Check out these fitness walking tips before you head out. Your walking experience will be safer, more enjoyable and a lot more productive.
Come back and refresh your memory from time to time too! We do! (something about our 'seasoned' memory circuits needing a little help from time to time).
Let's go!
Set A Goal For Yourself - One of our favorite walking tips is - Keep It Simple. Remember why you're walking. Feeling better, lose weight, help your heart, reducing stress, helping your arthritis or diabetes, lowering your blood pressure. Keep your purpose in mind because it's important to you. One goal we suggest you add is simple. YOU want to Feel Great Again!
Make A Plan - Set a time for your walk, have a route planned for the day. Follow it! Something this simple can actually make you feel even better at the end of the day. "I said I was going to do that and I really did it. Yeah for me!"
Be Safe - Walk with a buddy, neighbour, partner or even a group of friends. Try to avoid really uneven ground, sidewalks with cracks and heaved sections. Find softer ground rather than harder when possible - gravel walkways rather than concrete paths.
If you are walking around traffic make sure to observe all the traffic laws, be visible, make sure you have eye contact with drivers if you are crossing streets. Wear reflective clothing, vests, bands on your hat if you are walking in the evening, night or reduced visibility conditions.
If you must walk on the road and share it with traffic, walk facing the oncoming vehicles. Carry personal identification with you. If you have any special medical conditions be sure and have info on that with you too.
Warm Up & Cool Down Properly - This is really important especially as we 'get along' into 'old fogie-hood'. Those muscles need a warning before you start! Try these Stretching Exercises and Chair Exercises that will really help. Make sure to read the preamble before you jump into the first exercise!
Wear The Right Walking Shoes - This biggie is one of the top ten walking tips for a reason. Proper fitting footwear that matches your type of walking is really important! So important in fact that we have a dedicated section you should visit to find the best walking shoes for you.
Take your time. This tip is very important. Proper type of shoe. Proper fitting shoe. Critical steps to your walking happiness and feeling great again!
Oh, and if you are still working, keep an extra pair of walking shoes at the office so there's no excuse to skip a day!
Wear Proper Clothing - Dress for the season, dress in layers and dress for visibility. Take sunscreen, wear sunglasses and a hat. And don't let a little 'weather' get in the way. Just make sure you have a waterproof jacket and a hat with a brim. Keep the rain off your glasses!
Foot Care - They're your main tools for walking along with your shoes. It pays to look after them properly. As you may have guessed they get their own Foot Care section too! Check it out!
Use Proper Walking Technique - Or learn to walk properly! One of the most important walking tips that is often ignored! Your body will really thank you if you pay attention to this one.
You will get maximum benefit, minimize impact on any problems you might have (back pain, etc) and really enjoy your walk a whole lot more. Your goal after all is to feel great again. Right? Fine tune your good walking technique here.
Drink Water - Your body uses water to help keep normal body temperature and to cool your muscles. Drink some water before you start and after you walk. Some people find it helps if they carry water with them too. Test out what works best for you.
Oh, and don't forget to 'empty your tank' before you head out on your walk too!
Motivate Yourself
We know! The whole idea of 'motivating yourself' is a bit of a toughie some days. You're probably thinking "That's one of their walking tips? Hmm." Bear with us.
Rather than slip on our non-existent magic motivation guru hat we thought you could get your creative juices flowing, keep it fun and interesting with these.
Take along some of your favorite music to listen to or perhaps some motivational messages. Whatever your tastes are. Get pumped!
Why not plan a little healthy reward for yourself. Some new shoes after you've walked every day for a month or three. Maybe some new walking clothes. Maybe a real slick pedometer. Something to make you feel good about yourself and you know you've earned!
If you get along well with your neighbors you could get yourself a T-shirt with ATTITUDE to wear as you zoom by them. (If you don't, maybe they will chase you down the path and make you walk faster!)
Try some pedometer walking and see how much you improve from week to week. "Gosh - I used to walk at 90 steps per minute now I can do this route at 125 paces per minute. Yeah!"
Find a friend you really enjoy walking with and who has a pretty good zip in his or her pace. See if you can keep up and maintain a conversation without losing your breath.
