women Fitness Walking Tips

Walking for Women Over 65

If you make it a part of your lifetime fitness plan walking will not only improve your body, but your mind as well. Here are some other ways in which walking is beneficial:

• A 20 minute workout can offset fatigue,
• Consistent walking is a mood elevator and can help offset depression associated with aging
• Walk to the park with your grandchildren or meet your friends in town for a day of shopping. Enjoy the outdoors.

Power Walking:

• Intensity: Swing your arms and take larger steps while exercising. Your pace should be much quicker than your normal walking pace. Aim to cut the amount of time you take to walk a mile by a third.
• Frequency: Aim for 20 minute workout power walks everyday. Consistency is key in a workout routine. Your efforts will not go unnoticed; soon you will be able to do everyday things such as climbing the stairs more easily.
• Build power walking into your life by walking instead of driving to work, school or friends' houses. Walk to get your morning coffee. Go for a invigorating walk with your coworkers on your break, or power walk to a park during your lunch break.
• If you find that you experience leg or foot pains while power walking, make sure you are wearing the right walking shoes that fit correctly and give you plenty of support.
• Power walking can burn more than 600 calories per hour.

Rev it Up: Burning More Calories While Walking

Since walking is considered a low intensity workout, if you are interested in weight loss, you might need to do a few things to rev up the intensity. Here are some ideas.

• Pick up the Speed: Do the math. If you walk faster, you will burn more calories per minute.
• Try some Intervals: If you are not quite ready for speed walking, you can practice speeding up for three-minute intervals dispersed throughout your workout.
• Go climb a hill: Walking up hills burns more calories than walking on the flat surfaces. It works wonder on toning your gluteals muscles.
• Take a Hike: At altitudes over 5,000 feet, your body will burn about 30 calories more per hour. Also, the physical challenges involved in hiking will burn a few extra calories.
• Get a set of hiking poles: Walking poles such as Leki or Nordic Walker have been shown to increase caloric expenditure.
• Wear Comfortable Shoes: Shoes that don't quite fit right can cause you to walk more slowly, which will in turn burn less calories.
• Wear Appropriate Clothing: Your walking clothing should allow you to move freely, thereby making movements that are big enough to burn sufficient calories.
• Take Bigger Strides: Larger strides use more muscle groups, and therefore burn more calories.
• Use Your Upper Body: Once again, the more muscles you use, the more calories you will burn.

How to Choose a Walking Shoe:

Choosing the right walking shoe is equally as important as choosing the right running shoe. Keep in mind that you might like the look or style of a particular type of shoe, but if it is not comfortable it will literally fail to go the miles. Your choice of walking shoe is dependent on the unique structure of your feet.

For example, take a look at the shoes you wear every day. If they seem to be worn our out towards the inner edges if your feet, you are a pronater, which means that you should purchase a walking shoe that has a significant amount of motion control. If you do not have a severe pronation problem, a stability shoe provides some control, but it is more flexible than a motion control shoe.

If you are a bit overweight, you might prefer a cushioned shoe. However, these might supply a bit less motion control than a typical motion control shoe. A viable option would be to get a motion control shoe and purchase a pair of gel inserts.

If you are a lightweight woman with no significant gait problems, you might want to consider a lightweight-walking shoe. These are also excellent if you are considering racewalking. Any woman who is thinking about using her walking skills to do some summer hiking should invest in a pair of trail shoes. These shoes have rugged soles that serve to protect you from the rocks and other obstacles. Choose a water resistant shoe. You'll never know when you have to walk on a rock trail across a stream. Recently, trail shoes have become more flexible, so they can double as your daily walking shoe.