Walking to lose weight

Walking to lose weight

Everyone knows that the path to health should be taken with a healthy dose of exercise. Diets have always been accompanied by reminders that constant activity is required to work. The government has even distributed its own recommendations for the exercise. Many people think that just because you use your legs to take you from one place to another, it already constitutes exercise. Many people further force this definition simply by walking and then considering it as their exercise. But does this work?

Researchers at the University of Alberta have taken this question seriously and have embarked on a very detailed study. They compared the fitness level of two groups: one group involved following a walking program, and the other group was told to do traditional fitness routines of moderate intensity. The investigation concluded that the fitness level of the last group was significantly higher than the first, possibly indicating that walking may not be enough. The leader of the research team, Dr. Vicki Harber, explained that walking, because it is a low intensity activity, does not provide the benefits of fitness routines that vary from low to moderate to high intensity. He also said that to be physically fit through exercise, low intensity activities must be combined with high and moderate intensity activities.

In other words, walking will not give you the benefits you can get from having more challenging exercise routines. But still, can it contribute in any way to the general physical state? And more importantly, can you really be physically fit (i.e. lose weight) walking?

It is true that walking has its place in an exercise regimen, especially for those who have recently started working to be healthy. For those who have not exercised for a long time, it is better to start with a walking program to get your body used to physical activity. Walking is a great step towards more challenging exercises. This low intensity activity is especially recommended for those who feel that their bodies are not at par, are overweight and have no experience in strenuous physical activity. Walking is not simply taking you from one physical place to another; It can also take you from inactivity to movement. Because it makes use of the muscles, it will still allow you to burn more calories and provide a warm-up to your muscles.

However, remember that walking alone is not a complete exercise regime. As stated above, you should subject your body to more strenuous physical activities to really see the results. Once your body gets used to walking, it will adapt to this activity and thus reach a plateau. Due to the incredible ability of the body to adapt, every time you enter an exercise routine, that is, if you repeat the same routines over and over again over a period of time, your body will adjust gradually and you will not see any results. Progress requires intensifying. To maintain progress, your body has to constantly challenge itself so as not to fall into the routine.

Walking fast is best accompanied by resistance training. This type of exercise does not necessarily mean bulky muscles like that of bodybuilders or professional wrestlers. It is true that resistance training is similar to weightlifting, but this should not be intimidating because, after all, your goal is not to look like a bodybuilder or a professional fighter. The benefits of resistance training include muscle tone, higher metabolic rate, higher bone density, better mood and better posture, to name a few. You do not have to use weights or weights for weight training. You can also enroll in some yoga or Pilates classes, which advocate training using body weight.