Walking is a very effective exercise for people of all age groups. Walking for at least twenty minutes is essential to relax our body muscles and provide our mind good recreation from our stressful daily routines. Walking in an environment that is peaceful and free from pollution in the early morning, will definitely help you achieve high fitness levels. Many people indulge in walking for reasons like, walking to lose weight and increase stamina. Walking for weight loss has helped many people who are suffering from obesity and related problems to live a normal healthy life. Walking as an exercise is very easy and does not require money.
Some More Advantages Of Walking
Apart from the above mentioned things, there are some more advantages of walking. They are as follows:
Lowering levels of bad cholesterol Increasing level of good cholesterol Maintain blood pressure levels Reducing the risk of diabetes Bringing zeal and enthusiasm in your life Increasing your resistance power
Though there are innumerable advantages of walking, you should be aware of the walking exercise programs, so that walking as an exercise helps you achieve your set fitness targets. Here are some walking exercise programs, which will be very useful for you.
Walking Exercise Programs
Preparing before starting your walking exercise program, is a very important factor which will decide whether you will succeed or not. You should wear clothes in which you are comfortable while walking and good quality shoes. Select the kind of clothes depending on which season it is. The clothes should be ideally casual, loose fitting and not formal. Never commit the mistake of starting your walking exercise program without a warm up. A warm up which should last for five to ten minutes will help to make your body muscles ready for the further activity which will be requiring more energy. Try to make short jumping and stretching exercises as a part of your warm up.
Archive
Posts Tagged ‘Exercise Program’
Exercise has a very important role in the general health and the quality of life of everyone, but especially in seniors. Seniors who walk tend to look younger, sleep more soundly and have fewer visits to the doctor. Walking for 30 to 60 minutes four to six days a week will help improve osteoarthritis and decrease the risk of osteoporosis, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and obesity. Walking is the top recreational sport for seniors.
Although many seniors may be scared to start an exercise program because they are worried about injury, the health benefits of exercise outweigh the risk of injury. Walking is considered one of the best forms of exercise because it’s safe, cheap and easy. Unfortunately, foot problems can prevent seniors from starting or continuing with a walking program. Follow these tips to help avoid foot problems when walking:
1. Choose the right shoe. Make sure the shoe is supportive and bends only at the toes. The shoe should also be stable from side to side. If you can twist the shoe or fold it in half, it is too flexible. The shoe should have enough wiggle room for the toes, yet be snug enough to keep the heel from slipping.
2. Buy shoes in the afternoon. Feet swell during the day and it is better to fit your shoes at this time. The only exception to this rule would be if you always do your walks in the mornings. Make sure your foot is measured at the store to obtain your correct size. Feet change size over time. Most feet lengthen and widen over the years, increasing the shoe size. Don’t assume you’ve always been the same shoe size.
3. Start slowly with an easy pace. Try a short walk of 15 minutes and gradually increase the time each day.
4. If you haven’t walked before, make sure you start on a flat, soft surface. A great surface to start on is a level, dirt path. Don’t jump into climbing hills until you build some endurance.
5. Warm up before walks. Gentle stretching before and after walking can improve circulation and prevent injury. But, don’t over stretch. If you haven’t stretched before, be careful not to over do it. This can lead to injury.
6. Avoid walking in bad weather. Cold, wet weather makes surfaces slippery and hard and decreases visibility. Muscles can become tight and the feet can become numb, increasing the chance of injury.
7. Examine your feet after the walk. Look for areas of irritation, red spots, blisters or areas of swelling. Self-treating can turn a minor problem into a major problem. Consult a podiatrist if a problem persists.
8. Avoid cotton socks. The white cotton socks you’ve been told to wear all these years are not appropriate for exercise walking. Synthetic or wool socks will help wick moisture away from your feet as you walk. This will decrease your chance of fungal infections, excess rubbing or blister formation.
9. Walk in well-lit places. The darker the trail or road, the more difficult it is to see and the higher the chance you will have of tripping, falling or twisting an ankle.
