Do We Really Know to Walk After All?

Maintaining Correct Posture While Walking Prevents Unwanted Complications to your Health

None of them are Senior Citizens but Still They Walk with a Pole!

You and I started to walk long back when we were one-year-olds clinging onto our moms/dads as a lifeboat to save us when we trip and fall! Its well-known that habits last a lifetime and one can be sure that there is no chance in this world that we forget to walk correctly. But our fears have come true and there is no way that our quality of walk is better than before. And, that’s most probably because many of us have simply forgotten to walk more sitting in front of televisions, computers and video games. It’s now time that we start re-learning our walking techniques and get back to the basics of a proper walk.
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Glorifying your Gait
Walking helps in improving overall physical fitness of your body, improves mood, takes off stress, reduces risk of chronic diseases and protects cardiovascular health. It is one of the best forms of exercise that can be practiced by individuals of any age group, any time of the day and anywhere. Most of us refuse to take it as a good exercise form just because we walk everyday-from the living room to the bedroom, from the office pantry to the washroom and from our apartment to the road outside to catch an auto. This is all that we walk but we talk too much on the effectiveness of this exercise form. Don’t you think that many of your walking styles might be totally incorrect and even affecting your knee?

Children usually copy the walking styles of parents and if in case the parent is doing it wrong it leads to a series of side effects. Maintaining symmetry is extremely important and your footsteps must be rhythmic to ensure that you are walking in the right track. It is always necessary to strike the ground heel first and then put your forefoot forward. You need to balance it right with the perfect style that includes speed, step width and step frequency. Its necessary to hold your head straight, avoid tilting it and refrain from slumping your shoulders. Your arms too play a critical role in affecting your walking style and speed. Bend your arms at 90-degree length and swing them briskly in tune with your opposite leg to maintain balance. Think of a pendulum and move each arm briskly back and forth. If any of these aren’t in place it can badly affect you-a bad posture and shoes that don’t support your brisk walk can enforce more strain on the muscles thereby leading to joint problems and muscle aches.

Footwear plays a crucial role in determining your walking style. If you use something that’s more than a year old and you have been walking daily then its time for a change of footwear. Pace too is definitely important while walking and this determines your calorie-burning capacity. You can walk slowly for one minute followed by three to four minutes of a brisk walking pace. You can also mix and match your own interval with your suitable pace and intensity. Motivation too keeps you going forward with your activity with much more enthusiasm. Maybe you can use a pedometer to track your steps, calories burnt and heart rate. Wearing a heavier vest (https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2019/improving-your-walking-routine.html?intcmp=HEA-HL-FEED) or carrying a load on your back triggers greater weight loss in the same stipulated time duration.

Its seen that individuals develop a specific walking style by the age of 7 which follows him/her through adulthood. We sometimes identify a person by the way he/she walks and the walking style too tells a lot about the person. Someone who is constantly rushing is mostly stressed, a person who takes bigger strides has got a purpose in life while someone who walks with drooping shoulders and crossed arms maybe depressed and lacks a motive in life. Decide upon your style-do you want to take bigger strides in life or stay unfocused?

There are different walking formats that can be interesting and worthy giving a shot. For instance, Nordic walking uses poles to help you move forward while you walk, power walking helps you achieve around 7-9 km/hour and rambling makes you enjoy scenic beauty and nature trails while motivating your body to exercising too.

Choose the right walking style, maintain your posture and pace to achieve best results from your activity.
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References
How to Change your Gait? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/magazine/how-to-change-your-gait.html

How to Walk Properly? https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/health-wellbeing/exercise-fitness/how-to-walk-properly
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