First Step towards Fitness – Walking

To honor the growing demand from my regular readers and of course for my own interest in health and weight loss I am introducing a new category called Finding Fitness. This category mainly focuses on tips and tricks to be fit, active, and young and to stay that way for a long time. I am very excited about this category and confident that together we can find natural and easy solutions to our lifestyle related health problems.

Learning to walk is our biggest achievement when we are a baby but as we grow into an adult we find ways sometimes even very expensive ones to avoid this activity that we are naturally built for.

I had an opportunity to have a small talk with a distant relative who lived a long and healthy life. He passed away couples of years back and was 98 years old at that time. Till his very last days he was physically independent he had a very weak eye sight and suffered short term memory loss but other than that he was able to manage everything else on his own.

I asked him the secret to his amazing health and he told me plain and simple. “In our day we walked everywhere. We walked for miles and miles for even a small thing and if we had to go really really far we used bicycles that were available on rent.”

Today we live in so much comfort that if we want to experience that king of hard labor we will have to spend hours in the gym. The good news is that we don’t have to do that much of hard work all we need is a regular workout for 45 mins to 1 hour a day atleast 5 days a week to keep us fit active and healthy for decades to come.

“Walking is man’s best medicine.”-Hippocrates

Walking is the easiest, cheapest, simplest exercise that can be done anywhere. We don’t need fancy equipments or gear for walking nor expensive membership at a fitness center. All we need is a good pair of shoes and we are set to walk off our weight. Yes the shoes in the pic are mine. These are my favorite pair and I ware them everywhere.

How to choose good shoes:

They have to be light; they should have an inner arch support, comfortable cushioning not excessive, and a thick and firm sole not the bouncy kind. While buying try both shoes, stand up feel your weight in it, walk within the shop and if you feel any discomfort try another pair. Make sure about the size. Remember comfort comes before looks when it comes to shoes. Any good quality walking shoe will have all the features you need.

Benefits of Regular Walking (30 to 60 mins a day, 4 to 5 days a week):

1. Improves physical functions and balance especially in older people

2. Reduces weight by losing calories and increasing the metabolic rate

3. Good for heart and brain

4. It increases the whole body bone density

5. It prevents diabetes and cancers like breast and colon,

Regular walk can turn the body clock backwards as it makes all the organs function right

Where to walk:

I would love to walk on a beach but as most of you I don’t live near a beach (Yet) let us consider other options.

1. Around your building or block,

2. A park nearby,

3. In a mall: find out if the mall has a walking club that mostly organizes walks within the mall before the mall starts if not then a weekend window shopping trip can also be used for a good walk excuse.

4. Inside house: Indoors walking is good enough if you have the space even in a smaller area you can keep walking for 30 mins to an hour.

5. Streets: Walking on streets can be dangerous so one should be very careful especially at darker hours like early hours in the morning and late at night. Reflectors can help. Make sure you walk in the opposite direction of the traffic so you can see a vehicle coming in your direction rather than walking on the side of the traffic.

How to walk: well the posture matters;

1. Keep your back straight not arched. Don’t lean forward or backwards,

2. Hold head high, Look forward, chin parallel to ground, keep stomach tight

3. Move shoulders naturally, swing arms freely, bend elbows slightly,

4. Warm smoothly rolling foot from heel to toes, be soft on joints,

5. Start with less time like 15 to 20 mins or less as long as your body is comfortable with but gradually increase time and distance.

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