Uncategorized

Make The Most Of Your Walking Workouts

Walking is a great way to workout if you are new to exercise, looking for a low-impact workout, or pregnant. Use theses 7 tips to make your walking workouts more effective.


Pick up the pace

This should go without saying, but if you want to burn more calories while you walk – walk faster! If you want your walks to be a workout, you need to get your heart rate up. One way to do that is to pick up the pace.

Head for the hills

Walking uphill will make your workouts more intense. It will build more muscle and challenge your entire body more. Research has shown that you can burn up to 60% more calories when walking uphill. Try to keep walking at a decent pace and keep your heart rate constantly elevated.

Use your arms

Pumping your arms while you walk will also help increase calorie burn. But if you really want to make the most of your walking workouts, use light dumbbells and do upper body exercises while you walk. Try doing bicep curls, shoulder presses, tricep extensions, cross body punches, and side raises. This will burn more calories and help tone your arms while you walk!

Set a goal

You should constantly be making goals for yourself. Realistic and well thought out goals will lead to better success. Make daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals for yourself. Set a goal about how many steps you want to walk each day. Have a goal about how many miles you want to walk each week. Make big goals like walking a 10k or losing a certain amount of weight. Goals keep your workouts focused and focused workouts tend to be more productive.

Partner up

Having a friend walk with you is always a good idea. It will hold you accountable and potentially make you work harder. You can “race” each other and try to keep the pace quick. Your walks may also end up lasting longer because time goes by faster with a buddy. All in all, the workout will likely be more enjoyable and productive with a friend around. Just make sure you choose a friend who is a fast walker so you are challenged!

Play music

Similar to a chatty friend, music will help time go by faster. Put on a playlist of songs that you love and can sing alone with. This way your walk will feel less like a workout and more like a karaoke party in your head.

Switch up your routine

If you are walking for health reasons or to lose weight – you need to switch up your routine. Your body will get used to the same walk everyday and it will eventually become too easy for you. When something becomes easy, it burns fewer calories and builds less muscle. Our bodies adapt quickly, so if you want to keep your body challenged – have five or six walking workouts to choose from and vary them to keep things fresh.


 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.