Walking is a great pastime. It’s healthy, it’s cheap and easy
Almost anyone can do it! It’s also a Green activity — there’s no pollution created by walking. Walking is a great way to develop your mind, body and spirit. And you can get the best out of walking by following these tips.
Key points
You get more out of a walk with the right food inside you.
Good nutrition is important at all times. But when you’re planning to exercise, it becomes vital. Start with breakfast. A good quality breakfast will give you the boost you need to start the walk. So, try eating combinations of fruit, bread, cereal and eggs for breakfast. The breakfast to avoid is the fry-up of eggs, bacon, sausage, etc. It’s full of bad fats (saturated) and salt and will leave you gasping for water later in the morning.
Be kind to your feet and wear the right kind of boots.
You can buy your first pair of walking boots from any footwear department or store. But for the first-time buyer, go to a specialist outdoor activities’ store. The staff should be trained to assess your needs, show you the most appropriate products AND, more importantly, MEASURE your feet. The good health of your feet is priceless. It’s your feet that are going to get you where you want to go. So treat them with respect. Walking with sore feet is one of the worst things you may have to do and a real turn-off.
Learning to know your body gives you greater choice and control.
Learn to know how your body works and how it feels. It will enable you to take the right actions to ensure you don’t injure yourself and what to do to repair yourself. Knowing specifically what you are feeling and where is a great trick. It will take time to master this process. But you will have an insight into what to do to cure any difficulty.
The right attitude keeps you going.
Getting your body into the right balance is all-important, if you want to make your walking count. Physical development, and spiritual development, comes from the right attitude. Right attitude isn’t just in your mind, but in you body too. And walking with the right posture and in the correct way will help you develop both physically and spiritually. Try and find your body’s balancing point/center and focus on walking from that point.
Warm body, right mind equals a nice day.
Walking is something you do every day, unlike other sporting activities such as running, football and tennis, etc. However, that doesn’t mean that you can take it for granted that you can go straight into a walk without some preparation. You still need to warm up. This is particularly true if you’ve driven for an hour or so to the start of your walk. A few stretches will suffice to unwind any tensions in the body.
Focusing on your physical development leads to a greater flexibility.
Whether you want to walk just to get out and about in nature or save on fuel for the car, you can also choose to set deliberate physical and spiritual intentions. If you have a physical intention, then power walking could be for you. Power walking is a marvelous aerobic workout. It is similar to running, but with less wear and tear on your muscles and joints. You can burn off almost twice the calories of a regular paced walk with power walking.
Focusing on your spiritual development leads to greater peace of mind.
If you have a spiritual intention for walking, you can try walking meditation. You don’t need any special equipment or preparation to do a walking meditation. You can do it almost anywhere that’s flat and free from any potentially dangerous obstructions. A simple one is taking notice of the basic walking process. You keep your mind constantly on the process of walking. Recite the parts to yourself, as you go, like this: ‘I’m lifting the foot up; I’m pushing the foot forward; I’m lowering the heel down; I’m rolling the foot through to the toe; I’m lifting the foot up . . . etc.’
Breath right and you’ll go further, faster and freer.
The best form of breathing is deep from the diaphragm. Drawing breath in deeply is healthy and will help power your walking. As you walk, allow yourself to breathe naturally; you may find your breathing matching the pace (speed) of your walk.
Turn hills from a struggle to a joy.
Hills are a challenge. But there’s a pay-off. You burn more calories and get a very good aerobic workout too. But they can be very off putting as well. At the end of a walk, facing a hill can be daunting. However, if you apply some simple techniques, you can turn them into pleasures, and not pains!
- First of all, it’s natural to lean into the hill as you walk up it. However, try to keep the forward lean to a minimum.
- Try and keep the upper body over your hips.
- Don’t lean backwards as that will make you unbalanced as will leaning too far forward.
- Leaving yourself off balance can cause back strain and injuries.
- Keep your steps short and don’t lift your knees too high. Anything over a six-inch lift is too much.
Hills are a challenge you can take on, but do it on your terms and take a rest when you need one.
Try walking at least 30 minutes a day and build up to more extended walking. Whatever you do, enjoy yourself!
