| EXERCISE AND FITNESS |
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| Did you know that over the course of the day you most likely walk a mile? |
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Any type of physical activity or exercise is good and walking is one of the easiest things to do. Yes, we’ve all heard walking is beneficial but not many actually understand how crucial it is to incorporate walking into your daily routine.
How about walking for life?
Of course, during the course of the day, we all walk around at home, to our cars, to the train station, to the nearest deli for a quick bite but how many actually walk for exercise? Unfortunately, not as many walk for exercise and out of those who do, how many actually walk consistently?
Walking is one of the best things you can do for yourself as the benefits are more than what seem obvious.
Here is how a walk can help you:
Walking helps you burn calories however; sustained walking for an extended period of time can help you burn enough to make it count as real exercise.
Walking alone gives you that personal “me” time where you are by yourself and have all the luxury to go over your thoughts and ideas and perhaps even remain connected to others by calling them just to keep in touch.
Walking greatly reduces the chances of you getting diabetes or can actually help you fight diabetes if you are already diabetic.
Walking is such a natural exercise and can be done anywhere and at any time. No equipment necessary – all you need is a pair of good walking shoes
Walking can relieve stress and fight depression. When you walk for exercise for an extended period of time, you will return home fully supercharged and feeling very energetic.
Here is how you can make your walking count.
A 10,000-mile journey starts with a single step. Yes, we know you’ve heard that before but write that down anyway. Every step you take counts towards that 10,000-mile journey. But don’t worry, we don’t want you to get scared by thinking that you are expected to walk to a 10,000-mile journey. However, we want you to bookmark 10,000 in your head and in this case, we mean 10,000 steps – PER DAY. Yes, 10,000 steps minimum per day.
By the way, did you know, 2000 steps equals to approximately 1 mile? So, if you are serious about generating great health benefits with long-term dividends then get serious about those 10,000 steps per day. That should be your goal that you need to work up to. In the meantime, start small with 4000 steps, at least, and build your stamina and train your body to handle up to 10,000 steps a day. When you develop a habit of walking 5 miles a day for at least 5 out of 7 days in a week then you will see how quickly many things change in your life – from your waist line all the way to your attitude not to mention the great night's sleep you’ll experience.
Now get this, did you know that during the course of your day at work if you are walking around to attend meetings, walking to the car or your office from the parking lot or the train station, walking to the cafeteria you are most likely walking 2000+ steps, depending on how much you really get up from your chair during the day.
Now you must be feeling good thinking that you probably are already walking a mile a day at least by just doing what’s stated above and that’s good enough. Simply put – NO. Don’t celebrate yet, please. Why? Simply because if that’s all you are doing then you are considered someone who is very inactive as all you did was burn about 100/125 calories, only to realize that one of the activity you did was to walk to the vending machine to get that nicely chilled can of Coke. There you go! 125 calories back into your system.
You see where we are going with this? So, let’s make a commitment to walk at least 8,000 steps per day and gradually move up on that scale to about 10,000-12,000 steps per day and really watch those pounds come off while also watching what you eat. This also includes limiting a banana split to once per quarter, just to keep your taste buds alive…
How to count your steps?
Make all the steps count by counting the steps. Nowadays, pretty much all the latest smartphones come with exercise apps that do it for you. These apps do a lot more than just count steps. These apps also tell you how much you have walked in total, your average speed and even your heart rate while walking and resting. If you don’t have an app on your phone then you might be able to find a free app online and all it will take is for you to download that app and start counting.
Alternatively, you can get a pedometer. Pedometers are a great way to track the number of steps you have taken and trust us, once you start seeing the actual steps you are taking then it can only boost your will power to walk just a few more steps so you can see that number get closer to your daily goal.
Are you ready for power walking?
If you are serious about your health and long term maintenance of your mind, body and spirit then it’s time you get the step… and embark on your daily goal of a power walk. Power-walk for life and stay trim and away from many ailments for life… If there is one habit that you must develop for life then it is the habit of walking to lose weight on a regular basis. Start walking now.
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