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In the fifth of a new series of blog posts to help you make the choice to walk more often for health, wellbeing or to get fit, through sharing tips and tricks and providing the motivation and support to do so.
Let's Get Going!
You don't have to do it all at once, You can build up the number of minutes you walk by achieving small bouts of activity (at least ten minutes at a time is best). You can start at a slow pace and build up to a brisk pace!
Warm Up
A warm up can be very short, even 5 minutes may be enough. But listen to your body, only increase the pace when you are ready to do so.
The warm up does not have to be technical. It is about just that, “warming up”. By starting your walk at a slow pace it will give your joints time to get greased up and time for your heart rate to gradually increase sending blood to the now working muscles.
For health benefits it is optimal to work at a moderate intensity. Working at a moderate intensity will mean that your heart rate is higher than usual, and your breathing rate is higher than usual.
This should feel like a brisk pace. To ensure you are walking at a moderate intensity you can do a few simple checks like the Talk Test:
The talk test is an easy way to ensure you are working at the correct intensity.
If you can have a conversation with someone next to you while still breathing faster than usual then you are working at a moderate intensity.
Posture
Before your walk, as well as during your walk, take the time to do a posture check. Having good safe posture increases the amount of energy you use as well as keeping your joints safe and limiting the chance of lower back pain.
Read the rest of the Get Walking series - Finding Walks, looking at Physical Wellbeing and Mental Wellbeing, Being Active during Covid19. Do you need specific Gear? Are you doing enough? How to deal with Excuses and setting some very important Goals! Read some Top Tips and think about Setting up a Walking Group and useful sample Walking Programmes you can use.