Any consistent cardiovascular exercise you perform will help you improve your endurance, strengthen your muscles and reduce your risk of developing life threatening illnesses such as coronary heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea. Power walking, or deliberately fast walking, and jogging are effective exercises which you can alternate performing, or combine the two similar exercises into a single 30- to 45-minute exercise session.
Cardiovascular Fitness
A healthy heart is one of the best reasons to power walk or jog. Your heart is a muscle, and as you get older, your heart can weaken from lack of use. When you jog or power walk, you are moving fast enough to get out of breath. As you breathe harder, your heart works harder and over time, gets stronger. A strong heart enables you to stay active longer, and maintains your heart health as you age. In addition, regularly exercising through walking or jogging can increase the amount of good cholesterol you have, which can help the blood in your arteries flow properly.
Weight Management
Whether you need to lose weight or desire to maintain your current healthy weight, power walking and jogging can help. Power walking, or race walking, burns approximately 561 calories per hour in a 190 lb. person and 457 calories per hour in a 155 lb. person. Jogging at a moderate pace burns 604 and 493 calories per hour for a 190 lb. and 155 lb. person, respectively. If you need to lose weight, exercise more to burn more calories. To maintain your current weight, experiment to find the number of calories you need to maintain your weight given the intensity and duration of your power walking or jogging sessions.
Body Fat Reduction
Jogging and power walking will both help you reduce your overall body fat percentage, and increase the amount of lean muscle, particularly in your legs. The Obesity Research journal featured an article in August 2005, which found that women who consistently jogged experienced reductions in their overall body fat, including hard-to-reduce areas of the hips, thighs and abdomen. When you burn calories through power walking or jogging, and do not replace those calories with food, your body will burn fat, helping you become leaner and more toned.
Increased Endurance
Increased endurance increases your energy level, enables you to run or walk longer distances and may ready you for participation in other sports such as swimming or bicycling. Work deliberately to increase the intensity level of your walking and jogging sessions. After you are proficient at walking or jogging for up to 30 minutes at a time, improve your cardio capability by adding short intervals of faster jogging or increased power walking speed three different times into your exercise sessions. In addition, if you need to lose weight, power walk or jog for longer periods of time until you can complete a 60-minute exercise session three times a week.
References
- Weber State University: Benefits of Aerobic Conditioning: November 2010: Dr. Michael Olpin
- State of Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services: Calories Burned Per Hour
- PubMed.gov: Relationships of Age and Weekly Running Distance to BMI and Circumferences in 41,583 Physically Active Women
- MayoClinic.com: Interval Training: Can It Boost Your Calorie-Burning Power?
- The Walking Site: Tips for Walking Faster
