Lose Weight

Treadmill walking is one of the easiest ways to get in shape and burn fat. In fact, mile for mile, you can burn as many calories walking as you would jogging. Walking is also one of the best stress relieving exercises and anyone can do it, regardless of fitness level.

Want to start a treadmill walking program? Here are 5 tips to help you get the most walking bang for your buck:

1) Get your arms pumping.

Bring your upper body into your workout by pumping your arms. This is an easy way to burn more calories while walking. If you want to tone up and use more arm muscle during your workout, try carrying 2 - 5 pound handweights.

Bonus Benefit: pumping your arms propels you forward and helps you move faster - which means more distance covered and more calories burned!

2) Build in incline intervals.

Walking on an incline is one of the fastest ways to drastically skyrocket your calorie burn. But you don’t have to spend your whole workout on an incline. Try building in 30 - 60 second intervals of incline walking on your treadmill every 5 to 10 minutes.

If you’re walking outside and can’t control your incline, try stopping every few minutes and doing 10 - 15 squats or lunges to tone your lower body.

Bonus Benefit: Building in intervals will also help your body continue to burn calories post-workout.

3) Increase your pace, not your stride

Got short legs? No problem! Instead of increasing your stride (and possibly pulling something), increase the number of steps you take. This also increases your speed which means more distance covered and more calories burned.

4) Invest in a pair of excellent walking shoes

Walking in poor shoes can cause damage to your feet, knees, hips, joints and back. Wear poor shoes and you may not be walking for a long time!

If you want to feel great after a walking workout (and be ready for the next one tomorrow), make sure you have the best possible walking shoes you can afford.

Bonus Benefit: A solid pair of walking shoes can actually help you lengthen the time that you walk, which again means more calories burned.

5) Take plenty of time to warm up and stretch to avoid injury.

Walking is one of the best exercises you can do for stress relief and long term fat loss. However there’s this little thing called shinsplints that can threaten to put you out of walking commission for a while.

Many walkers and runners struggle with this problem. This constant repetitive flexing of the shin muscle can create soreness when a walker increases their speed or distance.

To help ward off shin splints or other muscle injury, take plenty of time to warm up before you really get into your workout.

Also, make sure you stretch. Pointing and flexing your foot helps stretch and build the shin muscle. Ankle rotations also help with this. Stretching properly will definitely keep you happy and walking for a long time to come!

So there you have it - 5 essential walking exercise tips. Keep these in mind and you’re guaranteed to enjoy many stress-relieving, fat burning walks!

Kathryn O’Neill is a fitness specialist and contributing writer for Buying A Treadmill, a website that lays out exactly which feature you need to look for to find the best treadmill for you.

Visit http://www.BuyingATreadmill.com for more information.

Or for the latest 2005 Best Buys visit:http://www.buyingatreadmill.com/Best_Buys_2005.html

Share This

There is no denying it power walking techniques is a fantastic way to get into shape and then continue to keep fit. As I’m sure you can imagine you will not be moving at the speed that you would normally be attaining if you were running but it can still have significant advantages to your overall health and fitness.

One of the most advantageous benefits to power walking is that the amount of impact is greatly reduced as opposed to the amount that your joints can receive while running. Although running is a good exercise this amount of impact can damage your joints over an extended period of time. Power walking however does not have any significant level of impact by comparison. Because the feet are never both lifted from the ground of the same time your body weight is never brought down with the same level of force that it is while running and this can be a great benefit to the health of your joints.

Of course as with everything else you have to learn how to do it properly and acquiring a good knowledge of the correct power walking techniques is an ideal way to start. Power walking techniques are significantly different from normal walking and are designed to get the maximum forward momentum and give you as much speed as possible and thus the best exercise experience.

By using the correct power walking techniques you can actually achieve a speed far greater than many people can get to by running. Indeed you could actually, when a little bit more experienced and familiar with the techniques, find yourself overtaking many of the recreational runners in the park! Power walking is an extremely efficient way of exercising and allows you to make better use of your energy while lessening the possibility of an injury. It also does efficiently burn off a great many calories so if you are doing exercise to lose weight this is an ideal solution.

Power walking techniques are best applied by keeping your head up and level and not looking down, but ahead to where you are going so that you head does not drop at any time during the exercise motion. Your arms do need to be bent as you walking but do not be tempted to swing them wildly around in an attempt to gain further momentum. Instead, just move them gently and in a way that is comfortable and fits in with your walking. Your walking movement should come initially from the hip area so that it swings forward with the leg following and then straightening out. As you move forward you should apply energy to the back foot so that your forward momentum is maintained. Try your best not to take extra long steps, just use a stride that is natural to both the motion and the speed that you are going.

Of course it is not possible to really describe power walking techniques accurately and it is always better to learn by watching somebody do it and having them show you the correct technique. There is no great mystery to power walking techniques it is really just a question of practicing until it feels right to you.

Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Treadmill-Solutions.com. He provides more treadmill ratings, recommendations and information on what are the best treadmills that you can research in your pajamas on his website.

Share This

Walking is one of the safest and most effective sports for fitness, but to become fit, you have to move fairly fast. You should exercise vigorously enough to increase your heart rate at least 20 beats a minute more than when you rest. Walking at a leisurely pace will not raise your heart rate very much. You can increase your speed by taking longer steps or by moving your feet at a faster rate.

To lengthen your stride, swivel your hips so that you reach out further forward with your feet. This causes you to twist your body from side to side, which forces your toes to point to the outside when your feet touch the ground. By pointing your feet forward after your heel strikes the ground, you will gain a few inches.

To move your feet at a faster rate, you have to move your arms at a faster rate also. Every time one leg moves forward, the arm on the same side moves back and the arm on the other side moves forward. For every step forward, there is an equal number of arm movements forward. To move your arms faster, you have to keep your elbows bent. The fulcrum of your arm swing is at your shoulder. The straighter your elbows, the longer your arms swing as a pendulum from your shoulder, reducing the frequency of arm swings. Bending your elbows shortens the swing and allows you to move faster.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

Free weekly newsletter on fitness, health, and nutrition.

Share This