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Ramp Up Your Walking Program with Power Walking

 

Your walking routine might need a bit of a boost. Consider power walking – it’s a great way to ramp up your walking routine. Here are some tips for getting your walking routine going with power walking.

 

Power Walking Form

 

To get the most out of your power walk, you’ll need to follow the correct form. If you feel self-conscious, either get over it or move to a private area! When you power walk, sources say you need to keep your arms swinging and your chin up, and get your toes pointing up with each forward step (some refer to this as keeping your heels up. Either way, the point is to get your legs and feet moving in a heel-ball-toe formation).

 

Big Steps

 

One of the keys to power walking is to take lunging steps. When you power walk, you are moving fast but not necessarily taking long strides (in fact, sources say you should aim for quick, small steps as you power walk), but you can intersperse this with extra-long strides or lunges as you go. The lunges give your legs an extra workout and work the muscles a bit differently than the shorter strides.

 

Tighten Those Muscles

 

As you boost your walking program and get into power walking, you can amp it up even more by squeezing key muscle groups as you walk. Your rear and tummy are two places where contracting those muscles while you walk can help squeeze the most out of your workout.

 

Weights

 

Some fitness experts advocate the use of wrist and ankle weights to add even more challenge to your power walk. You can purchase such weights at most fitness shops or even some major retailers that have a sports section in the store. You strap these weight onto your wrists and ankles, which helps increase muscle exertion and ultimately muscle tone. Some sources also say that the weights increase the number of calories burned per workout.

 

Think Speed

 

One way to help you in your power walking efforts is to walk as if you are in a great hurry. Think in terms of hustle, hustle rather than a pleasurable stroll. Listening to upbeat, active music while you walk can help. Sources say you should aim for 4 1/2 miles per hour, but this is not a speed that most people can achieve automatically. So make this a goal and start out walking as fast as you can (with the proper form), and work up to the 4 1/2 mph goal.

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Garf

Monday 6th of January 2014

I would love to go outdoors for walking. Unfortunately, won't be able to do that until the spring time comes.

Markell

Sunday 5th of January 2014

These are great tips! Thanks for sharing. I can't wait until I can start working out again after I have this baby. These tips will really help.

Michelle F.

Sunday 5th of January 2014

Awesome tips. I will definitely keep this in mind after I get back into groove of walking for exercise.

Dana@chocolateandsunshine

Sunday 5th of January 2014

Thanks for sharing. I lost 18 lbs in the last 3 months of last year, with a lower calorie diet but with the addition of 30 min. walks 4-5 times per week. However, based upon your post, I was doing it incorrectly, thinking long strides were better. Thanks for the correction!

Renee

Sunday 5th of January 2014

Oh my goodness thank you so much for this post. Walking is the only form of exercise that I really like to do. However it doesn't seem to give me the great results that I am after. But with these tips I should see a lot better results. Great post.

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