Beginner's Guide to Walking

Why walk?

Let us count the reasons. Regular walking can help you maintain a healthy body weight, and can even outwit a genetic predisposition to obesity, cutting your risk in half. It’s a drug-free way to manage high cholesterol and diabetes. And even a little bit of walking boosts energy, improves sleep and brightens your mood. It’s arguably the closest thing to a magic bullet for your health that’s out there, and you’ve probably been doing it since you were about a year old. Need even more incentive? Balance Rewards for healthy choices^® is an excellent program to help you stay in step with all the benefits and rewards you get from a simple walk.

Yet while more people are lacing up their walking shoes and heading out the door (or stepping onto a treadmill) every day, we’ve still got a ways to go. Experts recommend adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (such as brisk walking) along with two muscle-strengthening exercise sessions a week to fully soak up the health benefits of this miracle activity. That’s 30 minutes of brisk walking, five days a week, or 15 10-minute bouts sprinkled in whenever you have time. Ready to try it? Let’s get started.

Find the Right Intensity

When you first start out, don’t worry about speed or pace, or even how long you walk. The key is to just do it — and then keep doing it.

Once you’ve mastered the art of just getting out the door, it’s time to start thinking about intensity, or how hard it should feel. The good news is, whether you’re brand new to exercise or have been a dutiful walker for years, it’s all relative. In other words, the level that will help you to achieve amazing health benefits is personal to you. It may be slower than your spouse or faster than your best friend. The key is that you walk fast enough that your breathing picks up and your heart beats faster, but not so much that you are gasping for breath and unable to speak. In fact, walking and talking with a friend is one of the best ways to incorporate walking into your life. Just make sure that you can chat — but not sing. If you feel like you could belt out the National Anthem, you’re not walking fast enough.

Gear Up

One of the greatest things about walking is that you don’t need to spend a lot of money on fancy equipment. When you first begin walking for exercise, all you need is a pair of comfortable shoes. Once you get the walking bug and start going more regularly, it makes sense to invest in a pair of dedicated fitness shoes for proper support and to prevent injury. These items will keep you going the extra mile!

• Shoes. While you can certainly walk in running shoes — and many people do — there are several features of specialized walking shoes that make them worth checking out. For instance, a cushy, beveled heel smoothes out the roll in your stride and pads your heel strike. Walking shoes also generally cost less than running shoes.

• Socks. As your walks get longer, you may find it’s time to upgrade your footwear from the inside out: socks, that is. Cotton socks have a tendency to get soggy with sweat and create blister-causing friction. Instead, look for fabrics that boast sweat-wicking properties (this includes both synthetics like Cool-max and Dry-fit and even natural fibers like wool). You may also want to experiment with different thicknesses: Some walkers prefer thick, padded soles, while others opt for thin, practically bare styles. If you still end up with blisters, try slathering the area with petroleum jelly or other anti-friction protection before putting on your socks.
  
  Longer walks and running can benefit from support stockings. These stockings compress the calves to decrease the risk of varicose veins. Just be sure not to let the top of the socks bunch up and create a tourniquet; this can increase the risk of deep vein thrombosis (a blood clot in your calf).

• Clothing. Just like socks, sweat-wicking fabrics in your tops and bottoms will help you stay cooler when it’s hot (and more comfortable when it’s cool), and can also minimize chafing. You can also dab the same petroleum jelly or anti-friction cream on any sensitive spots you notice, such as under your arms, on your inner thighs, or under your bra line to cut down on rubbing.

• Extras. If you find it motivating to track how far you walked or how fast, there are plenty of free or inexpensive products to help. Clip a pedometer onto your waistband and track your mileage (about 2,000 steps = 1 mile).
  
  Got a smartphone? There are many apps that use either GPS or pedometer-type technology to track your speed, distance and pace. Some apps also allow you to map favorite routes, or try out routes that other walkers recommend. Some apps also let you share your progress on social networks so that your friends can become your cheerleaders and support your efforts at better health.

Ready to Ramp Up?

While moderate-intensity walking is all that’s required to improve your health, incorporating vigorous-intensity walking can accelerate weight loss, build strength and fast-track your workouts so you can get the same or greater benefits in less time.

The easiest way to do it is with interval training. That is, interspersing faster bursts of walking with slower recovery periods. While it’s always a good idea to start your walk at a slower pace to warm up your muscles gradually, this is especially important when you’re dabbling in fast walking. Start with at least five minutes at an easy to moderate pace, then turn on the speed for your first interval. A simple one to try: Walk as fast as you can (push yourself to a pace where you’d rather not say more than a couple words) for one minute. Then bring your pace back down for a minute. Start with five fast/slow intervals, and work up to 10 as you get fitter.

Head for the Hills

Whether you walk on a treadmill or outdoors, going faster isn’t the only way to ramp up your workout. Hills are another great way to boost fitness and strengthen your leg muscles. On the treadmill you can experiment with raising the incline (or try a preprogrammed hill workout). Outdoors, after warming up, find a hill and head up it at a brisk pace for one to two minutes. Then turn around and use the descent to catch your breath. Do five to 10 uphill intervals, then finish with a cooldown. 

Function Follows Form

Because it’s something you’ve been doing your whole life, you probably aren’t paying much attention to your posture or body positioning when you’re walking. But proper form can help you get off on the right foot and help prevent short- and long-term injuries.

• Walk softly. If you can hear the stomping of your feet, you’re pounding energy into the ground that isn’t helping to move you forward. In addition to being unproductive as far as your forward momentum is concerned, you’re delivering undue shock to your feet and legs, which can add up to aches and pains — and even injury. Land softly on your heel, roll forward and push off your toes.

• Maintain a 90-degree bend in your arms. You wouldn’t jog or run with your arms swinging straight down at your sides. Bending your arms to about 90 degrees is the easiest way to speed up your pace. By shortening what is, in effect, a pendulum swinging back and forth with every stride, the pendulum naturally speeds up. And your legs have no choice but to keep up. Try to maintain the 90-degree bend throughout the movement. Keep your arms close to your sides. Your thumb should follow an arc from your hip to the center of your breastbone.

• Relax your shoulders and walk tall. Posture is as important when you’re moving as when you’re standing or sitting. Roll your shoulders down and back, tuck your pelvis, and think about mentally stacking your body from your ear to your shoulder, hip, knee and ankle. Hold your head up (be careful that you’re not jutting your chin out, which puts extra pressure on your neck) and look forward about 10 to 30 feet ahead.

• Use your glutes to power forward. Your backside is the powerhouse of your body. Think about squeezing your glutes as you stride forward. In addition to propelling you forward, this helps to prevent overstriding. While it may seem like longer steps equal faster walking, when you reach your foot out too far in front of you, it can actually act as a brake, slowing you down and creating a halting, bouncy gait instead of a smooth one.

Put It All Together

Walking can be done on any schedule that works for you. But the following plan is an example of how you can start from the couch (or desk chair) and build up to an energizing, fat-fighting walking routine in just one month.

Natalie Gingerich Mackenzie is a health and fitness writer in Syracuse, NY, and author of Tone Every Inch.