Week 1 Tip of the Day Thursday: Walking
Walking: The Best Exercise You Can Do For Your Body
September 28, 2017
I know these first couple posts have been very ordinary and if you are looking for new topics of health and fitness they will be sprinkled in don't worry. But just like when you first start working out or when beginning a nutrition plan you have to start with the basics and master that first and that's what I am doing with my blog topics!
I'm sure you already have been told by your doctor that you should start walking to help with your heart, cholesterol levels, and all that other medical jargon. Well this is something I condone people start doing EVERYDAY as well! Walking is a low impact exercise that is easy on the joints and you don't have to invest a lot of stress to your body like you do with high intensity exercise. Walking can be done by any person because it is a basic movement of everyday life and if you are new to fitness I would start off with that to see where your cardiovascular endurance levels are.
Walking has so many other benefits including:
1) Fat Loss: Since walking is a low-intensity exercise, you will burn a higher percentage of fat when doing it. When doing high intensity exercise, your body uses glucose (mostly from carbs) as its main energy source for fuel. High intensity exercise will also elevate cortisol levels (stress hormone). It's good to mix high intensity in for workouts, but you can be more in the "fat burning zone" and not have to invest as much stress when your walking.
Don't just think though you can walk for 15 minutes and expect to see the pounds drop off. Walking should be done at a brisk pace where you are breaking a sweat and for a longer duration of time; I would say at least 45-60 minutes. Add in hills or intervals (slow walk-power walk) to increase the intensity and fat loss response.
2) Recovery: I have told so many clients and people this. On your "rest" days you should not be sitting on the couch doing nothing at all. That's not rest, that's just lazy! The best way to recover from your long week of workouts or in between workouts is walking because it will increase your blood flow to your muscles and help them recover faster and help reduce inflammation of the body.
3) Stress Relief: Everyone has some sort of stress in there life whether it be from work, relationships, school, etc. Whenever I feel stress building up inside me I immediately go for a walk. This helps me get my breathing under control as it pumps more oxygen throughout the body and helps me collect my thoughts and really talk things out to myself. Plus at the end of it I always feel a lot better and i killed two birds with one stone by helping me recover if the stress was caused by an intense workout I did.
4) Better than Running: Now if you run don't bash me for this. I'm not saying that you should stop running. I like to run as well, granted not more than about 3-4 miles at a time, but walking is better than running for the body because it doesn't add the wear and tear to the joints that running does. If you are running to improve your cardiovascular endurance, I have no problem with that. When you run to lose weight, I will say there are better options. Walking keeps you in a "fat burning zone" better than running. You burn more fat when walking than running because when you run your body is using carbs more for fuel. If you want to run for fat loss, I prefer interval training where you run at a faster pace for a shorter time and then walk. It wont cause as much pounding on your joints as just a straight run and it will still improve your cardiovascular endurance.
The only con of walking is that it is time consuming. I understand that our lives are time-oriented with work and families; but if you have the time instead of just sitting down watching TV or surfing through Instagram and Facebook on your phone, get outside or to the gym and get a walk in. For fat-burning results, aim for at least three hours of walking per week at a minimum. If you have more time, 6-8 hours is ideal. Make sure to walk at a brisk pace for your body and depending on your heart rate. You shouldn't be able to read a book or surf the web on your phone while you walk: that's just a complete waste of your time then.
So people WALK, WALK, AND WALK some more! That's the message to take from this today. See you tomorrow for Fun Friday where i give you a challenging workout to test out to see how you do.
Best,
Ryan
September 28, 2017
I know these first couple posts have been very ordinary and if you are looking for new topics of health and fitness they will be sprinkled in don't worry. But just like when you first start working out or when beginning a nutrition plan you have to start with the basics and master that first and that's what I am doing with my blog topics!
I'm sure you already have been told by your doctor that you should start walking to help with your heart, cholesterol levels, and all that other medical jargon. Well this is something I condone people start doing EVERYDAY as well! Walking is a low impact exercise that is easy on the joints and you don't have to invest a lot of stress to your body like you do with high intensity exercise. Walking can be done by any person because it is a basic movement of everyday life and if you are new to fitness I would start off with that to see where your cardiovascular endurance levels are.Walking has so many other benefits including:
1) Fat Loss: Since walking is a low-intensity exercise, you will burn a higher percentage of fat when doing it. When doing high intensity exercise, your body uses glucose (mostly from carbs) as its main energy source for fuel. High intensity exercise will also elevate cortisol levels (stress hormone). It's good to mix high intensity in for workouts, but you can be more in the "fat burning zone" and not have to invest as much stress when your walking.
Don't just think though you can walk for 15 minutes and expect to see the pounds drop off. Walking should be done at a brisk pace where you are breaking a sweat and for a longer duration of time; I would say at least 45-60 minutes. Add in hills or intervals (slow walk-power walk) to increase the intensity and fat loss response.
2) Recovery: I have told so many clients and people this. On your "rest" days you should not be sitting on the couch doing nothing at all. That's not rest, that's just lazy! The best way to recover from your long week of workouts or in between workouts is walking because it will increase your blood flow to your muscles and help them recover faster and help reduce inflammation of the body.
3) Stress Relief: Everyone has some sort of stress in there life whether it be from work, relationships, school, etc. Whenever I feel stress building up inside me I immediately go for a walk. This helps me get my breathing under control as it pumps more oxygen throughout the body and helps me collect my thoughts and really talk things out to myself. Plus at the end of it I always feel a lot better and i killed two birds with one stone by helping me recover if the stress was caused by an intense workout I did.
4) Better than Running: Now if you run don't bash me for this. I'm not saying that you should stop running. I like to run as well, granted not more than about 3-4 miles at a time, but walking is better than running for the body because it doesn't add the wear and tear to the joints that running does. If you are running to improve your cardiovascular endurance, I have no problem with that. When you run to lose weight, I will say there are better options. Walking keeps you in a "fat burning zone" better than running. You burn more fat when walking than running because when you run your body is using carbs more for fuel. If you want to run for fat loss, I prefer interval training where you run at a faster pace for a shorter time and then walk. It wont cause as much pounding on your joints as just a straight run and it will still improve your cardiovascular endurance.
So people WALK, WALK, AND WALK some more! That's the message to take from this today. See you tomorrow for Fun Friday where i give you a challenging workout to test out to see how you do.
Best,
Ryan
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