Fitting A Walking Workout Into Your Daily Routine
Walking is a great way to take exercise. Most of us do it, to a greater or lesser extent, every day. It requires no special equipment other than a comfortable pair of shoes, and it can be fitted into your day whenever it suits you best. It's also a very cost effective form of exercise - there are no costly monthly membership fees to be paid.
There are so many health benefits associated with walking that it's almost difficult to credit that these are available from a low impact, low injury risk exercise format. Consistency is the key thing - low level exercise, performed on a regular basis is very much better for you than infrequent and periodic spells of intense physical activity.
Walking for thirty minutes, three or four times weekly, on a regular basis will soon generate results that you can feel and see. If you can gradually increase to 10,000 steps a day - that's between four and a half and five miles for the average stride length - then you will really start to reap the rewards.
There are numerous opportunities to walk a little more each day. If your schedule allows you to fit in a half hour, or even an hour, of walking daily then that's good. If that's not practical for you then there's no need to despair - there are many ways to ramp up your daily number of steps taken.
Leaving the car in the garage and walking to work or school is sound advice. However, if the distance involved is too great then take the car as usual - but park it in the far corner of the parking lot so that you have further to walk to get to the entrance. If you travel on the bus or the subway then you could get off one or two stops before your destination and complete your journey on foot.
During your lunch break, take a ten or fifteen minute walk around the block. It'll be better for you than munching a sandwich in front of your computer (you'll have more energy and be more mentally alert in the afternoon as well). Put modern technology to work and walk around when you're talking on your cordless or mobile phone. You can fit in an extra 1,000 paces during a single fifteen minute telephone conversation. That's the kind of multi-tasking that's a real benefit to you!
If most of your walking activity is fitted into your daily schedule in a piecemeal manner, then you may want to think about getting yourself a pedometer - these are available starting at less than $10 these days. You can carry one of these in your pocket or attach it to your belt. It will let you track and record your progress in terms of the number of steps taken, the number of calories burned or the total distance covered. Monitoring your progress in this manner might help to keep you motivated and will encourage you to look for other ways to include walking as part of your daily routine.
About the Author
Learn how to increase the effectiveness of your walking workout using Fitflops exercise sandals and shoes - http://www.fitflops-sandals.com - the Fitflopos range is approved by the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA)
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