Kick-Start Your Way to
Livin' Healthy with Fitness
If you need a reason to get moving, try these on for size: weight loss, a boost to your immune system, stress relief, and a reduction in your risk of the chronic diseases: obesity, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and stroke. Did you know that regular exercise decreases both your systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 10 points, and that you can see this effect within three to four weeks of increasing your activity level?
Here's the Evidence
According to one study, a brisk walk is as effective as running in reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Researchers studied 74,000 women between 50 and 79 and found that walking briskly for 2 1/2 hours a week cut their heart attack and stroke risk by one-third. You can even walk away from high blood pressure—scientists reported that regular physical activity, such as brisk walking for 30-45 minutes five times a week, can reduce hypertension in people who already have it and could prevent its development in people who are susceptible to the disease. Other research shows that walking combined with a healthful diet, is more effective in warding off diabetes than a popular drug.
Calorie Payoff for Your Walk
If you weigh 120 pounds, you burn 80 calories per mile.
If you weigh 150 pounds, you burn 100 calories per mile.
If you weigh 180 pounds, you burn 115 calories per mile.
If you weigh 200 pounds, you burn 125 calories per mile.
Gearing Up to Get Started
So what gear will you need to get yourself on the road to Healthy Livin'? First you'll need to invest in a pair of good walking shoes. If you cover 10 miles a week, you may need to replace them after a year. Your clothes should be comfortable and breathable and should not limit your steps or movement. Focus on getting out to walk, not on how you look. Once you reach a goal, you may want to reward yourself by buying a piece of fitness gear as a motivational tool.
How to Walk
Begin by walking for 20 minutes a day if you haven't walked or done any kind of exercise recently. If you have, by all means challenge yourself and do more. Start by walking three days a week. After a few weeks, add another day. A few weeks later, move up to five days a week. Set a goal of walking briskly enough to cover a mile in 15 minutes. At that rate you can burn as many calories as running that same mile in half the time.
This Is How We Do It
- Be sure to keep your back straight and your head up
- Keep your arms swinging at your sides (keep 'em movin')
- Don't walk flat-footed; instead, land on your heels and roll forward onto the balls of your feet
- Keep breathing deeply and rhythmically with each step
- To step it up, increase your steps rather than your stride. This reduces injuries
- Warm up for at least five minutes, then stretch all of your muscle groups. Hold each stretch for 30 beats
Who's Gonna Take the Weight?
If you are 35 or older, you should be thinking about adding weights to your workout. This necessary to prepare for the bone mass that you'll lose as a result of menopause. I recommend that even younger women add weights to their workouts, because training with weights helps you build muscle and therefore burn fat more efficiently. Remember, the greater your muscle to fat ratio, the more fat you burn, even at rest. Weight training builds strong muscles and bones and helps you to obtain a trimmer, fitter body. You will become more fit if you add strength training to your routine after your daily walk. All it takes is an additional half hour. This should result in a total of one hour a day for your workout. Do that five days a week, eat according to my Color Plate System, then watch the results. They won't come overnight, but they will come.
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