How to Begin A Fitness Walking Program

Walking is one of the easiest and least expensive forms of exercise. I will show you how you can begin a fitness walking program that is fun and can then lead you onto beginning a jogging program.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Motivation
• Walking shoes
• Comfortable Clothes

1. One of the most difficult things about starting a fitness program is developing consistency and habit.
2. You should always warm up before any type of exercise. Start your walk with a 5 minute warm up to slowly get your heart rate up and your body ready for what is coming up next.
3. Start out slow and easy. It can be as simple as walking outside or more complex such as walking on a treadmill. Most people can start out with a brisk 10 minute walk. That's it!
   Do this every day for a week. If this is too easy for you, add five minutes to your walks for week two. Keep adding 5 minutes until you are walking as long as desired. You should walk fast enough to reach your target heart rate zone, but you should still be able to carry on a conversation. You should shoot for doing 30-60 minutes a day for a minimum to 5 days a week always having one day off to rest or try a different type of exercise.
4. How you hold your body is very important to walking comfortably and easily. With good posture you will be able to breathe easier and you will avoid back pain. Here are some helpful tips: stand up straight, think of being tall and straight and do not arch your back, do not lean forward or lean back as it puts strain on the back muscles, keep your eyes forward and not looking down but rather 20 feet ahead, keep your chin up parallel to the ground as this reduces strain on neck and back, shrug once and let your shoulders fall and relax your shoulders slightly back, suck in your stomach, tuck in your behind, rotate your hip forward slightly as this will keep you from arching your back.
5. A major concern with doing any type of exercise is preventing dehydration. The best way to prevent this from happening is to maintain body fluid levels by drinking plenty of fluids before, during, and after a walk. To determine how much you should drink there are several different methods. Weigh yourself before and again after. For every pound you lose during the workout you will need to drink 2 cups of fluid to rehydrate your body. Another way is to check the color of your urine. If it is a dark gold color like apple juice, you are dehydrated. If you are well hydrated, the color of your urine will look like pale lemonade. If you are thirsty then that means you are already dehydrated and therefor is not a good measure of this. Always keep a water bottle around, and you should drink from it about every 15-30 minutes.
6. At the end of every exercise program you should always perform a cool down. This is just a 5 minute period of time where you slow your pace down in order to decrease your heart rate and get your body back to normal.
7. After your cool down period you should always stretch your muscles. This helps to prevent injury as well as improve your flexibility.

Tips & Warnings

• get a walking/exercise buddy to help keep you accountable
• register for a challenging walking event such as a charity event to keep you moving toward a specific goal
• get a pedometer so you know exactly how far you are walking
• get a heart rate monitor so you know exactly what your heart rate is
• keep up with your exercise with a journal either online or in a notebook to help you set goals and reach them
• find the right time of day for you to exercise
• Always consult with your doctor before beginning any time of exercise program