The Best Walking Techniques

How to burn the most calories from a sunday stroll

It's the one form of exercise that absolutely everyone has to do every single day. It's also avoids putting excessive strain on joints, and old injuries, and requires very little specialist equipment to get going. Here are some tips on how to turn the humble walk into a really effective work out.

Change gears

Walk faster and further than you usually would, so that you're making the body to work at a higher intensity. Walking faster burns more calories, and also means you have time to extend the length of your route within a set amount of time.

Keep it varied

Change your route and include inclines wherever possible, because our bodies burn less calories as they get accustomed and more efficient at activities. If you tend to follow a certain route then see if you can find a route that has more hills in it than usual. An incline acts as resistance against the body, forcing it to work harder and burn up more calories. Not only does this improve lower leg muscle strength, but it also improves your heart health.

Breathe in!

Try to keep your abdominal muscles pulled in and switched on during all your walks. It will increase your strength, as well as protecting your spine and burning more calories.

Additional resistance

Your body will be accustomed to carrying your own weight, so a simple way to add resistance is to tell your body you weigh more! Make yourself heavier by carrying a rucksack with some weight in it, or even hold some dumbbells. Start off with only a small amount of additional weight and make sure that you carry the rucksack on both shoulders and maintain good posture throughout the walk to avoid straining the upper neck or lower back.

Walking surfaces

Even something as simple as the softness of the ground you walk on impacts on the calories you burn. To increase the calories you use, try to incorporate more of your walk on a softer ground. So if your walk route tends to take you mainly over roads, consider adjusting your route to include more rough ground or grassy surfaces. A beach provides the best work out of all because the absorbing quality of sand makes the body work a lot harder to propel forwards, therefore demanding more from the heart and muscles in the lower leg.