Many people think of "walking" as simply walking for a certain amount of time. However, walking exercises should systematically increase their intensity and pay attention to before and after exercise like other exercises. If walking hard doesn't have an exercise effect, try changing the method. Here is a step-by-step walking exercise.
Step 1 - Work out your muscles thoroughly before walking
If you recently started walking, you should spend more time warming up. In particular, middle-aged people with low muscle mass should exercise enough muscle before walking. Combining muscle strength exercises improves cardiopulmonary function as well as whole-body function. Even without any special equipment, you can do muscle training through squats and planks, etc. Squats are exercises that stand with both feet shoulder-width apart, sit slowly, and stand up, and your hips must go down to knee-high when you sit down. Three to four sets of 20 to 30 times for adults can be conducted, and four to five sets of 10 times for the elderly are appropriate. A plank is a movement in which you bend your arms while lying face down on the ground and put your arms on the floor and drop your body from the ground. Adults should hold out for at least 20 to 30 seconds and senior citizens for 10 to 15 seconds. Perform three sets a day.
Step 2 - 'Interval' walking, more effective than just walking
If you have done both walking and strength exercises for about two weeks, try "interval walking." By repeating fast walking and slow walking, if you walk at your usual speed for 5 minutes, 3 minutes is a way of applying strength to your whole body and walking fast. Walking in this way causes muscles to contract and relax quickly, and blood is well supplied to all parts of the body. There is also an effect of improving the elasticity of the vessel wall. You should walk fast but not run, and the speed is appropriate to the extent that you are a little short of breath, and that it is difficult to talk or sing while walking. To avoid injury in the process of walking fast, it is better to walk on flat ground.
Step 3 - You need to increase walking time and strengthen your muscles
If six to eight weeks have passed since starting the interval walking exercise, increase the walking time little by little and increase the speed. In order to increase the speed of walking, you need to increase your muscle mass through a lot of muscle exercises. Even without heavy exercise equipment, you can do muscle exercises with an elastic band. First, spread your legs, put the elastic band around your neck with your knees slightly bent, and step on both ends of the band with your feet. After that, it is a movement that slowly lifts up and returns to the upper body. You can do 3 sets of 10 to 15 times. This movement helps strengthen core muscles along with lower body muscles.
Writer: Yeyoung Jeon
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