One of the best ways to stay healthy and live longer is as simple as WALKING! Did you know, walking is also a powerful tool to lose weight as well? There are many benefits of a walking routine and by incorporating just 30 minutes of this each day, you will be setting yourself up for a healthy life!
Whether you walk inside on a treadmill or outside, you will see great results. You can walk to work, join a hiking club, walk with a friend or by yourself to ease your stress. You can even split up the 30 minutes into two 15 minute sessions each day if that works better for you. Walking is one of the best exercises because it is very easy to do, the only equipment required is a pair of tennis shoes, and it has major physical and mental benefits.
I’ve heard it before, “Why even go to the gym if you’re just going to walk?” The truth is, walking receives unfair judgment on its benefits. The truth is, walking is a very effective physical activity and offers a mental boost to boot.
Top Benefits of A Walking Routine
“Walking can be as good of a workout, if not better than running.”, says Dr. Matt Tanneberg, CSCS, a sports chiropractor and certified strength and conditioning specialist. “Walking is a really good form of exercise and can help you reach your fitness and weight loss goals.”
Walking is a lower impact exercise that can be done for long periods of time without the risk of injury. Those with knee, ankle, and back problems will benefit from walking when other forms of exercise don’t work for them.
Physical Benefits of a Walking Routine
1. Burn Those Calories and Lose Some Weight
By following a daily walking routine, you will be able to watch the numbers on the scale begin to drop or at least prevent weight gain. Many of us women in midlife would love to see our pants begin to fit more loosely. Even if the number on the scale isn’t moving much, the result of walking reduces belly fat as a result of your body responds to insulin.
Walking daily also increases your metabolism by burning more calories while preventing muscle loss. As we know, our metabolism begins to slow as we approach middle life sometimes making it difficult to put the brakes on weight gain.
2. Improve Your Digestion
A regular walking routine will improve your digestion system and get your bowel movements on a regular schedule as well. Having your GI tract functioning properly not only helps your body rid of waste, but your bowels are an important part of your immune system and help your body produce vitamins. Your colon’s bacteria also affect your metabolism and digestion.
3. Reduce Your Risk of Chronic Disease With a Walking Routine
Those who stick with a walking routine show a significant improvement in blood pressure, slowing of resting heart rate, reduction of body fat and body weight, and reduced cholesterol.
The American Diabetes Association states that walking lowers your blood sugar levels and your risk for diabetes.
By taking a longer walk of about an hour two times a week, you may help prevent disease and chronic cardiac issues.
4. Walk and Increase Your Mobility
Walking can increase your mobility by strengthening the muscles surrounding your joints. Research shows that walking for at least 10 minutes a day will help keep away arthritis pain as you get older. By keeping your joints engaged and working those muscles around your joints, you will keep your mobility strong for the coming years.
5. Delay Spider Veins in YourLegs
Walking is a proven way to prevent varicose veins from forming as we get older. Our circulatory system formed by the muscles and veins in or calf and foot pushes the blood back up to the heart and lungs. Walking strengthens our circulatory system by strengthening and preserving leg muscle, which boosts healthy blood flow. By walking and keeping the blood flowing, it helps to delay varicose veins from forming.
6. Sleep Better
A study from Sleep shows that women who are postmenopausal that do a moderate-intensity exercise like walking, sleep better at night than those that are sedentary. As you know, when you work out regularly, you will sleep better at night since exercise boosts the effects of melatonin, the sleep hormone.
7. Live Longer!
The benefits of a walking routine can even help you live longer in many ways. We have learned that by having a walking routine will help prevent chronic disease, improve your circulation, increase your mobility, and help you maintain a healthy weight. By combining all of those good for you benefits, you will live longer.
Not only does staying active by walking increase your longevity, it also gets people out of the house, be social and engaged with others. These are all important factors for living a long healthy life.
