Category: Fitness

Weather variations make any outdoor activity, including walking, more complicated and  layers more important. Of course, it’s also  the  weather that makes being  outdoors a lot more enjoyable too,  as  long  as  you  correctly layer  the right protective gear and apparel. In cold weather, try to pick a warmer part of the  day for your…

Walking’s abundance of freedom and pleasure lies in its deficiency—a deficiency in required equipment, clothing, and  accessories. Every time I head out  for a walk on an area trail,  I watch the  bicyclists and  in-line skaters prepare them- selves. They  unload equipment, adjust gears and  wheels, strap themselves in, buckle up, pull on helmets, and…

With good  shoes on your  feet,  you’re  nearly ready to hit the  road. Although great shoes are the key ingredient, carefully considered clothes will make your workouts more comfortable. Next to shoes, socks are your best friend. Avoid cotton; synthetic fibers  are better at drawing moisture away from your  skin and they  don’t end up…

In walking you don’t dress from head to toe, you dress from toe to head. Think of it this  way: The  snazziest, most finely tuned sports car  on the  road won’t perform as  it should without a solid  set of appropriate, high-performance tires. Your body, too,  won’t be able  to reach its full walking potential…

Walking for fitness is a cheater’s way of sightseeing. You can tour places from your  own city’s neighborhoods to streets and villas in distant countries. Sure, paved trails and  tracks can be a nice  retreat, but  they’re unnecessary unless you’re doing an advanced workout requiring timed paces and specific distances. Otherwise, anywhere that’s safe  is…

Everybody moves differently, but walkers of all levels, from strollers to racers, make three common mistakes. Guard  against them, because they  inhibit your style  and  cause injuries. Waist lean.  If you have  an ache in your  low back  after  a walk, you may be tilting  forward and  letting your  buttocks stick  out.  Not exactly attractive,…

You don’t have to race to race walk. But if you do compete in judged races, two rules apply:  The knee of the  supporting leg must straighten for a split  second as it passes under the body, and the front heel must contact the ground before the  rear foot  leaves the  ground. Although sometimes controversial…

What I’ve discussed so far applies to any kind of terrain, but you’ll experience different challenges when you head off road onto trails, grass, or sand. Depending on the softness of the surface or the hilliness of the terrain, you could use from a third more to double the amount of energy you would walking…

Put simply, walking  is a series of forward falls. Keep falling forward, one  foot after the other (without falling on your face, of course), and you’ll move along in a straight line. Simple. Learned to do it as a toddler. Do it every day. So what’s with this  treatise on technique? You’re not  walking  just…

For  safety,  make  sure  someone  is  with  you  when  you  complete  this evaluation. For an exact distance, use a track or a measured and marked flat trail with a smooth surface. A standard track is 1⁄ mile, so you will walk four laps in the inside lane for the 1-mile evaluation. Otherwise, use a measured path,…