How to Design an Interval Walking Plan

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If you regularly walk for exercise, your usual workout may have become a bit drab and boring. But adding intervals to your walking plan can make it fun and interesting--and you'll burn more calories, too! Interval walking involves walking very briskly--much faster than your normal pace--for a brief period of time. This is followed by a period of "recovery" when you slow down to your typical speed. This pattern is repeated throughout your entire walk.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Watch
Walking shoes

Step1

Determine your intervals. It's generally best to start with shorter periods of brisk walking and longer periods of recover walking. For example, plan to walk briskly for one minute with a two minute recovery walk.

Step2

Warm up. Since this walking plan is more strenuous, it's important that you warm up your muscles before beginning your first interval. Five minutes of light walking will help prepare your body for your workout.

Step3

Begin first interval. Walk briskly--at about twice the speed of your normal pace--for one minute (or whatever amount of time you've chosen for your intervals). Try to maintain the faster pace throughout the entire allotted time.

Step4

Slow down to recover. After the interval period is over, slow down to your normal pace (or even slower, if necessary). This is the time when you're body and lungs are recovering from the strenuous part of the walk.

Step5

Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until your walk is finished.

Step6

Cool down. Follow your workout with five to ten minutes of slow walking. This gives your body a chance to slowly recover from your strenuous workout.

Tips & Warnings

Rather than timing intervals, you can also make them random. For example, you might decide to do your brisk walking interval between mailboxes or telephone poles.
As you grow accustomed to your interval walking plan, you may want to increase the intensity by making the brisk walking interval longer or the recovery period shorter.
For your first interval walking session, plan to walk for a shorter period of time than normal to avoid overtraining your body.