Mental Benefits of a Walking Routine
Not only does walking have wonderful physical benefits, it also has many mental benefits as well. By allowing yourself the time to walk, it allows your mind to relieve anxiety, improve your mind, and boost creativity. By having a consistent walking routine, you are more apt to develop more healthy habits along the way.
Relieve Anxiety and Improve Your Mood
Did you know a ten minute walk is a calorie-free way to relieve anxiety and improve your mood? Regular walking actually modifies your nervous system so that you decrease experience of anger and anxiety.
Now when you go for a walk in nature and soak in some sunlight, it has a natural calming effect on your mind. By allowing your mind to be quiet without distraction of the day to day obligations, your mind relaxes and your mood elevates.
Boost Creativity
Activities such as walking that allow for our minds to wander promotes a mental state conducive to innovative ideas and what I like to call “ah-ha” moments. By freeing our minds of tasks, we set ourselves up to be able to think freely which increases our creative output.
Next time you are stuck on a project at work, it may be of benefit to walk around the block to break that creative block.
Develop More Healthy Habits
By having a consistent walking routine, you are more likely to develop other healthy habits. You might find that when you are exercising regularly, you will want to eat healthier, or drink water more throughout the day. By setting up a committed schedule to walk, you may find yourself being more productive as a whole since you are scheduling your day.
Get The Most Out Of Walking
Whether you are walking outside or walking on a treadmill, you can intensify your workout by adding some variables. You can turn a simple walk into a fun, fast interval session and burn a high level of calories and crush those fat cells.
Treadmill Walking Routine
You can get just as good a workout walking on a treadmill as you can when you run on one. Another benefit is that you will get the cardiovascular benefit without the wear and tear on your knees!
- We burn the most calories by raising and lowering our heart rate.
- On the treadmill, you will want to intensify your workout by adjusting the incline up and down through your workout.
- Change up your walking speed as well to raise and lower your heart rate.
- Don’t hold on! Let your legs do the work.
- By challenging yourself with short bursts of intervals, you will build strength and endurance as well as give yourself a great cardio workout.
Outdoor Walking Routine
One can achieve the same interval benefits of the treadmill when walking outside. The added bonus is getting out in nature which gives us a mental boost as well.
- Strive for a mixture of hills and flatter terrain to get your intervals in.
- Walking hills enables you to burn more fat without attacking the lean muscle tissue.
- Adjust your walking speed from a casual pace to a brisk pace and then back to a comfortable walking pace.
- Turn up some fast-paced music to keep your walk at a high pace!
Treadmill Walking For Beginners
- Start by walking for 5 minutes at a comfortable speed to warm up
- Increase the incline to 5% for three minutes
- Go back to a 0% incline for a one-minute rest.
- Repeat for 3-5 rounds
As this becomes more comfortable, you can increase your speed or go to a higher incline. You can also increase your time each week.
Outdoor Walking For Weight Loss
Schedule your walks in order to be consistent and to ensure you’re getting enough exercise you need to burn calories and fat. In order to lose weight, you will want to walk most days of the week. Aim for your total week’s walks to be at least 150 minutes for a regular health and fitness plan. More is better in order to lose weight.
Feel free to modify this plan as needed to work with your schedule and time restrictions. You can break up long walks into two shorter ones if it meets your schedule better.
- SUNDAY– 60 minute long walk at a brisk pace.
- MONDAY-Take a leisurely stroll for 45 minutes
- TUESDAY-30 minute short walk and do some strength training
- WEDNESDAY-30 minute short walk with intervals
- THURSDAY-60 minute long walk at a brisk pace
- FRIDAY– 30 minute short walk and strength training
- SATURDAY– Long easy walk day. Walk for 30 minutes at a brisk pace and then another 30-90 minutes at a comfortable pace
Depending on your weight and distance walked, this plan can burn 2000 calories a week for the average walker!
These are just a couple of walking routines to get you started. The great thing about walking is you can change up the routine to match your level, time available, and fitness goals. Just be sure to challenge yourself and mix things up to progress more each week or month to see the benefits of your walking routine!
Happy trails!
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