Six ways to make your daily walk more effective – and fun

Judy Fog is 76 years old and one of the fittest people her daughter knows. Take, for example, her VO2 max — a common system for measuring physical fitness, measuring how much oxygen a person takes in when exercising.

“Her VO2 max is not that different from a Nordic skier, and they are considered the top of the top,” commented physiologist and physical trainer Robyn Fog-Wiltse. What is her mother’s secret? Daily walks.

In the last two years the world has changed a lot in its relationship with walking. Millions of people walk the sidewalks of their neighborhoods or walk along local trails, aiming to improve their physical fitness, gain a sense of community and benefit their mental health. Studies have shown that walking for at least 30 minutes a day is enough to reap important physical and emotional benefits.

But walking thousands of steps down the same old sidewalks every day can quickly turn an everyday pleasure into a repetitive chore. There are dozens of ways to modify your walk and make it more interesting, as long as you are willing to open your mind.

EXPERIENCE THE NORDIC WALKING

Nordic walking was originally developed in Finland to train cross-country skiers during the summer. Its practitioners use special sticks with rubber tips to provide stability in contact with the pavement. The activity also involves the arms and core muscles, converting a simple walk into a workout that activates the entire body.

Those who are walking who don’t let themselves be discouraged by attention, practicing Nordic walking in the city, will have an average increase of 22% in calories expended and will consume 23% more oxygen. The more oxygen your body can consume, the more efficiently it will be able to generate energy during physical activity.

Companies like Leki and Black Diamond sell a number of expensive, high-tech Nordic walking poles, but correct technique is more important than the brand of poles.

“Whether you’re using a stick with a handle and a handle or just two regular sticks, the focus of practice should be on whether you’re using anything to engage your upper body,” said Kirk Shave, who trains Nordic hikers at Mountain. Trek Fitness Retreat and Health Spa in British Columbia.

According to Shave, you should hold the poles with your elbows bent at a 90 degree angle and your forearms parallel with the floor. Then use your triceps to squeeze the ends of the poles into the trail behind you and push your body forward.

“The biggest problem for people who walk or run is their knees and ankles,” he explained. Using poles when you walk on level ground and when going down slopes, taking some of the weight off your lower body, can prevent compression problems in these joints.

HAVE A LITTLE FUN

“Having fun is a must,” said Bill Burnett, executive director of the Life Design Lab at Stanford University and co-author of the book “Designing Your Life.” According to him, from childhood our brain learns and develops habits through fun. “When you were a kid, you learned to make things by playing with them,” he said.

After two years of walking the same streets in San Francisco during the pandemic, Burnett has been craving something new. Sometimes he sets out to look for secret staircases, orange flowers, or birdsong.

For him, the way we present physical exercise nowadays makes people get tired of doing it after a while, because it’s easy to get into a boring habit of counting steps with a smart watch. Infusing a walk with a spirit of curiosity can be a powerful antidote to boredom.

Adventurer Alastair Humphreys, author of “Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes,” said people can nurture their adventurous side in their own neighborhood.

In 2020 he ran, walked or cycled through every street in the city where he lives, a suburb of London, and discovered places he didn’t even know existed. “The challenge is trying to look at things with a fresh eye, as if for the first time,” he explained.

Climb a tree, go for a night walk under the full moon without a flashlight, have your morning cup of coffee somewhere different each day or look for your nearest disc golf course. Keep it light, not serious.

GET THE ACCESSORIES

Some hikers have big, long-term goals. Maybe you want to cover greater distances or try backpacking. The best way to prepare your muscles for higher intensity activities is to increase resistance. One idea, Fog-Wiltse said, is to carry a backpack with weights.

She suggested starting with no more than seven pounds in a backpack with a hip belt that, when zipped at the navel, transfers weight to your legs as you walk. This helps exercisers to avoid neck and back pain caused when a heavy load compresses the spine.

Fog-Wiltse, who has trained clients to climb Mount Everest and compete in the finals of the American Ninja Warriors contest, also said that putting a set of elastic exercise bands in your backpack and doing a series of sumo (or monster) steps can help strengthen important muscles like the gluteus medius, which is important for dynamic stability.

In a half-squat position, place the elastic band just below your knees, then sidestep to the right, keeping your knees parallel and in line with your hips. Then repeat the movement taking a few side steps to the left. To keep weight on your heels, hold a deep squat. Keep your feet parallel at all times. Aim to do two sets of 10 at some point during each walk.

In conclusion, good quality insoles will help prevent something called overpronation, said Michael Fredericson, a professor of orthopedics at Stanford University. Pronation occurs when the foot leans inward as it makes contact with the ground. It is usually caused by an arc that is not strong enough to properly support the body’s weight. People with flatter feet are more likely to be pronated.

According to Fredericson, accessories can counteract the most common forms of pronation by supporting the center of the arch of the feet. But if you have a more complex problem, you may need a custom-made orthosis.

DO MORE THAN ONE THING AT THE SAME TIME

One of the trickiest things about engaging in daily walking is fitting walking into an already tight schedule, said Jennifer Pharr Davis, author and owner of Blue Ridge Hiking Company. But, according to her, it is possible to include a little walking at unexpected times.

For example, when picking up your kids from school, park six blocks away and walk the rest. For kids, she added, having ten or 15 minutes to unwind while walking to the car can help them relax and release some energy. Plus, she added, “It helps me have a little bit of time just focused on my kids.”

Whenever possible, Pharr David also likes to swap Zoom meetings for hiking meetings, especially when they involve local colleagues. “When the body is moving, the brain is stimulated in different ways, and you are more creative,” she said, noting that these moving meetings often lead to better dialogue among her colleagues.

BET ON MUSIC

According to a recent meta-analysis, listening to music during a walk or intense physical training session has been shown to reduce perceived exertion and improve physical performance. In other words, exercising more intensely doesn’t feel as tiring when we’re listening to our favorite playlists.

Fog-Wiltse added that he sees similar results when his clients listen to anything they like while they’re exercising. “If music isn’t your thing, listening to a podcast can have the same effect,” she explained.

Embrace The ‘FARTLEK’

Fartlek, which means “speed game” in Swedish, is a kind of interval training that involves a series of high-intensity moments interspersed with recovery periods. The beauty of fartlek lies in the fact that, unlike high-intensity interval running training, the walker or runner does not need to keep an eye on a watch or fitness tracker to improve their muscular endurance. Just pick up the pace, going for a light jog or brisk walk for a short stretch to get your heart rate up, then slow it down again until you recover, then repeat.

If you prefer a more structured approach, “start with a ten-minute warm-up by walking, then do six to ten one-minute intervals of faster walking, each followed by two more leisurely minutes,” advised Matt Fitzgerald, author of “80 /20 Running” and co-founder of a training firm called 80/20 Endurance.

“And then cool down with five to ten minutes of walking.” She said splitting your weekly exercise so that 80% of your time is spent low-intensity and 20% in moderate-to-high-intensity movement, much like the training done by competitive marathoners, can help amateur athletes improve their fitness. physics in less time.

Translation by Clara Allain