How A Walking Fitness Program Can Increase Your Health And Fitness Levels

Many people shy away from taking exercise on a regular basis as they think that it would be overly strenuous for them. Some may have medical conditions, minor injuries or be suffering from illness. Others may just feel that they are too unfit to get in shape. Some people are self conscious about their body and will, unfortunately, avoid exercise as a consequence .

If you recognise any of the scenarios above, then it’s probably worth remembering that you can raise your fitness levels and lose weight without needing to adopt a fitness regime more suited for an Olympic athlete. It’s perfectly understandable that a lot of people associate exercise with making a trip to the gym and getting hot, sweaty and out of breath. It sounds like a lot of effort – which could be why so many people shy away from it and miss out on the potential health benefits available.

In fact, there are various low impact, low intensity exercise options which can provide a wide variety of health benefits, raise your energy levels and help you to lose weight. If you want to move on to a higher intensity exercise when you’re able, then that’s fine – but you aren’t obliged to.

Walking is a very good way to take exercise. It can be performed by a wide age group, it needs no special equipment or apparatus, you already know how to do it – so no training is needed – and you can carry it out whenever it suits your schedule . It would be easy to overlook it as an exercise mode – but the health benefits read like a press release for some new miracle drug.

Walking can help reduce the risk of stroke and heart disease. It can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. It can help to increase the efficiency of both the lungs and heart. It helps to build both bone density and muscle tone. It can help to combat anxiety and depression. It will give you more energy and you will feel less fatigued throughout the day. It can lower the probability of contracting certain forms of cancer. Recent research suggests that walking as little as 8 miles a week can help to stave off Alzheimer’s disease. It can certainly help you to get in shape and lose a few pounds.

It’s an impressive list of benefits. Walking on a regular and consistent basis is what’s important. The general consensus among health and fitness experts is that, in order to achieve the maximum health benefits of walking, you should aim to take 10,000 steps a day. For the average person, that will equate to a distance of somewhere between four and a half or five miles. It certainly sounds like a long way – but it’s probably easier to achieve than you might imagine.

Don’t forget that the 10,000 steps figure includes all of the walking that you normally do anyway. You certainly don’t need to hit this number immediately. You can increase your number of daily steps slowly over time. Someone who commute by car, bus or rail, and who has a sedentary office job, may well have a step count as low as 2,000 steps each day. A cheap pedometer will allow you to establish how many steps you take each day. If you know what your daily step count is, you may find it easier to keep your motivation up. Most pedometers can also display results in terms of total distance covered and the number of calories burned if that’s more meaningful for you.

There’s no shortage of ways to build a little extra walking into your daily routine. If you commute by bus, get off one or two stops before your destination and finish your journey on foot. Climb the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Walk around when you talk on your mobile phone (a ten or fifteen minute call could give you 1,000 to 1,500 steps). Instead of sitting in front of your computer, go for a short ten or ffifteen minute walk at lunch time. When you do use your car, park it in a corner of the parking lot so that you to walk nore to reach the entrance. It soon adds up.

Neither is there any need for walking to be a chore. Get yourself a walking buddy. Plan your walking route so that it takes in any local points of interest. Get yourself an mp3 player so that you can listen to your favourite music as you walk along. The time and the miles will simply fly by.

Get the most from recent developments in exercise shoe technology by wearing a pair of toning shoes while you walk. Skechers Shape Ups and FitFlops sandals are just two examples of this new style of shoe which uses a specially designed sole which encourages your lower body muscles to work a little bit harder. However, all you need to get started is a good pair of comfortable shoes.

If you have any medical conditions, if you are over forty years of age, or if you just haven’t exercised for a while, then it would be a good idea to seek your Doctor’s advice before you commence any new exercise regime. However, as previously stated, walking is a low impact method of exercising which carries a very low injury risk. Start off slowly and increase the distance you walk only when you feel happy to do so. Little and often is a good rule to observe. You’ll be delighted at the results you achieve by doing something as simple as walking a little more often on a regular and consistent basis.