Brisk walking can help you age more independently and with a higher quality of life by improving your cardiovascular health, muscular strength, and body composition. Cardiovascular health and body composition can aid in the prevention of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other chronic illnesses.
Brisk walking can also help you boost your mental abilities, allowing you to perform better at work. A fast walking routine has been shown in studies to minimize perceived weariness, increase job motivation, improve focus, and reduce overall exhaustion. Brisk walking has distinct advantages versus walking at a slower pace over an extended period of time. Faster walking raises your heart rate, stimulating and challenging your cardiovascular system in ways that slower walking does not.
Brisk walking is a moderate-intensity workout that is more effective than sluggish walking at increasing fitness and lowering health risks. The speed at which you must walk to be considered brisk is determined by your level of fitness. Learn how to improve your walking technique so that you can walk faster on average.
WALKING TECHNIQUES
You can improve your walking technique if your typical walking pace is slower than brisk walking and you want to boost your speed. Many people can speed up their walking by changing their posture, stride, and arm movements. Wearing sports shoes and clothing that allow for unrestricted mobility will also help you accelerate. You may need to walk gently at first to ensure you have the proper walking technique. This technique has four components: stance, arm motion, step, and stride.
WALKING STRIDE
Your walking stride is also important. Instead of trying to extend your stride, try to take more steps that are the length of your natural stride. Make certain that any length you add is behind you. . Push off with your toes after keeping your back foot on the ground for a longer period of time. When attempting to walk faster, resist the urge to overstride. Your front foot should be closer to your body. Check to see whether you’re extending your foot too far in front of your torso.
WALKING RATE
One study found that the minimum speed for moderate-intensity exercise for people under the age of 60 is around 100 steps per minute. If you’re in good form, 3 miles per hour (4.8 kilometres per hour) might not be a decent moderate-intensity workout zone for you. To enter into the zone, walk at a rate of 4 miles per hour (a 15-minute mile) or faster. This equates to 6.4 kilometres per hour. Most people can walk at a reasonable pace of 5 miles per hour (8 kilometres per hour).
BOTTOM LINE:
Walking can reduce health risks while also increasing fitness. Don’t be concerned with your speed; it’s your exertion (RPE or heart rate) that determines if you’re moving quickly enough to be in the moderate-intensity exercise zone.
