Mar 11

Mar 11 10 ways to get the most out of walking

Walking has been both our saviour and a tediously repetitive activity in our limited menu of options during this last year. But whether we’re walking for pleasure, exercise or because it’s the only way we can meet up with friends (still one at a time here in the UK at the time of writing, although as of this week we’re allowed to sit on a bench with a coffee - whoop), it’s a form of exercise that bestows a host of benefits both physical and mental.

Physically it can increase your cardiovascular fitness, strengthen your bones, help to reduce excess body fat, and boost muscle power and endurance. Mentally it’s been shown to improve mood and sleep quality, as well as reduce stress, anxiety and fatigue. Hard not to see all that as a step-by-step prescription for feeling better all round.

Here are ten simple ways you can optimise your walking to make it even better for your health, wellbeing and the environment too.

Step one - make it more of a workout

Speeding up your pace is a great way to get fitter whilst you walk. If you don’t fancy walking briskly all the time, try walking faster for intervals of anything from 30 seconds to a minute, alternating with slower walking. The heart pumping benefits of the faster sections continue even when you’ve slowed down.

Just one thing to bear in mind - to go faster, instead of talking longer steps, take quicker steps. Lengthening your stride can increase strain on your feet and legs.

Step two - use your arms

Building on the workout benefits of upping your pace, getting your arms actively involved in your walking is another way of boosting the fitness benefits of walking. Apparently it burns 5-10% more calories.

You can simply swing your arms (from the shoulders, keeping them close to your body) or you could get some walking poles (the ones I wrote about here are excellent),and maybe consider investigating the Nordic Walking technique which you can find out more about by clicking here.

Step three - switch up the terrain

Walking on anything other than a flat surface helps improve your fitness, balance and muscle strength. Going uphill, walking on uneven terrain - woodland paths or soft sand, for instance - weaving between trees, or around objects, even stepping up and down the curb, all make you work and tone different muscles.

Step four - make your steps count

I can’t say I’m a huge fan of devices that measure your activity/fitness. But having the means to count your steps - whether that’s via something you wear, or an app on your phone - can be a useful way of giving you the motivation to keep up with your walking.

I have an app on my phone which monitors my daily step count (although it obviously doesn’t take into account all the steps I take when I’m not carrying it) and I’ve found it galvanises me to get up and out even on days when I really don’t feel like it.

Active 10 (that’s the Apple link) is an excellent app which is also recommended by the NHS. This is the Google Play link which I think works if you have an android phone.

Step five - mind where you go

It’s all too easy to walk mindlessly, not really paying much attention to what’s around us. Especially if our route is a familiar one. But being more mindful of both ourselves and our surroundings, and making a particular point of looking more attentively can do wonders for our mental health.

This post from Positive Psychology explains both the benefits and the technique of mindful walking.

Step six - stop and look

I'll hand over to the godfather of the natural world, the wonderful Sir David Attenborough, for this tip. I know it’s ostensively opposite of walking, but it’s something you can do when you’re on a walk and that links to the idea of mindful walking.

“One of the simplest things that you should do if you get the chance,” Attenborough says “is just to stop. Sit down. Don’t move. Keep quiet. Wait ten minutes. You’ll be very surprised if something pretty interesting didn’t happen within ten minutes.”

Sir David suggestion was to stop, look and listen in woodland, but it can be applied pretty much anywhere. Although I realise it might be rather less appealing on a city centre street. So maybe not there.

Step seven- get your ears involved

Whilst there are times when you want to immerse yourself in the sounds that surround you as you walk, there are also times when the opportunity to use your walk to listen to music or a podcast, catch up on a radio programme, or enjoy another chapter or two of an audio book, can make your outing even more of a pleasure.

Don’t underestimate the bonus of returning from a walk informed and/or entertained as well as exercised.

Step eight - mix it up

We might be creatures of habit, but doing the same walk/s over and over is a fast-track route to losing your motivation mojo. Even if you can’t travel to start your walk, there will always be a new route you can try, a new path or street you haven’t explored before, or a stretch of road or field you haven’t been down for ages.

And when you can travel beyond your local area again, or if you’re already lucky enough to be able to do that, do! There’ s nothing more invigorating or enjoyable than discovering new places to walk and explore. These are five delightful spots in the UK to put on your list.

Step nine - make it sociable

Walking with a friend or people in your family bubble has become such a staple of our lockdown existence it’s easy to undervalue just how much good the simple activity of walking with other people can do for us.

It isn’t just that it eases isolation and loneliness, it also makes us more likely to try new things (like routes, see above), walk for longer, even get out to walk in the first place. And the conversations we have, whether they’re profound or inconsequential, serious or funny, have a direct and proven benefit for our mental health.

And for those times when you’d like to walk with a friend or family member but can’t for whatever reason, get your headphones on (so you can swing your arms at the same time, see step two), give them a call and chat on the phone whilst you’re walking.

Step ten - be a litter picker

if you want to make your walk a) more satisfying and b) better for your community and the environment, try joining the increasing army of litter pickers.

This is something I’ve started to do thanks to the Good Gym charity group I’m involved in (I wrote about it here), and which, as this BBC report confirms, I’m far from alone in finding wonderfully rewarding.

Armed with a litter picker (this is the one I use, which i like being able to fold up for storage and portability (there are loads to choose from), a couple of black bags (I learnt taking just one is rarely enough) and some rubber gloves (for those items that the picker can’t grab) I always find myself walking further and for longer than I intend when I’m on a litter picking mission. And the satisfaction I feel when I see the litter I’ve collected and realise just how much exercise I’ve had collecting it, is a boost that lasts for hours afterwards.

I hope you’ve found some ideas that inspire you to enjoy walking - or enjoy it even more - and get more out of it when you are out and about.

Happy walking!