Printer-Friendly Logo

Recipe Search

Enter ingredients or recipe title:

Or



More Recipe Search Options
Walking

Exercise Description:

Walking is one of the best and most accessible forms of exercise. Walking offers all the fitness benefits of jogging and avoids the pounding on your body. It's a painless way to shed kilograms and tone up muscles. Walking helps prevent bone loss that can lead to osteoporosis.

What Muscles You Work:

Walking primarily strengthens muscles in your thighs and calves. You also work your buttocks, trunk and upper body muscles.

Tips To Improve Your Walking:

  • Practice proper fitness walking technique. Keep your shoulders relaxed (back and down), your head level, and your chin level. Align your shoulders directly over your hips with your spine straight.  Bend your arms at the elbow, at a 90 degree angle, keeping your fingers curled gently. Swing your arms like a pendulum with each step. 
  • Warm up for 5 minutes walking at your normal pace. Then gradually increase your speed until you feel yourself breathing rapidly, but not so hard that you can't talk. Walk for 10 minutes, and go 1 or 2 minutes more every other day, until you are walking about 20 minutes. 
  • Check your pulse while you walk and gradually increase your pace until you are within your training range. Once you are within your training range for 20 minutes, gradually increase your distance. 
  • Cool down by walking at your warm-up pace for 5 more minutes. 
  • Stretch your calves (place both hands on a wall, one foot a few feet from the wall, the other a few inches back, and lean into the wall), quadriceps (stand next to a wall, put your left hand on the wall for balance and use the right hand to pull your right foot up behind you toward the buttocks), and hamstrings (sit with right leg extended and left foot on the inside of the right knee, and lean forward as far as possible with both hands). Hold each stretch for 20 seconds, and then switch to the opposite side. 
  • Set aside a time of day that's most convenient for you. You can also break up your walking time into 2 or 3 sessions per day.

How Not To Get Hurt:

Being overambitious when you start a walking program can cause an injury or lead to enough discomfort that you may lose interest. If you feel stiff and sore a few days into your program, you may be walking too fast, too far, too soon. Don't worry about distance in the beginning. The total time walked is more important.

Essential Equipment:

  • A good-fitting walking shoe is essential.  Try on a number of different brands until you find the one that is comfortable for you, alternatively, seek advice in regard to the best shoe for your foot. 
  • Water bottle and drink water, water, and more water. 
  • Good-fitting socks constructed of a fabric that keeps moisture away from the skin to prevent skin soreness.
More About This Subject