Power walking is a healthy activity to burn calories, improve muscular endurance and improve cardiovascular strength and stamina. The American Heart Association recommends exercise such as power walking five times per week for 30 minutes to help improve and maintain physical fitness and health. To improve your ability to perform power walks, exercise in ways that target your leg muscles.
Quadriceps Exercises
The quadriceps are the large muscles on your upper leg. These muscles are the primary braking muscle you use as you go downhill, and help propel you throughout your walk. Exercises for increasing quad strength include variations of squats and lunges and leg presses. You can perform squats, with or without weights, from a standing position, lowering yourself by sticking your buttocks out while keeping your torso straight, then straightening back up. You can perform them with a barbell on your shoulders, dumbbells or other weights in your hands, or with resistance bands. Lunges are similar to squats, except you take a large stride forward or to the side, then lower and raise yourself.
Calf Exercises
Your calf muscles are located on the back of your lower leg, help push you up hills and stairs, and are used throughout your power walk. The simplest exercise for improving your calf muscle is the calf raise, which is simply a repetition of standing on your toes, holding for one second, then lowering yourself. You can do this holding onto a chair or bar for balance, or with weights or a resistance band. Dead lifts work the calves in addition to your quads, buttocks and hamstrings. Bend down by sticking your buttocks out and grasp a weight on the floor in front of you, standing up while bringing the weight up until you are completely straight. Use your legs and not your back to lift the weight, or you may injure yourself.
Hamstring Exercises
The hamstrings are located on the back of your upper leg and often tighten after exercise, resulting in tears and pulls among many athletes when they use these muscles full-speed later. You can strengthen your hamstrings with the aforementioned exercises, and target them even more with hamstrings curls, which have you lying on your stomach, raising a weight with your lower legs. Leg raises, performed lying on your back while you raise one leg, are another way to work your hamstrings. Raising both legs at once uses more abdominal muscle and less hamstring.
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