Depending on your current fitness level, a
fast paced walk might just get you sweating and raise the heart rate too.
As you start to find a fast
walk easy you can increase the distance or speed and if you’re feeling daring
both, switch between high and moderate intensity, decrease the ‘recovery
periods’, and find hills/steps to climb.
If you want to know how many
steps you are doing a day get a pedometer (step counter). The NHS suggests we should aim to take more
than 10,000 steps a day to see health benefits. However on average people only
take 4,000, so a pedometer could help see how many you take.
So my six key benefits of
walking are;
- Developing stronger bones: Walking has far less pressure on your joints than running, and can reduce the risk of osteoporosis by increasing bone mineral density.
- Healthy heart: High blood pressure and high cholesterol are proven to be reduced by walking regularly
- Controls weight: Depending on the intensity and the fitness level for the person a little aerobic walk can get you sweating and raise your heart rate
- Clears the mind: The psychological benefits of a long walk are great, it can help clear a mind full of stress and worry, reduce depression and even improve the quality of sleep
- Energises the body: Walking is a great way to promote oxygen to flow around your body, reducing muscle tension and stiffness.
- Tones up your muscles: A hill-walk every day can really bring shapely definition to the calves, quads, even glutes. Increasing the pace will bring in the hamstrings, hip flexors, and buttocks.