The lifelong benefits of walking & avoiding the shuffle!
Isn’t the human body amazing?! We can get from A to B, sometimes over long distances, a whole variety of terrains, whilst also carrying the things we need with us…and all on 2 legs, not 4!
For those of us who are lucky enough to be able to walk, walking is probably one of the main forms of movement we find ourselves taking for granted or at worst denigrating it as a form of exercise that isn’t challenging enough to give it priority.
However, when you're injured or in pain and more challenging forms of movement fill you with fear, it’s a skill you suddenly really appreciate. When you realise it can bring you so much more than just the physical benefits, you never take it for granted again!
Why walking became important to me
In 2014 a running injury became 4 years of chronic pain. I could no longer run which created huge frustration. I came to realise that a big part of my addiction to running was actually about moving in nature. I had always enjoyed walking, particularly hill-walking and longer hikes, but I had to lower my expectations and in doing so, I realised just how much walking outdoors, even over short distances, could help me in my recovery.
Tip #1 - a walk doesn’t have to be seen as an extended ‘exercise session’
Like all the natural movements we need in daily life, if they don’t fit in easily, they’re less likely to happen. I don’t focus on each walk being really long or difficult, but instead I see any 5 minutes or more as a great thing. Sometimes the only walk I can fit around family life and work is a 10 minute wander to the postbox and back and I see that as good enough, as it’s 10 minutes more walking than if I hadn’t got out!
Why prioritise walking in your life? Is it really that beneficial?!
Like all forms of movement, the more regularly you walk, the more efficient you become and the more benefit you get from it.
Walking as a form of weight-bearing
As this is an unaided upright movement, you’re moving your body from point A to point B against the pull of gravity, hence it’s actually a ‘weight-bearing movement’, although not always recognised as such. It is therefore strengthening muscles, particularly of the legs, but also the core that is keeping us stable and upright as the spine rotates and the arm swings to help us to walk forwards efficiently.
The other benefit of it being a weight-bearing movement is that it also strengthens bones. For bodies over 35 that are losing bone density it’s a great way to counter this effect and to help prevent osteoporosis which is more prevalent in women in perimenopause and post menopause.
And you can increase these benefits if you carry a pack on your back containing extra weight (or if you’re really serious, adding a ‘weight vest’). Called ‘rucking’, this is a great addition when you can only walk for a short time, it increases the physical conditioning of your walk or it adds intensity to a longer walk.
Walking as a predominantly single leg movement
Another thing we don’t think about so much is that given walking is moving from one leg to another, we’re also working on our balance. Anyone who has had dizziness as a symptom of an illness will know that walking suddenly becomes incredibly challenging.
Our balance is challenged further on uneven or unreliable surfaces, more challenging terrain or when there are obstacles in our path. All of these elements actually bring huge benefits to our bodies, making them more adaptable and resilient for moving in the ways we need to in the rest of our lives.
Fear of falling can be a limiting factor and can mean we are more likely to avoid walking, but unless we change the environments we walk on, that fear is likely to increase. Using walking poles can help as a reassurance and if they help you to get out more, rather than choose not to walk, then they are a great addition to your repertoire.
Nature is your playground…add a log balance!
My happy place is definitely walking in the woods. I use the opportunity to practise balancing on fallen tree trunks. Balancing is a really mindful activity as it takes deep concentration! It not only improves your balancing skill and increases your confidence, but it’s also a good giggle.
Tip #2 you don’t just have to walk on walks!
Adding in play increases enjoyment by increasing your connection with your surroundings and your playmates, adding additional challenges for your body’s movement ability, and just making you smile and laugh.
Being largely a single leg movement, walking means we are also strengthening the muscles of the hip which, when combined with other natural movements, can help us to avoid hip issues as we age.
Tip #3 work on the natural movement skills needed to walk, to improve your walking efficiency.
Regularly practising your balance, hip and training your general lower body strength and mobility will help you become a more efficient and confident walker. Join the Reclaim Movement membership for 100s of live classes, replays and mini movement videos. Find out more by visiting www.reclaimmovement.co.uk/membership.
Yes, it’s ‘cardio’!
One of the main benefits is that to get those limbs moving, we need to get the muscles moving and to do this requires energy, as with any form of movement. In ‘steps’ the cardio-vascular & respiratory systems, increasing our metabolism, exercising the heart and lungs.
Walking pace varies hugely and, when there are no limiting factors, we can also choose to vary it ourselves, depending on our mood and the reasons we’re walking!
Tip #4 Increase your awareness of your walking pace and challenge yourself.
Increasing your walking pace, even for short bouts, is a superb way to increase the fitness outcomes of walking (and ‘rucking’ increases the challenge even further). Set yourself small regular goals of walking faster between two trees, or a few street lamps.
