When a person is about a year old all anybody wants to talk about is if he or she is walking. After that, walking tends to lose its glamour.
I’m here to advocate for walking as a legitimate part of everyone’s wellness regimen.
Walking 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week has been shown to increase physical and mental health. You don’t have to be sweating like someone on a workout video to get the benefits of exercise.
You can walk around your neighborhood OR around tracks at local schools OR around local parks OR on a treadmill. It doesn’t matter where, it just matters that you do it.
Now for those who hate the outdoors or don’t have a good safe place to walk outside, let me suggest the mall. You can do laps around the different levels and periodically go up and down the steps to increase intensity.
You can glance at the holiday displays in the windows to give you incentive to drop the pounds keeping you out of that fly dress. Walking around after shopping may even convince you that you are balancing out the karma by getting in your daily exercise despite having spent more money than you should have.
There are so many ways to get walking into your schedule.
You can get to a dinner date 30 minutes early and walk to get your metabolism revved up before you sit down to eat.
Best case scenario, the endorphin high will keep you from indulging in whatever fatty, salty appetizer is being prominently displayed on the menu. At the very least, you will have begun to work off the calories you are about to ingest.
Alternatively, you can walk after your meal to aid with digestion and again offset those ingested calories.
If you are stuck at your kids’ dance lessons, football practice, piano lessons, or whatever, you can walk while you wait.
The least simple but still worthwhile approach is to get up 30 minutes early and go walk before you start the day. Remember the entire 30 minutes doesn’t have to be at one time.
Studies show that three 10-minute periods of walking have beneficial effects also. If you walk for 10 minutes after every meal you are there.
I recognize that getting 10 minutes in after breakfast is a challenge so you can do 10 minutes at lunch and 20 minutes at dinner. Whatever works for you.
You can walk with a friend, a co-worker, or a partner to keep you on task. Take your kids with you every once in a while to show them the importance of physical activity.
For those who still think walking doesn’t have enough zip, let me offer these higher intensity variations that still fit into the 30 minute window. You can start and end your walk by doing 30 seconds to 2 minutes of jumping jacks or jumping rope.
Jump rope is another often neglected form of exercise that gets the heart pumping. Over the course of time you can add one-minute intervals of jumping jacks or jumping rope every 5 to 10 minutes during your walk.
If you walk on a treadmill, switch up the speed and incline periodically during the walk.
You don’t have to extend the time that you exercise, just add more stuff during the allotted time. The important thing is that you have a designated amount of time every day for physical activity.
It is great to go for a long walk or a hike on the weekends but the greatest benefit comes from doing something daily, at least 150 minutes per week.
Once you get in the habit of allotting 30 minutes per day for physical activity, it will be easier to incorporate different activities into that time. You can start with 10 minutes per day and work your way up.
Let me encourage you to check out the American Volkssport Association website (http://www.ava.org/) which lists walking trails in city, suburban and rural locations.
You have to believe that since most people learn to walk within their first couple of years on the planet, it is probably an important thing to do. Don’t neglect it.
If you would like help learning to incorporate physical activity into your life, please click here to request an Essence of Strength sample coaching conversation.
Dr Jattu Senesie is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist, certified success coach, physician satisfaction specialist and speaker. She blogs about issues of self care and well-being in an effort to help her fellow altruistic high achievers find satisfaction in their success as early in their careers as possible.
