What is walking?
Walking as a sport is nothing more than walking with a little speed. For this reason walking is easy to learn and it is possible for almost everyone to practice. Calorie consumption during walking is slightly less than with jogging but you will be able to keep going for longer.
Advantages of Walking:
- Puts less strain on the joints than jogging.
- Walking is the natural motion of human beings.
- Walking is ideal for increasing fitness levels and burning calories. Walking is not only suitable for very sporty but also less sporty people. The physical load is a lot easier to regulate especially for less well-trained individuals. The risk of excessive strain is a lot less during walking than jogging.
- Walking is very healthy and it reduces the risk of getting civilisation illnesses.
Necessary Gear :
- None!
- If you walk often, it is recommended to buy special walking shoes which are well cushioned. If you just want to try out walking, well cushioned shoes are sufficient or, if need be, simply use comfortable and soft shoes.
- Make sure to wear suitable clothing. Functional high-tech sportswear is, of course, ideal. However comfortable cotton clothing is also appropriate. Some people would prefer to wear normal everyday clothes, as it bothers them to be observed when doing sport. Wearing normal clothes makes it difficult to differentiate a walker from someone who is simply taking a stroll.
- There is no bad weather - only unsuitable clothing.
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10,000 Steps a Day to Your Optimal Weight: Walk Your Way to Better Health, Greg Isaacs
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Fitness Walking for Dummies
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A few rules for the beginning:
How fast to walk
At the beginning, you should start very slowly. Start with your normal stride tempo. The goal is to walk at least 20 minutes without taking a break. The additional arm movements usually already make the physical load sufficient. If you do not feel challenged, you can increase your walking speed. As soon as you are out of breath you should reduce your speed so that you do not need to stop. Avoid taking breaks. You can obviously take a break if you do not feel well, are out of breath, have stitches or are feeling dizzy. The primary goal in the beginning is to walk the entire distance without taking a break. After a short time you will find the right walking speed for you to be able to do it. You can start interval training as soon as you are able to walk a distance of 30 minutes without any problems.
Interval Training:
Using interval training when walking is particularly suitable for increasing your performance. Alternate: for 2 minutes walk so fast that you are almost jogging and then walk 5 minutes at a slower pace. Alternating from a higher load to a lower load improves your physical condition a lot faster.
Training Duration and Frequency
Ideal would be to train 3 to 4 times a week for 45 to 60 minutes. Beginners should walk twice a week and increase gradually with time.
How to walk right. (Walking Technique)
Walking is not difficult. If you concentrate on your posture when walking, you will benefit a lot more from it.
Posture When Walking
- Walk upright but not in a stiff manner and avoid bending forwards when walking. This places an unnecessary strain on the back.
- Relax your shoulders.
- Raise your chest and suck in your stomach.
- Keep your head up and look five metres ahead of you.
Motion When Walking
- Put the heel on the ground with your knee slightly bent!
- Roll through the entire step from heal to toe!
- When the foot touches the ground, the knee should remain slightly bent.
- Bend your elbows at the side of your body and swing them energetically back and forwards!
- Consciously breath in and out
- To be quicker you should increase the step rate and not the stride length.
This all sounds rather complicated. However, most people follow these rules intuitively. There are usually only very small corrections to make.
Where to walk?
You can walk everywhere. Some people like to walk in forests, some at night in the shopping mall or in the neighbourhood. The important thing is not to get bored when walking. Change your walking route from time to time.
Walking For Advanced Walkers:
Power Walking
Power walking is walking at a higher speed by increasing the step rate.
Walking With Weights = Wogging
If normal walking is too easy, the physical load can be increased by using dumbbells or ankle/wrist weights. This is called walking with weights. Only start walking with weights when you have perfected walking. Otherwise it is easy get used to walking incorrectly with additional weights.
Nordic Walking
A new variation to walking is "Nordic Walking". Nordic Walking is combined with the arm technique used in Scandinavian cross-country skiing (hence Nordic ). Cross-country ski poles are used. Pressing into the ground with the ski poles supports motion and intensifies the exercise of the chest, shoulder and arm muscles. At the same time it takes the strain off the ankles. Nordic Walking is similar to mountain climbing with telescoping poles. The physical load and the calorie consumption during Nordic Walking is 20 to 50 percent higher than during normal walking.
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