The ‘feel good’ factor
Did you know there’s a ‘sweet spot’ (as Caroline Williams describes it in her book, ‘Move - The New Science of Body Over Mind’) where our footsteps synchronise with our heart rate at around 120 bpm (about 2 steps per second) giving the biggest boost of blood flow around the body and to the brain. The added benefits, over and above achieving our moderate activity quota when walking at this pace, are also endorphin release & stress reduction, making us ‘feel good’ for getting out walking.
Getting outside: a tonic for low mood
Even without pain or injury, if you’re not feeling great, there’s no better tonic than getting out into the fresh air to shift your perspective, helping you be more in the moment to reduce anxiety and turn down a negative inner voice.
Nature is nurture
Have you heard of the Biophilia effect? In 1984 Edward O. Wilson introduced this hypothesis in his book, ‘Biophilia’. It describes the positive effects on humans of the sights, sounds, smells and textures of the natural world. The word itself literally means, ‘love of life’ and I think that perfectly describes the joy that comes from tuning in to the beauty of all living things around us when we venture out to walk, particularly in nature. Learning to tune in to this in my own life certainly helped me to move from a need to go running, to falling in love with walking…especially as you are going at a pace where you can notice so much more!
Tip #5 Notice how you feel after walking and compare it to how you felt before you went out.
Giving your brain evidence that walking, of any amount or type, makes you feel better in body and mind will help build up a bank of evidence that makes it easier to convince yourself to get out more regularly, and at best, becomes something you feel you ‘need’ to do in your life!
The final and most important benefit…portability!
The best thing about walking (if we are lucky enough that our bodies allow us to) is that we can walk everywhere and anywhere! In fact many special places on this planet aren’t accessible without being able to get there by foot. You don’t need fancy equipment and wherever you are, you can get out and walk. It’s such a practical skill and when our ability to walk diminishes, opportunities for living a full life start to reduce.
Noticing limiting factors
We all talk about having to fit exercise into your day, and when we see a walk as an exercise session in this way, it’s sometimes harder to get out.
Tip #6 - create a walking habit by attaching walking to other things you do
Try to think of things you can do where you can add in walking. After all, 5 minutes of mini walks 6 times a day is still half an hour’s walking! Can you leave a little earlier and find a new place to walk before an appointment for example? If you work from home, can you have your walking boots and earphones ready to walk whilst you call someone? Can you encourage your family to go for a short walk after the evening meal? Can you arrange to meet a friend for a walk instead of sitting for a coffee? Can you walk to the shops instead of driving (with the added bonus of ‘rucking’ on the way home to carry your shopping?!
Another factor that limits our walking efficiency is a lack of varied natural movement in daily life. To gain a strong, mobile and resilient body we need to move our bodies in as many of the ways it can, as regularly as we can.
When we move our bodies better, this translates into improving our ability to walk well. To learn more about training your body’s natural movement patterns during daily life (or even better, move with me in the membership) read this blog, ‘Natural movement training - Therapy and Deterrent’
Technique counts: avoid the shuffle!
A further limiting factor is when we’re not aware that the way we walk can be affecting the benefits. With a couple of simple technique tweeks, we can not only be less likely to fall, but also walk faster and use your walking to undo some of the effects of the more sedentary parts of our lives.
Tip #7 walk upright!
We are more likely to fall when we’re already moving and often whilst walking. Rather than leaning forward as we walk (as you often see when people are rushing), try to think about being more upright in your torso, allowing the arms to swing.
When we’re forward leaning as we walk, we’re using momentum, but this comes at the expense of being able to swing our legs properly. We are therefore less able to increase our speed as we have to take more, shorter steps and also not benefit from the next tip…
Tip #8 push off from the ground behind you
When we lean forward as we walk, we’re ‘pulling the ground’ towards us with our front foot.
When we switch that to focussing on ‘pushing the ground away’ with the foot that travels behind us (combined with Tip #7 of being more upright), we both open out the front of the hip with each step (an area which can become chronically tight from long periods of chair sitting), as well as firing the all-important gluteus muscles (in the rear). These are key muscles in our body to create stability between the upper and lower body and to provide the power to carry out lots of movements. This is called a ‘posterior push-off’ movement.
When we use these technique tips, we are also less likely to catch our feet on things as the hip of our swinging leg is listing up nicely, creating space for the leg to swing through. We also reduce the likelihood of falling as we’re not already falling forward making it much harder to ‘catch’ our balance if we do trip.
National Walking Month
In May in the United Kingdom it’s National Walking Month. I’m not sure which organisation started this awareness month, but it’s taken off and lots of charities and organisations use it to help promote a myriad of good causes, pretty much all of which are improved by getting people out walking.
Each year, I walk daily and (unusually for me) record my distances to add up the total kilometres at the end of the month and donate that number to a charity suggested by a follower on social media.
Why don’t you set yourself a walking challenge?
Whether it’s to walk daily for a week or month, train for a longer distance walk, or looking for a new and more challenging route than you’re used to.
I’d love you to prioritise walking in your life. When we realise it’s a natural movement skill like any other that, particularly as we age, we need to train in order to maintain it, we’re never likely to take it for granted.