10. Don’t walk through pain. As soon as you notice a foot problem, stop walking. If you continue walking with an injury you could be making the problem worse. If you feel it’s necessary to continue your exercise program, try using a stationary bike while you give your foot a rest. If a few days of rest does not resolve the problem, see a podiatrist.
Some people walk a rut in the mud trying to decide upon an exercise program. They don’t like running because it hurts their feet. Maybe they’ll walk down to the gym and have a look around. But those bodybuilders and power lifters are too intimidating, so they just walk on and don’t look back. What about the health club? Walk in and look at all the pretty women with hard bodies. What to do? Keep walking and thinking.
Sometimes you really can’t see the forest for the trees. This whole time you’ve been pacing around you’ve been active and burning calories. Oh my gosh! You’ve discovered your exercise program. Yes sir, walking can be your fitness program. It’s been shown to have many health benefits and there are several variations you can use.
Most people take walking for granted and fail to associate it with any health benefits. They think you have to grunt, sweat and experience pain to be healthy and happy. But, that just isn’t so. Anything that keeps you active can keep you healthy, and here’s how.
Aerobic Power
Contrary to popular belief, walking can increase your aerobic power. Any previously sedentary individual who walks three times per week for 30 minutes a moderate pace will show improvements. Doing so for 12 weeks can increase aerobic power by 12 percent. Obviously, the faster you walk the greater the aerobic benefits.
Body Composition
To lose fat, you must be active and burn calories. Walking is an activity and it burns calories. In a 16-week study, a group of people lost an average of 12 Ibs and decreased body fat by six percent. The group walked 90 minutes per day for five days per week. Walking a mile burns approximately the same number of calories as running a mile; it just takes more time.
Blood Lipids
Walking can increase the levels of HDL cholesterol, which transports cholesterol to the liver for removal from the body. A program of at least 12 weeks of high-intensity, long distance walking will increase the HDL levels in the blood and put one at a lower risk for cardiovascular disease.
Blood Pressure
If you suffer from mild or moderate hypertension, walking can lower both the systolic (pumping) and diastolic (resting) blood pressure. Even people with normal blood pressure will experience a slight drop in pressure. These reductions may not be spectacular, but they are significant. Other walking benefits, such as weight loss, will also help lower your blood pressure. Walking also lowers your resting heart rate.
Mental Health
Taking long walks can also be good for the soul. Any form of exercise can relieve stress, combat depression and ease anxiety. You may not be able to walk away from life’s problems, but you can walk off the stress.
Bones and Joints
Men lose bone strength as they age, although not nearly to the same degree as women. Regular walking can have positive effects on bone density and lessen the risk of fractures. Because walking places less mechanical stress on the joints, it is less likely to result in injuries.
Think of it this way; the journey to good health starts with a single step. Putting one foot in front of the other is all it takes to get started. Walking is simple, safe, accessible to everyone and has the lowest dropout rate of all exercises. After a while, most people want to experiment with various forms of walking that will further increase their aerobic capacity and strength.
Here’s some basic walking programs to try.
Walking 101
This is for beginners. It’s for those who are severely out of shape and want lo begin an exercise program, like newly uprooted couch potatoes or those recovering from an illness. It consists of brisk walking at around three to four miles per hour. To do this, take longer steps than normal and proceed at a faster pace. Be sure to learn to walk erectly and keep the shoulders back. Breathe deeply as you walk and let your hands and arms swing freely at your sides.
All you really need for walking is a good pair of shoes and some comfortable clothes. Any type of shoe will suffice. Most wear regular tennis shoes, but you can purchase walking shoes at a sporting goods store. Clothing should be loose and comfortable, and appropriate for the weather if you walk outdoors.
Advanced Walking
As your strength and aerobic capacity increases, you’ll want to pick up the pace and walk both faster and for longer times. However, at some point you will reach a level where you can’t challenge yourself further by walking alone. Now it’s time to get serious about walking and add some challenging variations to the routine. To increase the workload, try walking over hilly terrain. This will raise your heart rate and burn more calories at the same time. Walking briskly up a 10-degree incline will burn about 300 calories in less than 30 minutes.
