Your health resolution can be anything like losing weight, building muscle, preventing or reversing any lifestyle condition, working for a healthy transformation, improving flexibility or getting a toned body. The first and foremost step your doctor/nutritionist/even your fitness coach would have recommended is to start walking more. The untold reason behind walking, being the most preferred workout of all time is due to the following reasons:
It is beginner-friendly!
To keep your health journey organic and sustainable at any fitness level, start with a 30-minute outdoor walk daily in the morning or evening while trying to stay active throughout the day. Gradually, keep increasing your activity level with a mild jog or run, 30 minutes of gym activity with a proper fitness and health coach, and cycling or swimming on alternate days. Do a mix of cardio workouts with weight training/resistance to stay fit, healthy, and strong.
It is suitable for any generation!
Walking is the easiest and the most natural way to keep a person active. By staying active, you not only get to enjoy physical benefits but also gradually get to enjoy enormous mental health benefits like boosted mood, lower stress, and better sleep due to the release of endorphins – “The Happy Hormones”. So, walk more to lead a healthy and happy life.
Kindly avoid doing weight training or any rigorous physical activity without consulting with a proper lifestyle or wellness coach. They design customized workout plans suitable to your current fitness level and help you reach your health goals in the most sustainable manner. So, invest in hiring a good wellness or fitness coach for the right health transformation plan.
Here Are Some Of The Unknown Walking Mistakes One Might Do!
- Neglecting Warm Up & Cool Down:
Personal wellness coaches and fitness trainers cannot stress the importance of a proper warm-up & cool-down session before and after any activity. Sitting in front of your desk or TV all day or sleeping for 7 to 8 hours and immediately going for a brisk walk puts your body under shock as the muscles are still relaxed. Thus, stretch for a few minutes, warm up your muscles, regulate your blood circulation, and give the body the required time to get ready. At the same time, perform some cool-down activities to bring the heart rate to normal, prevent cramps and muscle soreness, avoid injuries, and more…
Smart-tip: Proper warm-up & cool-down indeed enables you to stay consistent and enjoy the process of health transformation as it makes your physical activity pain-free!
- Forcing Yourself:
Your physical activity must be organic. You must love doing that on a daily basis. If you work on night shifts, you cannot force yourself to go for walk early in the morning or in the evening as you might be occupied with your office work. So, it is ideal to choose the right time so that you don’t stress yourself. If you keep forcing yourself to walk without considering your lifestyle, you may start hating your life and will eventually get hard to move towards your fitness goals. Here is when you will need a lifestyle coach to fix your issues as they understand your lifestyle and recommend the right activity at the right time.
- Poor Posture:
Using mobile phones, looking down, and slouching while walking are some of the bad postures to walk. Other factors which result in poor posture are carrying heavy baggages in either hand making you bend towards any side, wearing too tight outfits making you raise your shoulders, and sucking your tummy in always as you are socially conscious. They will lead to strain on the neck, cause lower back pain, and add stress to the joints instead of relieving it. Always keep your backbone and neck straight, roll back & maintain relaxed shoulders, and swing your arms while walking. Imagine a string pulling you up from the top of your head. Maintain the right posture and make your walking enjoyable!
- Wrong striding:
Taking long strides or too fast strides isn’t recommended. This usually happens when you go for walking in groups. You tend to compare yourself with others and try to maintain their pace and end up straining your knee joints, ankle joints, and heel. Feel free to walk at your own pace, take the right length of stride, and don’t land on your heel first. If you find it hard to identify the mistakes, seek help from professionals like fitness trainers, fitness coaches, or even a lifestyle coach can help you.
- Wrong Footwear:
Many people, especially women go for walks in the regular slipper, chappals, or even slides they use on daily basis. These types of footwear aren’t designed for walking when it is performed as an exercise. They do not have the required support and heel cushion and walking with these footwear results in stress on the back, knees, hips, and feet; changes your walking style; and misaligns the joints, ligaments and tendons by adding too much pressure. Another mistake people do with footwear is wearing the wrong size. Understand that the ligaments and tendons in our foot lengthen over age and our shoe size goes up. For a few people, footwear sizes can change due to weight fluctuations, medical conditions, or swelling issues. Give enough space for natural foot swelling, and toenails to stay away from foot pain, breakage of toenails, and other issues that can stop your walking process.
Smart-tip: Get high-quality shoes with arch support and proper cushion, and even go for a half size more to walk freely!
Final Takeaways!
Walking is man’s greatest medicine. Perform it right to move towards the direction of health and wellness. Avoid comparing yourself with others, using worn-out footwear, walking with the wrong posture, or pressurizing too much on yourself to get into that activity. Any physical or mental activity should be mild, gradual, and enjoyable so that you do it over a long time and reach your health goals safely and soon. Never feel bad to invest a few bucks in required apparel and hire a professional health and fitness coach. Don’t compromise on your health because health is your first wealth.
Enjoy your health transformation and the best is yet to come!
