Walking for sport is perfect if you want to start a journey to get back in shape or if you want to keep it in a period when you can’t train for continuity. AND a simple, cheap activity that you can do anywhere and at any time of the day and which consists simply of walking faster than your normal pace. Some call it fitwalking, some powerwalking and also in other ways, with various technical devices on foot support and the use of the arms, but the substance is that intense walking can be a real sporting activity.
Walking for sport: a real endurance activity
Let’s not get confused: walking for sport is something different from the walking routes or the walking that is done every day: fitness walking is done voluntarily and at an accelerated pace. The speed may vary based on your goals and fitness level, but definitely it’s about going at a pace between 5 and 10 km per hour. Does that seem like a lot to you? Keep in mind that 5 km/h on foot is the normal speed when walking to catch the bus (not when window shopping, that’s much lower), normally those who practice walking is around 6 or 7 km/h, but the really good ones even reach 9 or 10 km/h, which is almost the speed of those who jog or think of running. If you want to know more, here we have talked about time, distance and speed for fitness walking.
And if you can walk at this good pace for at least 30′ or more, and do it for at least 3 days a week or every other day, then you can say you walk for sport.
What is walking for sport?
The “sports walkers” have one main goal: feel good about your body and keep fit. It is therefore enough to leave the house and take a walk of at least 30′, with a slightly more intense pace than normal, breathing clean air and exposing yourself to natural sunlight to be able to say you are walking for sport and basically keep fit.
If you lengthen the time of each walk, increase the days of activity or increase the pace you can sustain, it’s all a gain, and walking becomes a real endurance and cardio sportwith numerous advantages.
What are the benefits of fitness walking?
One of the main advantages of fitness walking is that it can be practiced almost anywhere, anytime, and does not require expensive equipment: just get the right shoes, sportswear suitable for the season, and you can go.
From the point of view of the body and health, fitness walking is a valuable physical activity, as it works many different muscles in the body. It has all the advantages of other sports such as running or cycling: prevent diabetes and heart disease, burn calories, keep the cardiovascular system healthy, tone muscles, improve mood.
Furthermore, compared to other sports, walking has fewer drawbacks and more advantages, as it it is low-impact and accessible to all: it is in fact one of the simplest sports for the body and in particular for the joints, and the risk of injury is reduced as well as that of accidents or accidents. The perfect sport to practice also considering the advancing age.
Con almost 300 calories burned during an hour of walking at an average speed of 6.5 km/h, walking allows you to keep fit and, if you want to burn even more calories, just speed up: 380 calories/hour when you go over 8 km/h. If you want to know more about calorie expenditure, read how to walk to lose 1 kg.
For comparison, it isequivalent of the number of calories burned running at the same speed or by joining an hour-long aerobics class at the gym. All with much less traumatic impact on the joints and at a decidedly lower cost.
What you need for fitness walking
In fitness walking, the movements are more intense than in daily walking. The gait is more decisive and long and fast steps are taken. In particular, the foot goes through three different phases and when you take a step forward, the heel strike must be cushioned to absorb the impact.
Because of this you need suitable footwear that also favors the heel-to-toe transition called in jargon “rolled”.
If you want to know everything about shoes more suitable for walking for sport, read our in-depth analysis.
Obviously, since it is a real sport, you also need a clothing suitable for the activity and the season: find all about how to dress for your fitness walking in this article.
How to figure out the right rhythm
Perhaps the most difficult thing for those who start walking for sport is to understand the right pace. The secret is learn to listen and recognize your own bodyand you don’t need heart rate watches or apps on your phone.
In fact, just do the voice test: if you can sing while walking, even in a whisper, then you are going too slow to say you are doing a real sport; if you can hold a conversation then the pace is right; if all you can do is answer in monosyllables then the pace is too high.
The nice, interesting and useful thing to know is that in a short time what used to be the monosyllable rhythm can become your right rhythm, with concrete and appreciable improvements in your form. If you want to know more, you can also read heartbeat in walking: how much should it be?.
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