FAST WALKING: BENEFITS AND EFFECTIVENESS - IN SHAPE

Fast walking: the benefits of staying fit with ease

When we are in the winter, exercising and losing weight always seems difficult. However, halfway between a sport and a recreational physical activity, we find fast walking, which in recent years has been spreading both in Italy and abroad. It can be practiced indoor, at home or in the gym, on a treadmill, but, normally, we prefer to walk quickly in the open air, also regaining contact with the environment that surrounds us before or after a day of work or on weekends.

Unlike jogging or running, the fitwalking, or brisk walking, is the activity suitable for everyone, even for overweight people who want to get back into shape, because it does not burden excessively muscles and joints with shocks and traumas. Its benefits are different: practicing it, not only you can burn calories and lose weight, but its positive effects are also found on a psychological level, allowing you to release the tension accumulated over the course of the week and regain energy.

Before we reveal everything about this beloved activity, here is a video where you can find out what shape your body is and which celebrity looks like you:

Fast walking: instructions for use

With the definition of fast walking, in English fitwalking, we do not mean a simple walk in the open air: in fact, very often, these two activities are confused. The latter is more a moment of leisure and has no sporting intent, although it has a positive effect on the mind and health. Fast walking, on the other hand, is part of the fitness field and as such requires various precautions - such as, for example, suitable shoes -, bringing many benefits to our body and our mood.

In addition to the classic walk, it must not be confused with the nordic walking, sport and training that involves greater effort for the upper limbs, arms and trunk, supported by sticks or rackets to better schedule each step. Finally, fast walking is not synonymous with jogging, because the latter, despite the slow and calm pace, remains an authentic form of running.

The ideal training session

It is true that brisk walking, compared to running, can be practiced by a larger number of people, but since it is always a real physical exercise, it will be necessary to pay attention to how the training is carried out. First of all, the intensity and the pace will vary according to your health condition, age and body weight. Also, be very careful with your posture while walking: do not stay with your back either too bent forward or too far back. momentum and shoulders back: only in this way will you be sure to accomplish the fitwalking in the optimal way.

In general, a training session involves traveling a distance of 1 km in 8-9 minutes. So, during a 40-minute fast-paced session, you can cover a distance of about 5 km. The walking speed can be adapted to your physical condition, increasing the intensity of your pace each time with the improvement of your level. By doing so, you can cover those 10 thousand steps that are proposed per day.For beginners, it is advisable to start with two or three training sessions of up to 30 minutes per week, while, for those who already have more experience, it is possible to go up to five weekly workouts of 45 minutes, for a maximum of one "hour. L "The ideal would be to be able to travel 6 km in one" hour, so as to consume an average of 300 Kcal, a result that can be achieved rather quickly with more or less constant training.

The benefits for the body and mind

Walking fast burns calories and, by combining proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle, you can lose weight. The benefits produced by this activity on our body are:

It does not overload the structures of the bones, muscles and joints
It allows you to get your breath back and develop endurance
Helps tone muscles: starting from the legs, thighs and buttocks, up to the abs, arms, shoulders and back
If practiced constantly, it allows to strengthen the cardiac capacities
Helps keep fit, acting on the silhouette and reducing the danger of accumulation of fat pads, due to a sedentary lifestyle
It improves lymphatic circulation, counteracting water retention

As for the benefits from a psychological point of view, they can be:

Allows the discharge of accumulated voltage
It helps to counteract anxiety, sadness and stress, or anything that threatens our daily life
Increase self-esteem
It allows you to regain your energies
If practiced in the open air, it allows us to get out of the closed places where we usually hide in the winter
It stimulates our creativity up to 50% more, when done in the middle of nature
By walking quickly in the company of friends or your dog, these effects are enhanced even more

Advice

Walking fast has far fewer contraindications than running, a much more impacting sport on the muscles and joints. What you should pay attention to is, as already mentioned above, posture: an incorrect position will always allow you to burn calories and lose weight, but will have more or less serious consequences on the body parts put under inadequate effort.

Furthermore, the fitwalking it does not require a great deal of technical equipment, but the only thing to think about are shoes. Walking, especially at speed, we exert pressure on the foot, which therefore requires the right shoe to practice this fitness activity. its main features are:

flexibility: it is essential that the foot has freedom of movement and is not limited by a shoe that is too stiff.
momentum: forward propulsion must always be favored - and never hindered - by the technical shoe
cushioning: it allows to absorb the shocks of the heel in contact with the ground, helping to avoid blows and consequent back pain.
breathability

With these precautions, all you have to do is go out and start walking at a brisk pace: you will see, you will never have felt so good!