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Running – no….cycle – No… Skating – No. None of these activities can make the claim that walking can! Walking for exercise is the number one participation sport worldwide. Why? Well here are a few good reasons.

Easy to do. There is no great challenge to walking. It does not require any special skills or advanced conditioning. Walking doesn’t require any special equipment or clothing. All you need is a good pair of walking shoes, comfortable clothing, a pedometer, and you’re all set.

Healthy when Hippocrates said that walking is man’s best medicine, he didn’t realize that thousands of years later, new benefits of walking would be discovered daily. Some health benefits of walking include:

• Burns almost as many calories as jogging
• Eases back pains
• Slims your waist
• Lowers blood pressure
• Reduce the level of bad  cholesterol
• Reduces heart attack risk
• Enhances stamina and energy
• Lessons anxiety and tension
• Improves muscle tone
• Easy on your joints
• Reduces appetite
• Increases aerobic capacity
• Can be done in short bouts
• Slows down osteoporosis bone loss
• Can be done when you’re traveling

Walking for Exercise – Safety

Safe walking: walking is probably the safest exercise you could do. It doesn’t require prior training or conditioning and doesn’t involve a great deal of physical exertion in the beginning. Studies have shown that due to the design of our body, walking is more natural than sitting, standing or running, and walking is not as stressful to the body like other exercises. For example, running is much more stressful on the heart and joints and leads to many more injuries. The shock impact of a runner step is 3 to 4 times the person’s weight. For walking is only 1 1/2 times. Some sports like basketball and tennis can have as much as seven times a person’s weight.

While walking his easier on your body, it can be just as beneficial as running helping you lose weight. If you run for 30 minutes at 5 mph you will burn about 285 coats. If you walk for 30 minutes and 165 cal, 225 on a slight incline of 5%, and 360 cal on a 10% incline.

Walking: no advanced degree required there is no need to buy expensive videos, computer programs or manuals in order to learn how to walk. All you have to do is walk. Find a method that is comfortable to you and that’s all there is to it. Here are a few helpful hints on walking:

Posture is King:

In order to get the most out of walking, good posture is crucial. Keep your head up and your spine straight and look straight ahead. Keep your arms and shoulders loose, do not look down to avoid possible Road obstacles.

Take the regular breaths: never hold your breath.

Walk don’t run: to get the most out of your walk you should keep a brisk pace, but not fast. We should be able to individually determine the correct place shortly after starting our walk. If you think it is difficult to breathe easily, you’re obviously walking too fast.

Is your body trying to tell you something? The expression, ” if it feels good do it”, applies to walking in the opposite is also true. If you have a lot of pain or discomfort, check with your doctor.

Stride: try to take long, smooth strides. Your motion should be fairly effortless, with your arms at your sides for balance.

Watch for future posts about Walking for exercise. The next one will be “walking equipment”. For more posts about getting enough exercise and how to approach exercise, click here.

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