I have been a regular walker and runner for almost 20 years now. In this post I would share with all of you the benefits of walking, jogging and running on a regular basis. This is one habit which can bring turnaround in your life. This will make you a happy and healthy human being. Many of us suffer from problems such as obesity, diabetes, heart problems, blood pressure etc.
Friends, I am not a doctor but I have researched a lot on it. It can be safely said that one can get rid of many problems if one can walk or run on a regular basis. For those who are physically very fit and do not have any problem even for those regular walking will help them keeping fit. Let us now discuss benefits of walking and running.
Regularity is Key
I have seen many people who walk or run quite often but they do not do it on a regular basis or in other words they do not follow a routine. In my view the key is to done it on a regular basis. For example if one walk for 10 days in a months without any routine, it is not going to make much difference in your fitness. Those who can walk almost daily and can maintain more than 80% regularity will surely get benefits of it. By 80% I mean to say that for example if you can walk or run for 24 or more days in a month it can be said as consistent walking or running. You should go for a walk or run for 6 days in a week and one day you can have for rest.
How much to walk
There are no set norms for it but based on my experience I can say that one should walk or run at least 4 kilometers daily. However, if one can walk more than it or can walk or run 6-7 kilometers than it would be even better. There is a simple formula the more you walk the more calories you will burn. It will also result in sweating. This will make you a fit person and it will also help you to get rid of the excess weight. However while starting a routine for walking or running you should take proper care also and should increase distance gradually. You should also have a water bottle with you so that you should not get dehydrated. Once you start to follow a regular routine you will enjoy benefits of walking or running.
In the first few days you may feel a bit tired but once your body get used to it, you will love it. In the first few days you will get benefits such as your hunger will increase, you will have a sound sleep and your mood will also remain good. If you can continue and maintain this routine you will start to get other benefits in the long run such as increase in your stamina and reduction in the weight for those who are overweight. Those who do not require reducing their weight can maintain their weight through walking and running.
Benefits of Walking and Running
Helps in maintaining a healthy weight.
Prevent or manage various conditions, including heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
Strengthen your bones and muscles.
Improve your mood.
Walking is considered the simplest of exercise which anybody can do. You not need any expertise in it. However you can always improve your pace and posture with time. Walking really helps in keeping you active and healthy. This is probably the best exercise for losing weight.
Being a regular walker and runner I can tell you my story, about 10 years back my weight was about 78 kg in 2006. It was the time when I took walking really seriously. I was a regular walker even earlier but was walking without any purpose and was not following a proper routine. After becoming a regular walker and after following a good routine I was able to reduce my weight to about 10-12 kg. Now my weight is 66 kg and I am maintaining it from a long time. Just to tell you my height is 172 cm.
I am sharing all this because anybody can do this as I have seen many people who are facing various physical problems which I have discussed above. Walking or running can be a single solution to many of the problem I have discussed above.
How walking helps in reducing weight?
Many of you may be wondering that how walking can help in reducing weight and why I am emphasizing on this point so much. The reason is that most of the people now-a- days are suffering from the problem of overweight. Overweight is reason for various other diseases in human body. So if one can reduce his or her weight through the simple workout of walking or running then why not do it. Walking helps in reducing weight as it helps in burning calories. Now-a-days there are various mobile apps are available. These apps can help you to measure your walking distance and in calculating the amount of calories burn.
Let us now understand this great benefit of walking. As I told you walking help you in burning your calories. For a normal human being Walking helps you lose weight when it contributes to a calorie deficit. By increasing your activity and decreasing the number of calories you eat, you force your body to dip into your fat stores to fuel you. A deficit of 500 to 1,000 calories yields a loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week.
30 minutes of brisk walking can burn about 150 calories. If one can burn about 500 calories per day one can easily reduce a pound in a week. This is quite relative, the more you walk and the quicker your pace, the more calories you’ll burn.
So if one can walk well on a regular basis coupled with the balanced diet he or she can reduce his or her weight at will. It sounds simple and it is actually simple as I have done it and enjoyed the benefit of it.
Let us start regular walking
After reading so many benefits of walking I am sure many of you may now be interested in start walking regularly. Those who are regular walker should continue and do the walking more methodically. Regular walker should also add running as a part of their routine. For example if they go out for one hour they can allocate their time as such 40 minutes of walking and 20 minutes of running. Adding running to your routine will enhance your fitness level even more.
So now discuss how to start a walk. Many of us find it difficult to start a workout. I have seen many of my family members and colleagues who are interested in walking regularly but they never mange to do it. You know friends if we keep on planning it will never happen. Life moves very fast. Therefore the best way is to just start it. Start walking from today onward. Make it a necessary part of your life just like eating food or sleeping. Make sure that out of 24 hours you spare at least 1 hour for it. It will not only help you in your fitness but will also make you live longer and healthy.
Make sure you get up early in the morning say around 5.30. Take your time in getting fresh and then go for the mission. Do it on a regular basis and after some time you will become addict of it. Once you start realizing and getting benefits of walking your life will surely change. So do not waste your time in sleeping late, get up early and start your routine.
How to Walk Well to maximize benefits of walking
Once you have decided that you are going to start your routine of regular walking then you should know how to walk in a perfect manner. My view is that once you have decided to give your precious time on your fitness you next aim should be to do it in the best possible manner. As walking is not a technical thing, just remember a few points which will help you to do it in a better way. For the best results brisk walking is important. Now the question is what is brisk walking? If you are able to complete 1 km. in 8-10 minutes, it should be considered as brisk walking. The faster you walk the more calories you will burn. And the faster you walk more stamina you will gain. So start with a slow to medium pace and keep on increasing your speed.
While walking your body posture is also very important. As here I am talking about walking with a purpose hence these things matter a lot. While walking remain straight and do not keep your head down. Your body and head should remain straight. This will improve your posture and will also give you confidence. While walking always keep an eye on your watch and distance. You should monitor how much your are walking in the time which you have decided. Now-a-days there are various android mobile apps which can help you to monitor your progress.
I am using runtastic app which gives me details such as time duration, speed, distance, calories burn, temperature etc which helps you in monitoring and tracking your progress. There are various other apps also but I have used only this app and it has helped me a lot.
While walking always put sporty clothes as this will give you a better look and you will also feel good. Also put good sports shoes as it will help you to walk in a good posture with a good speed. Walking in sleepers and sandals looks very odd and will not give you good results. If you walk or run for longer distance putting a knee band will help you.
These are basic things but are very important to get maximum benefits of walking. Now few other things I would like to tell you which may not be directly related to walking but you should follow it. First is to take a balanced diet, the reason is that as I have told you earlier that walking coupled with balanced diet will give the best results. I will not go in to the details of what balanced diet one should take as it will distract us from the topic.
However in short take healthy food such as milk, juices, fruits, green vegetables etc. and avoid oily and junk foods. The second point which I would like to make is that you should not have bad habits such as smoking and drinking. Try to leave such habits if you have, as these habits only spoils your life and will reduce your life span. You may feel that I am demanding too much. But let me tell you folks to try a routine of regular walking, balanced diet and leaving all bad habits for one month. You will find a real change in your life and you will feel change in your fitness level. As such routine is not going to cost you anything therefore you should try it.
So I am sure now you are well aware about the benefits of walking and running. If you have any question related to it I will love to answer.
An Article By: Vibhor Saxena (Hobby Writer and Alumni of SPJIMR)
