Walking is an enjoyable way to begin fitness training and anyone can start walking even if overweight or unfit as you can start slowly and build up the fitness to start enjoying more strenuous exercises such as running.
Walking can be great fun especially if you take a friend or join a group in which case it is very sociable.
You don't need any special equipment except a pair of good trainers and a drinks bottle. Walking will burn up calories and tone up and shape your lower body. To start of with try to walk three times a week and aim to build up to 30mins.After a few weeks of walking you will start to feel more energy throughout the day. Remember to stretch out your legs thoroughly after walking but expect to feel some soreness early on.
If you suffer any pain or injury you should rest and see an expert. Pushing through the pain does not work and may cause a serious problem.
You can expect to see rapid improvements in your walking over the weeks and months but don't expect improvement on every session as your body takes time to improve and you get fitter when you are resting. It can be discouraging for a beginner to walk slower then their previous session but this is quite normal as you may not have fully recovered.
You will experience weight loss gradually as an hour of brisk walking will result in burning 250 to 300 calories. So as long as you control your calorie intake you will lose weight.
Eventually you can begin to train five times a week and strive to increase the length of your walk. Its a good idea to have a couple of easy days were you don't push your self as much and a hard day were you can really gauge your progress. A great way to intensify a workout is to try hill walking. This will seriously challenge your fitness and leg strength and will take you to another level. At this point you may be ready for some jogging if its something that appeals to you.
I recommend that you perform some resistance exercises in conjunction with your walking to achieve a more complete level of fitness. This could be weights or bodyweight exercises. This will also help to lose weight as lean muscle will raise your metabolism and burn more calories.
I have personally witnessed someone who struggled to walk one mile build up to jogging three miles over hilly terrain in less then six months. And it all started with walking.
For more help take a look at http://fitnessinfo.weebly.com/.
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