Walking 30 minutes a day offers many health benefits, including improved cardio, stronger bones, uplifted mood, alleviated stress and mild depression, better balance and coordination, and weight management. It also helps reduce risk of developing conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and some cancers. Are you feeling stuck? Walk it out!! Studies show that walking improves creative output and helps you come up with fresh ideas.

Get the most out of your efforts, and avoid pain or strain in the muscles and joints by walking with good technique and posture:

• Keep your chin parallel to the ground, your ears aligned over your shoulders, and your gaze forward. Focus on an area about 20-30 feet ahead of you.
• Keep your shoulders back and down. No slouching or bringing your shoulders up toward your ears.
• Engage your core. Give a little cough or a giggle. Feel that tightness in your midsection? Hold that! Don’t let it go!
• Swing your arms back and forth by your sides with your palms facing your body. Avoid swinging the arms in front of you.
• Let your heel strike first then roll through to your toe. Push off with your toe as you bring the back leg forward to strike with the heel again. Avoid landing flat on the foot or on the toes.

To get EVEN MORE out of your exercise time…make it BRISK!! This will provide better results than walking at a leisurely pace.

What is brisk enough?

Walk as though you are meeting someone for lunch and you are a little late. You can also time your steps for one minute: 120 to 135 steps per minute corresponds to a walking pace of 3 to 4 miles per hour, a good goal for many people. If your steps are not quite that quick, trying picking up the pace for short bursts during your usual walk, on different days of the week. Over time, you’ll stride your way to a faster walking pace.