Walking’s for the birds! If you can’t get out there and run nonstop for at least 3-miles you’re simply wasting your time. You’re going to get nowhere when it comes to weight loss if you simply just walk.
These are the misconceptions that come from walking, the lies people tell you to make you thinking walking is merely but a leisurely activity for the elderly. This is where they are wrong! In honor of National Walking Day we at NordicTrackCoupon.com wanted to share with our readers all the many Benefits of Walking.
In an article from Live Strong, Can Walking Be Enough?, they explain how walking can be a great jump start to one’s fitness and weight loss plan. Because walking is a lower-impact activity it helps ease people “hoping to transition from a sedentary to a more active lifestyle. It also gets your heart beating faster and can help strengthen and tone your muscles.”
No you did not read that wrong, walking does indeed work your large muscle groups, such as the quads, hamstrings, and glutes. Live Strong states that “working these muscles improves circulation and helps pump blood through our bodies, improves our oxygen transport system, cardiovascular endurance and bone health, and reduces obesity and our risk for diabetes.” We’ve discussed before how Exercise Provides More Than Just a Physical Benefit – walking goes hand in hand with this as well, as regular walking has been proven to lower stress levels and improve your overall mood.
Increasing your speed a little while walking can kick up the benefits even more so. “A study published in the journal of ‘BMJ Open’ in 2012 showed that intense walking for two to four hours a week slashed participants’ risk of diabetes, heart disease and metabolic syndrome — an obesity-related group of conditions — by fifty percent…Brisk walking also curbed participants’ appetites, which is important for reaching and maintaining a healthy weight.”
Now that we’ve told you all about why you SHOULD be walking, here’s a Treadmill Walking Workout for you to try out on National Walking Day!