Why Walking is the New Running

There is a word that most overweight people dislike, it is a word that turns people off and makes their mind switch to another channel to avoid thinking about it.
Unfortunately it is a key part to weight reduction and something that when done correctly can be the cause of your success.
The word is……………..
Exercise!
Now stay with me here, switch your mind back on to what I am saying stay, in this same frame.
The reason most overweight people do not like the ‘E’ word is because they have set up in their mind that in equals pain and like most people they will do anything to avoid pain. There is a better way and you can find the better way when you begin to understand that there are different ‘types’ of exercise (hey, don’t disappear – stay with me now)
At the lowest level there are 2 forms of exercise, these are;
· Aerobic
and
· Anaerobic
Aerobic exercise causes your heart and muscles to work very hard, pumping blood round your body at a high rate to get the oxygen to the muscles in order for them to keep working.
A side effect of this is that it produces acid in your muscles, lactic acid to be precise. It is this lactic acid that causes you muscles to stiffen up after you have finished, causing you pain. Lactic acid also stays in your system for a long time as your body finds it hard to break it down. If your body cannot break the acid down it wraps it up and stores it as fat!
The main type of aerobic exercise that people do on a regular basis is running, yes this helps build fitness but if you want to reduce your weight you can only concentrate on building fitness once you get down to a sufficient weight.
What you should concentrate on to start with is reducing your weight and nothing else, fitness comes later.
This is where anaerobic exercise comes in.
Anaerobic exercise causes the heart to work harder than normal which still pushes the blood and oxygen around the body but does not work the muscles as hard and therefore does not create lactic acid.
Further more anaerobic exercise helps in releasing stored fat and acid and helps it into the waste system so that the body can get rid of it. Remember you cannot ‘burn’ off your weight. The phrase ‘burning off calories’ is a myth!
The weight you get rid of has to leave your body somehow and it is through your waste system that this happens.
So, what is the best form of anaerobic exercise? I hear you ask
Well, as the title of this article suggests it is walking.
My suggestion to you is that you walk for 1 ½ hours at least 3 times per week and that should be broken down into the following;
· 15 minutes warm up walking at a pace slightly faster than your normal walking pace
· 60 minutes walking at a high pace that gets your heart pumping
· 15 minutes warm down walking at your normal walking pace.
If you cannot manage that to start with find your own level and start there and slowly build up to this level.
Remember the warm up and warm down though as this is vital.
Enjoy your walking.
Yours truly,
Graham Nicholls