Brisk walking as part of an exercise programme is an ideal way to:
- Reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis and obesity and gives you more energy to do the things you enjoy in life
- Lowers the level of ‘bad’ cholesterol in your blood. Studies have shown that regular walkers have less LDL cholesterol – the fat in the blood clearly linked with heart disease – and more HDL cholesterol which is better for you
- Tones up your muscles and strengthens your bones
- Helps to control your weight
What level of walking is needed to benefit health?
You can start slowly and build up gently. If you can only walk for a couple of minutes and then you need to rest that’s fine. Ideally you need to include about 30 minutes of moderate paced walking per day if possible.
Training Tips
- Always maintain good posture and body alignment – the head should stay as a natural extension of the spine with chin parallel to the ground and eyes focused on the horizon. The chest is lifted with shoulders back and relaxed and with the arms swinging naturally by your sides.
- Maintain a natural stride and walk with a rolling heel-to-toe foot action
- It is strongly advised not to walk alone but to arrange to go out with a friend or partner. If you do walk alone take a mobile phone or leave a note of where you are going, what time you left and what time you expect to be back
- Be cautious if wearing a head set because it can make you less aware of what is going on around you
- If you decide walking is something that interests you, then investment in a good pair of hiking boots would make sense
- Carry some water to stop dehydration especially if the weather is hot
- Start with short easy walks – perhaps one, two or three miles
- Work your way up to something more adventurous, perhaps increasing the walk length to five miles over easy terrain. From this base you can then build up your experience and set out on routes that require more effort
More information on walking
www.walkingbritain.co.uk is a very useful website full of information. Hundreds of walks are featured on this site.