Walking is a daily ritual for many people and is often taken for granted. When identifying ways to increase physical activity in support of weight loss, people may think that an extensive workout regimen is required in order to lose weight. Actually, walking can be utilized as an effective exercise method.
Step 1
Establish a baseline for your walking regimen, just like running or any other exercise routine. You should start at a comfortable pace to get your body used to walking consistently. This can also prevent the likelihood of injury or the risk of overexerting yourself. Start by walking for 5 to 10 minutes at a time. As you become accustomed to walking regularly, increase your time by 5 minutes until you reach 30 to 60 consecutive minutes, which is ideal.
Step 2
Warm up at the beginning of each walk and cool down at the end. A length of 5 minutes for the warm-up or cool-down is typically appropriate. Warming up prepares your body for the walk and helps to initially increase your heart rate. Cooling down has the opposite effect in helping to reduce your heart rate to its normal level. You should also stretch before and after your walk as a part of your warm-up and cool down to condition your muscles and prevent them from contracting or cramping up.
Step 3
Determine your target heart rate. Reaching and maintaining your target heart rate helps to keep your body operating at its optimal level, which supports weight loss. According to the American Heart Association, you should aim for 100 to 170 beats per minute if you are 20 years old, 95 to 162 beats per minute if you are 30 years old, 90 to 153 beats per minute if you are 40 years old, 85 to 145 beats per minute if you are 50 years old and 80 to 136 beats per minute if you are 60 years old. You can obtain your heart rate by manually counting the pulses from the inside of your wrist over the course of 1 minute.
Step 4
Walk on an incline to increase the difficulty of your walk in a subtle way. This can be done on a treadmill or in an area that has a hill or other natural incline. Walking on an incline causes you to work harder, increasing your heart rate and helping you to burn more calories.
Step 5
Increase your speed while walking. A treadmill can measure the speed at which you currently walk and help you to increase that speed. If you don't have access to a treadmill, time yourself with a stop watch to obtain measurements of speed. Start by timing yourself as you walk a set distance. As time progresses and you increase your speed, time yourself again to determine whether your speed has increased. Monitor your speed consistently in order to identify when you need to pick up the pace. Keep your walks challenging to support your weight loss.
Step 6
Walk for 30 to 60 minutes on most days to stay active and increase your metabolism. If you don't have a consecutive 30 or 60-minute time slot available during the day, take a series of shorter walks instead. Taking three 10 minute or 20 minute walks wherever you find available time can sometimes be easier than trying to complete the walk all at one time.
Step 7
Use a pedometer if you need to identify specific walking benchmarks. For example, set a goal of walking 1,000 steps each day and increase this amount over time to spark weight loss.
Things You'll Need
- Stop watch
- Pedometer
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