How To Fit A Walking Workout Into Your Busy Day

Walking is a great way to take exercise. Most of us do it, to a greater or lesser extent, every day. It requires no special equipment other than a comfortable pair of shoes, and it can be fitted into your day whenever it suits you best. It’s also a very cost effective form of exercise – there are no costly monthly membership fees to be paid.

The health benefits of walking are many and varied. It’s actually hard to believe that so many benefits are obtainable from such an easily accomplished, low impact, low injury risk workout. Consistency is the key – regular low level exercise is very much better than sporadic bursts of intense physical activity.

Thirty minutes of walking, three or four times a week, on a regular basis, will produce results that you can both see and feel. If you can work up to 10,000 steps a day – that’s somewhere between four and a half and five miles for most people – you will really reap the rewards.

There are plenty of opportunities to get exercise by walking every day. If you have time to fit in a thirty minute to one hour walk, then that’s great. If you don’t, then there are many ways to boost the number of steps that you take on a daily basis.

Leaving the car at home and walking to the shops or work is an oft repeated piece of advice. However, if that’s not practical for you due to the distance involved, then take the car as usual. Just park up in the far corner of the parking lot so that you have a greater distance to cover to the entrance. If you travel by subway or bus instead of by car then consider getting off one or two steps before your final destination and complete the last leg of your journey on foot.

During your lunch break, take a ten or fifteen minute walk around the block. It’ll be better for you than munching a sandwich in front of your computer (you’ll have more energy and be more mentally alert in the afternoon as well). Put modern technology to work and walk around when you’re talking on your cordless or mobile phone. You can fit in an extra 1,000 paces during a single fifteen minute telephone conversation. That’s the kind of multi-tasking that’s a real benefit to you!

If the majority of your walking activity is shoe-horned into your day, then you might want to consider buying a pedometer – they are fairly cheap these days. You can carry one of these in your pocket or wear it on your belt. It will let you track and record your progress in terms of the number of steps taken, the number of calories burned or the total distance covered. Monitoring your progress in this manner will help keep you motivated and might encourage you to seek out even more inventive methods of building walking into your daily schedule.

Maximize the effectiveness of your walking workout with Fitflops fitness shoes. They’re scientifically designed to increase the amount of work your lower body muscles perform whilst walking. Both women’s and men’s Fitflops are available in a wide choice of colors and styles.