After two weeks, increase the weight to 7.5 pounds. How much weight should you carry in the vest? "Start with 5 pounds. You can find them for about $40 or more online or at sporting goods stores. Get one that allows you to adjust the amount of weight you'll carry, such as a vest that has removable weights. You can combine the two activities for extra oomph by wearing a weighted vest on your walk. Weight lifting is also a good way to strengthen bones. Weight-bearing exercise is a standard way to strengthen your bones, and walking is a weight-bearing activity. The reason: exerting force on the bones stimulates them to add cells, which speeds up the process of building bone mass. The more gentle stress we place on our bones, the stronger they'll become. Why? "If you're walking in a certain direction but turn and look in a different direction, or aim your ears in a different direction, you're not giving the usual visual or auditory feedback to the brain, and it challenges your balance," Dr. Or keep walking forward, but turn your head slowly left and then right, a few times in a row. Other ideas: Turn sideways and take 10 side steps. "The narrower your base of support when standing, the trickier it is to maintain your balance," Dr. For example, during a walk you could periodically take about 10 steps walking heel-to-toe. Rauch suggests making it a little harder, to get even more practice and potentially get better at balancing. Taking a daily brisk walk is good practice. To maintain good balance, you need to put it to work regularly. Steven Rauch, medical director of the Balance and Vestibular Center at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts Eye and Ear. "The brain integrates information from your inner ear organs, vision, and nerve endings and feelings in the feet, muscles, and joints, all the way up the spine," says Dr. Your sense of balance is based in the brain. Walking can also help ward off high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.Īnd you can get even more health benefits by adding a few simple upgrades to your daily walk. Regular, brisk walking helps lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, control blood pressure, strengthen muscles, burn calories, and lift mood. Other recommendations to try: wear proper footwear, take shorter strides, use your arms for acceleration and engage your core - taken together, these tweaks can push your mile faster.You already go for a walk every day, which is great for overall health. You might calculate and track your pace by walking on a treadmill.Īs your fitness level improves, so will your walking pace. Walking a steep or uneven terrain will take longer. To keep your data reporting accurate, try to walk the same terrain for the mile each time. You can track your exertion by taking note of how you feel - how easily can you maintain a conversation during the exercise? Or by monitoring your heart rate. As a result, your average one-mile pace will improve. This means that you won’t get puffed so easily and can maintain a faster pace for longer. It is harder to maintain a higher heart rate, so you may have to adjust your pace to catch your breath.Īs your fitness level improves, you will have better cardiac output and aerobic capacity (your VO2 max). As your heart rate increases, so does your breathing rate. Watch to see how your speed increases.Īnother helpful way to track your progress is to monitor your perceived exertion, which is an indication of your heart rate. You can calculate your walking pace by using a pedometer or app that tracks step cadence. Over time, your fitness levels will improve and your one-mile time will decrease. Beginners may need to stop and start, or adjust their pace to catch their breath. For beginners, walking a mile might take more than 22 minutes. To increase your walking pace, you first need to track your progress. The more you train your body, the better it performs. As with any type of exercise, to get better, you’ve got to build stamina.
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