Whole Life Times: Talking the Walk

This Body was Made for Walking
The difference between walking and fitness walking is good form. Here are a few pointers on stride posture:

• Keep your spine elongated; not rigid but merely tall and relaxed. Your ear lines up with your shoulder, hip, knee and ankle.
• Be aware of any unnatural sway or arch in your lower back. Try tucking your buttocks to pull the pelvis into a more neutral position. It’s subtle but important.
• Your head is level, eyes looking forward about 12 to 20 feet in front of you and chin parallel to the ground. If the head is allowed to tilt forward, that strains your neck and shoulders.
• While we all associate legs with walking, the arms are important too. Bend your arms at the elbow to create a shorter lever, allowing a faster forward/backward swing. The legs will follow the arms.

May 2005 | Whole Health

Talking the Walk

by Bob Condor

Walking is recommended as a good beginning exercise, but can it do the job as my regular form of physical activity? I don’t like the jarring I experience while running.
—Interested on the Internet

First of all, congratulate yourself for taking Step One in feeling healthy. You are noticing how your body feels during a run. That’s body awareness, which is critical to developing a successful workout routine. One reason is because the old adage holds: The best exercise is the one you will do regularly. We are creatures of habit and nourishment, and your body follows. The second reason is that body awareness prompts you to determine how hard to push your body.

A short answer to your question about walking as an effective and ongoing workout: Yes, absolutely. Walking for fitness three to four times per week can change your life and body shape. You feel more energy, almost from the first day. You tone muscles and improve cardiovascular health. Your digestion improves. You save the planet from fuel emissions you&;rsquo;d burn driving to the health club.

Susan Kleiner, Ph.D. is a Seattle-based sports nutritionist who begins her counseling by requiring that any client follow a three-month exercise program before discussing an eating plan. She frequently recommends those clients purchase an inexpensive computerized pedometer to record daily steps. “The pedometers tune people into just how many steps they take or don’t take in daily life,” said Kleiner, who maintains an informative website, www.powereating.com. “My main message is we only truly reach our health goals when we find a way to be physically active each day. That’s when people lose the extra weight or up their energy.”

A pedometer is not a necessity, but keeping a walking log for your program is a must. A logbook will chart your progress and reinforce your walks as habit. Be sure to include time and distance covered; any measurement works, whether it is steps measured by a pedometer or the distance you walk on marked trails. Some walkers drive their neighborhood routes to determine a walk’s distance. Also, record how you felt during the walk.

As your walking program becomes habit—which behavioral researchers estimate at 21 days—you will want to start adding intensity. Ask yourself if you can do more by walking more briskly or covering a longer distance or both. Maybe you can move from 20 minutes to a half hour.

Don’t let how hard you breathe be the focus of intensity. Focus instead on how your body is reacting. Are your muscles feeling challenged? Are you breaking into a gentle to moderate sweat even when dressed properly for the weather? One tip: Runners have long dressed as if the weather is 20 degrees warmer to reflect how their bodies will feel in exercise states.

Once you develop a walking routine, you can tune it to the proper intensity. With walking as your “foundation” exercise, consider adding a weekly yoga or Pilates workout for added flexibility and strength.

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