Another method for increasing the workload is to carry additional weight as you walk. Most commonly you see people carrying light hand-held weights when walking. Alternatively, ankle weights, weight belts or weighted backpacks can also be used alone or in combination. Try walking up a hill with a weighted backpack if you still think walking isn’t much of a challenge.
Race Walking
This is not a more intense form of walking, but a unique form of movement. Sure, you’ve seen the people who seem to wobble rapidly along the sidewalk – that’s race walking. This requires using strides, where longer steps are taken and the feet follow a straight line. The strides are very rapid and the pelvis rotates dramatically with each step. This shifting of weight with the hips causes the person to glide smoothly along the path.
Besides lower body movements, race walking also uses the upper body.
The arms are used as pendulums to regulate the leg and hip movements. As you step forward with your leg, drive your opposite arm backwards to propel you forward. As the leg pushes forward, bring your arm forward for the next movement. Because race walking is not as natural as normal walking, it will take some practice and possibly a little coaching to get it down right.
The good thing about walking is that you can do it just about anytime and anywhere. You can walk around the block at lunch time, walk to work or simply walk around and explore your own neighborhood. During the spring and fall you will surely want to take advantage of the outdoors. Many parks have walking trails and most athletic fields have running/walking tracks.
Everybody’s heard of mall walking. Many malls open early in the morning so people can walk their long or circular corridors. Since most malls are multiple level, you can walk the stairs to make your workout more strenuous. Best of all, malls are excellent for the summer and winter months; they provide a safe environment, and they’re free.
If you don’t want to have to leave the house to walk, then invest in one of the many good quality treadmills that are available. Many offer a computer that will vary the walking speed, as well as constantly increasing and decreasing the slope to simulate mountain trails.
Facts & Figures
The Rockport Walking Institute (RWI) is dedicated to conducting research on walking and disseminating the information. Working in conjunction with doctors and exercise scientists, the RWI developed the following fact sheet.
Walking is the number one participant sport in America.
According to a recent report, 90 million people walk for physical fitness.
Walking is a healthy, natural function of the human body.
Because of the structure, shape and flexibility of the spine, the human body is better suited for walking than for sitting, standing or running.
Fitness walking is more than just walking for fitness.
Simply defined, fitness walking is walking at a brisk enough pace to maintain your heart rate in the target training zone. Fitness walking is the cornerstone of a total approach to personal fitness that uses walking as the major exercise, but also includes improving strength and flexibility, paying attention to diet, and reducing stress. With fitness walking, the goal is to develop a training program that will strengthen your heart. There isn’t any magical overall fitness formula that is right for everyone; it’s all tailored to the individual’s ability and level of fitness. And fitness walking is virtually an injury-free exercise, with a very low participant dropout rate.
Walking speeds vary greatly.
For a person in reasonably good health, a normal walking pace is somewhere between 3.0 and 3.5 m.p.h.
3.75 to 4.0 m.p.h. is considered a brisk pace, although speeds of up to 5.5 m.p.h. are not unusual for well-conditioned athletes. For most people, anything below 3.0 is slow.
Regular walking can help you lose weight.
Fitness walking is an excellent adjunct to an overall program to lose weight. While walking burns about 20 percent fewer calories at most speeds than does running, it still is the preferred exercise for most individuals who seek to lose weight. This is because walking is ideal for a consistent program, and consistency is what counts in an overall lifetime weight-management program.
Walking produces a variety of important health benefits.
Walking improves cardiovascular efficiency, may lower blood pressure, relieves stress, reduces body fat, strengthens leg and abdominal muscles, and may improve the quality of sleep. Moreover, biomechanics studies have demonstrated that the foot lands with only 1.5 times the force of body weight in walking, while it may exceed three times body weight in running. Thus walking poses much less risk of orthopedic injury.
Walking is truly an ideal sport for consistent, life-long aerobic conditioning.
Fitness walking is especially beneficial to the cardiovascular system. By expending 2,000 calories a week in vigorous exercise, participation in a fitness walking program can significantly reduce the risk of heart attack. Indeed, fitness walking is frequently incorporated into a cardiac rehabilitation program.
