to truly focus on the walk and get healthier. However, we can also get these benefits to some extent by monitoring our walks during the day – such as at work or while shopping at the mall. One great trick is to skip all elevators and escalators and climb up the stairs whenever possible. Also, park your car fat away from the entry gate. This will also add extra steps to achieve your daily step goal.
5. Take your dog for a fun cardio
This one is perfect for dog parents. No need to plan this or that, just take your doggo out in the park for fun walks everyday. They’ll enjoy the free space and the physical activity. You can also take a break to play fetch or stretch out. There are great chances that your dog will make you run here and there, increasing your heart rate and improving your mood. If you do not have a pet at home, see if your friend or a neighbour does and you can go for a happy evening walk with them.
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