Your muscles get used to the predictability of your walks and what was once a challenge becomes routine business for your muscles. Every six weeks or so, you need to add some oomph to your walk. And by adding something new or changing your walking style you can make walking more fun and this will keep you motivated. A little extra effort goes a long way to improving muscle tone and burning extra calories!

You can pump up your walk quickly and easily!

All SEASON WALKING

Interval Speed Walking The simple act of increasing your walking speed will help to give you more endurance and train you to walk faster every day. Increase your walking pace to its maximum for set periods of time or distance. For example if walking in the city, walk very fast for one city block and then return to your regular pace for 2 blocks. Or walk super fast for 1 minute and then at regular speed for 3 minutes. Continue this alternating pattern for 30 minutes. Interval walking just once a week, on a weekly basis, will increase your walking speed, strengthen your leg muscles, and help boost your metabolism.

Hill Walking Increase the intensity of your walking by heading for the hills. You will burn more calories and challenge your muscular endurance, not to mention provide a great workout for a more shapely bottom! It only takes one day of hill walking per week to reap the benefits. Find a hill that has a gradual incline about 300 feet or 100 meters long. And if it has a short steep section all the better. When walking a hill bend at your hips (not at your waist) keeping a flat back. Walk up and down the hill 6 times or more, for up to 30 minutes.

Distance Walking Once a week explore your community by walking for a long distance. If you are just beginning, double the distance that you normally walk. Once you have achieved this distance for several weeks, add a kilometer each week until you are at the maximum distance that you wish to go. This is a wonderful way to increase your endurance and explore the world around you! And if you start adding local 5K and 10K races to your fitness program your heart will love you for it!

Pump Your Arms Involve your upper body in your walking and give yourself an all-over workout. Bend your elbow so your arms are at a 90 degree angle and pump. (This is also a great technique to help propel you up hills.) Pumping your arms will help you burn more calories.

Hand Weights Burn more calories and improve the muscle tone in your arms by adding weights. Stick to light weights of 1 or 2 pounds. This is all that is needed to provide an extra boost to your calorie burning and will help tone those “turkey arms”! (We do not recommend doing this for longer than 20 minutes – if you want to increase the workload for longer, wear a weighted vest.)

Ankle Weights The added resistance makes your legs work harder and will contribute to better muscle definition. Available in department stores, the 2 to 5 pound weights are easy and affordable to use.

Power Walking Check o

ut the section below on Power Walking to super charge your walking work-out!

Off-Road Walking Leaving the sidewalk and groomed paths behind, hit the trails. Walking on the uneven, unpredictable surfaces of a woodland path requires you to engage more muscles to keep your body upright. So not only does a woodland walk work your muscles in a new way, but it will help with strengthening your balance.

WINTER WALKING

Plow through the Snow Instead of walking on cleared sidewalks, head for open fields filled with snow. Lifting your feet in and out of deep snow will strength your legs. And don’t forget to drop down to make a snow angel or two. Playing in the snow will help burn extra calories!

Go Snowshoeing Snowshoeing is a great cardiovascular workout in addition to giving your leg muscles a new way to move. The different stride snowshoeing requires will wake up the muscles that have become accustomed to your regular walk. This new activity will help tone and shape your legs and strengthen your heart!

Pull a Child in a Sleigh The added weight of pulling a child along in the snow will make your heart and lungs work harder and provide a great all-over workout. Want some extra calorie burning? Add a second child. You’ll get a great workout and will have some quality time with your children!

POWER WALK

Turn your walk into a workout! Enhance your time spent walking. Invest more energy into the activity and reap the rewards. Power walking not only adds a new dimension to your walking, it turns your walk into a work-out. Walking ceases to be an activity and suddenly becomes an exercise that targets specific body parts enhancing their shape and strength.

Burn more calories! Create better muscle tone! Build your cardiovascular endurance!

THE FORM Power walking requires that you exchange your natural walk for a more purposeful one. Start by positioning your body.

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart.

2. Roll your shoulders back and down to neutral position. Remember this position. You may need to readjust your shoulders throughout your walk as we tend to want to roll our shoulders forward to a hunched position.

3. Keep your chin level. Your eyes should be watching for obstacles ahead. If you’re looking down at your toes, you’ll miss what is coming and tend to curl into a hunched-back position.

4. Pull your abdomen in and hold it. Yes, throughout the whole walk. A strong abdomen assists you in maintaining a good posture by supporting your spine. And the bonus is that it teaches you to use your abdominal muscles. This can prove to be the biggest challenge in learning to Power Walk. Don’t let it stop you though. Just keep reminding yourself to pull your belly in. With practice it will quickly become second nature!

5. Bend your elbows so that your arms are at a 90 degree angle. Keeping your hands relaxed, lightly close your hand in either a loose fist or in a more extended position as though you were holding a potatoe chip between your thumb and forefinger. Either position is good, but make sure you keep your hands relaxed.

6. Start walking by extending one leg and striking the ground first with your heal and then roll through to the ball of your foot where you push off into your next step.

7. With each step pump your arms and allow the action to assist your feet in the propulsion forward.

PRACTICE Practice Power Walking in short increments in which you can hold proper form for the duration. It may be for a city block or 10 minutes….but keep practicing and soon it will be easy to do. And as you master the technique, increase your speed. You want to be breaking a sweat and moving fast enough that although you can still talk, you’d rather not waste the energy!

SPEED So what is Power Walking speed? We all have a different stride lengths so how far we can travel in a given time will vary according to how long each step is and how much propulsion the push-off from the ball of your foot gives you. A five-foot woman may seriously invest energy into her Power Walking and achieve a 14.5 minute mile, while a six-foot man can achieve a 12 minute mile with the correct technique. Don’t get wrapped up in the numbers. Focus on keeping your body in form and work up a sweat!