There are so many benefits to walking. First and foremost, it’s plain good exercise that almost anyone can do. A good pair of walking shoes and appropriate clothing is all you need. Grab a friend or listen to your iPod, and you’re good to go.
Walking can become a bit more challenging as the season start to change. Wet, cold, slippery wet leaves or icy sidewalks can compromise your safety. You can bring your walking indoors right in the comfort of your own home.
I’m sure you’re wondering, “How?” because I was wondering the same thing. Walking expert Leslie Sansone “Walk Away the Pounds 5 Mile Advanced Walk” DVD show exactly how you can get the most out of your walking workout. These advanced walking programs are filled with upbeat music that are geared to help you lose weight, build strength and tone your body.
There are four basic walking movements walking on the spot, kicks, knee lift and side-step. In this particular DVD, it includes walk boosters that help you burn more fat and calories. Included are a walk belt, two pound hand weights and a firming band. The five miles comprises of three miles using the boosters, while the other two miles are quick miles without the boosters. The program is completely flexible so working with or without the boosters, you’re still achieving an effective workout. Of course, diet plays an important part and Leslie provides a 7 day weight loss meal plan.
What I like about the walk boosters, you can use each one independently. I found the miles that use the boosters were not used nearly enough. It’s nice to have the waist belt, firming band or hand weights to use on other days or used in addition to another exercise program. When the weather is nice, carry your hand wieghts for a brisk walk to burn more calories.
You can really tailor this walking workout to your fitness level. For instance, exaggerating a side-step by stepping out wider and sitting into it involves using larger muscle groups therefore working your buttocks, the front and back of your thighs and your hamstring. Walking on the spot can easily become jogging on the spot. There’s no right or wrong way and as long as you keep to the beat of the music, you’re getting a good workout.
Whether you walk with or without the boosters, indoors or outdoors, walk three miles or five miles you can achieve a heart-healthy walking workout that will enable you to lose weight, burn fat and lead a long and healthy life.
**Please note: Before taking up any fitness program, consult with your doctor first.
You might have gone through many advertisements or must have actually used many weight loss or muscle building programs. Are you satisfied with your program? Did it show results? P90X exercise program is the best program that is systematic and has proven its worth every time. Many programs, which are easily available on the internet these days, confuse your body. Therefore, instead of making the maximum use of these, people tend to see irregular patterns in their body like irregular sleep, diet or appetite problems, routine change, lifestyle malfunctioning etc. P90X is highly organized. It includes the most effective exercises which show quick results. The best equipments and nutrition plan makes it the finest program available these days.
The P90X was intended more or less to sort out the theory of muscle perplexity. Actually the thing that happens is that human body is a highly sensitive thing. Fundamentally you are varying your schedule about every three weeks so that your body never gets used to doing the same practice and consequently you never experience the significant result. This program will make you disciplined and you will carry on gaining muscle over the track of the ninety day program. Depending on which version you desire to undertake you will do three resistance workouts, two cardio workouts, and one yoga workout every week. You will do a different workout on a daily basis and that was precisely what anybody would be in search of. I am sure you must have tried other programs where you do the similar exercises day after day and possibly two unusual workouts in a week. The variety is the key which will make you to stick to the program. The combinations of this P90X exercise works the best to keep you fit and reduce fat, tone your body and build muscles. This scheme puts order to your workout routine and even diet.
The equipment you will require to start P90X, you will necessitate dumbbells or resistance bands, a pull-up bar or a way to invoke pull-ups using the resistance bands, and a yoga carpet People time and again inquire about the diet and weight, they might need to perform these daily exercises. Also they are curious about the starting weights they need to lift. This entirely depends on your power. You should use variable dumbbells so you don’t have to put in a lot of room to stock up all of your weights. The finest thing is you can get a workout routine in the comfort of your home. Here you can workout according to your convenience.
If you are doing your P90X workout daily and fear losing your body after the 90 day span is over, then you are wrong. It offers a proper routine for your cardio and other exercises after the program is over. It makes you so dedicated and concerned for your body that it becomes a part of your life. This is really amazing to notice yourself from a lazy person to a new active and disciplined individual.