You want to get in better shape and improve your health. You keep
hearing about the benefits of physical activity and wish you could
motivate yourself to get started. You finally decide that you'd be
willing to start slowly with a regular walking routine. Perhaps you have
a treadmill at home and prefer to walk while watching television. Or,
maybe you enjoy being outdoors and map out a set path to walk regularly.
Whatever routine you set up for yourself, there are some key long-term
success factors to consider, whether you're looking to lose weight, get
in shape or just increase your overall health and sense of well-being.
For example, I've seen many of my Weight Loss Coaching clients get into an exercise routine that helps them get some great results, but then they seem to plateau. They're sticking to it, but aren't getting the same results as they did when they first started. They get frustrated and as you can well imagine and perhaps relate to, their motivation can sometimes wane.
The fact is that if you walk the same speed, with the same intensity and for approximately the same amount of time each day, your body will eventually get comfortable and won't be burning as many calories. You can't let your workouts get too easy and comfortable for your muscles. When this happens your body is no longer being challenged. Just like your brain needs to continuously be challenged to stay sharp, your body and muscles need to be challenged to work at their optimum. You want your muscles challenged and working optimally because they are what keep your metabolism going strong alongside your healthy diet and positive outlook.
To take your fitness and weight control to the next level, you need to wake your body up out of its comfort zone. To burn more calories walking, start by adding some intensity to your walking workout. This will help to challenge your heart, lungs and muscles. Add some hills to your path either outside or on your treadmill. Start with some extra incline and feel like you need to push yourself so it is not overly easy for you.
Be sure to walk with purpose and enthusiasm. Take bold steps and get those arms up high. Pumping your arms purposely will help to burn more calories and strengthen your arms and shoulder muscles at the same time.
Most people maintain the same speed throughout their entire walking routine. This won't burn as many calories or challenge your muscles, heart and lungs as when you add in intervals of walking at top speed for a minute at a time. This means to walk really fast for a minute or so and then walk at your regular pace for two to three minutes. Then boot it up again and keep alternating between fast and regular pace for a good 30 minutes. You will notice the challenge, improved results and it will also make it less boring.
If you think that walking is boring, then listen to music or walk with a buddy or if on a treadmill, put on a movie you've been wanting to watch on your DVD player. You'll see that after 30 minutes, you may find it difficult to stop because you'll want to see what happens next. The trick is to only allow yourself to watch the movie if you're moving on the treadmill. That way you'll be more likely to get on it the next day so you can continue watching your movie.
For example, I've seen many of my Weight Loss Coaching clients get into an exercise routine that helps them get some great results, but then they seem to plateau. They're sticking to it, but aren't getting the same results as they did when they first started. They get frustrated and as you can well imagine and perhaps relate to, their motivation can sometimes wane.
The fact is that if you walk the same speed, with the same intensity and for approximately the same amount of time each day, your body will eventually get comfortable and won't be burning as many calories. You can't let your workouts get too easy and comfortable for your muscles. When this happens your body is no longer being challenged. Just like your brain needs to continuously be challenged to stay sharp, your body and muscles need to be challenged to work at their optimum. You want your muscles challenged and working optimally because they are what keep your metabolism going strong alongside your healthy diet and positive outlook.
To take your fitness and weight control to the next level, you need to wake your body up out of its comfort zone. To burn more calories walking, start by adding some intensity to your walking workout. This will help to challenge your heart, lungs and muscles. Add some hills to your path either outside or on your treadmill. Start with some extra incline and feel like you need to push yourself so it is not overly easy for you.
Be sure to walk with purpose and enthusiasm. Take bold steps and get those arms up high. Pumping your arms purposely will help to burn more calories and strengthen your arms and shoulder muscles at the same time.
Most people maintain the same speed throughout their entire walking routine. This won't burn as many calories or challenge your muscles, heart and lungs as when you add in intervals of walking at top speed for a minute at a time. This means to walk really fast for a minute or so and then walk at your regular pace for two to three minutes. Then boot it up again and keep alternating between fast and regular pace for a good 30 minutes. You will notice the challenge, improved results and it will also make it less boring.
If you think that walking is boring, then listen to music or walk with a buddy or if on a treadmill, put on a movie you've been wanting to watch on your DVD player. You'll see that after 30 minutes, you may find it difficult to stop because you'll want to see what happens next. The trick is to only allow yourself to watch the movie if you're moving on the treadmill. That way you'll be more likely to get on it the next day so you can continue watching your movie.
Roslyn Franken is a Weight Loss Coach, Motivational Speaker who
shares her principles in her ground breaking book, The A List: 9 Guiding
Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living. For more information
and to subscribe to Roslyn's FREE Newsletter, go to http://www.RoslynFranken.com
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