How to Walk the Right Way

Keep your body straight when walking. Everyone has a unique gait, but if you keep a few things in mind, most people will have a better walking experience. The first thing to mention is the walking posture. When walking, you need to keep your head up, lift your chin, and straighten your back. Maintaining this posture will help keep your spine straight, reduce pressure on your diaphragm, so you will breathe easier.

• Try not to stoop when walking. Over time, the wrong walking posture will cause you back pain, stiff neck and even other more serious problems. ^[3]

Use your calves, hamstrings, and quads for efficient walking. For an effective walk, you’ll need to use not one, but all of the leg muscles. As you walk, imagine you are using your inner thighs and quads to push one leg back, and at the same time bring your body forward, putting pressure on the heel of the other foot. You will walk while rolling your feet forward, from the heel to the toes. This will cause the calf muscles to work to help the foot lift and create a moderate angle with the ground when walking.

Push your shoulders back comfortably. ^[4] Although most of the muscles involved in walking are concentrated in the legs and spine, you still need to pay attention to your upper body posture. Relaxing and pushing the shoulders back has many benefits. This pose helps to maintain an “upright” and stable support that stretches from the neck to the hips as you walk. Combined with keeping the back straight and lifting the chin, this pose also helps limit back strain, preventing injury in the long run. At the same time, pushing the shoulders back is also a good habit to prevent hunchback, thereby limiting the strain and pain of the shoulder caused by hunchback.

• Finally, when you push your shoulders back, you will look more confident, strong and beautiful . This is small but important – why not choose to walk in great shape and protect yourself from injury when possible?

Just walk and wave. For most people, this is also an instinct. As you walk, let your arms hang naturally along your body, your arms will begin to swing in a small arc – the faster you go, the bigger the arc will be. ^[5] The action of swinging arms while walking is completely natural and has been shown to increase stride performance; With the same amount of energy, you will go farther when you swing your arm than when you leave your hand alone. ^[6] Therefore, do not hesitate to swing your arms when you walk. Don’t worry – you don’t look weird at all. ^[7]

• If the weather permits, try to keep your hands out of your shirt or pants pockets to take advantage of the swing, and you’ll be able to go faster and farther.

Start going slow to boot. For the first few minutes of walking, walk at a steady and comfortable pace to warm up. Assuming 100% is the maximum speed you can go fast without running, go at 50 – 60% speed. In general, when you warm up you need to go at a pace that allows you to speak normally and converse without breaking your breath.

• Although controversial, in general, a warm-up will help you do exercises that increase your heart rate better. ^[8]

Increase walking speed to medium after warm-up. When you feel comfortable, accelerate to about 70-80% of your maximum walking speed and don’t forget to maintain good posture. As you walk at this pace, you’ll begin to breathe heavily but not as quickly, and you’ll still be able to maintain a conversation even though it may not be as easy as before.

• Try not to take unnatural long strides when accelerating. The increase in stride at this time will cause the leg muscles to be tense, the spine unstable and will gradually make you uncomfortable.
• To improve your heart health, warm up and keep walking at least 5 times a week for 30 minutes each time. Studies have also shown that dividing your 30-minute walk into smaller chunks throughout the day is just as effective, as long as you walk for a full 30 minutes. ^[9]

Air conditioning near the end of the training session. After ramping up and maintaining your pace for about 30 minutes (or longer), slow down to your starting speed and continue for about 5 to 15 minutes. Conditioning after a period of high-speed walking will help the heart rate gradually (not suddenly) return to the heart rate of the body at rest. ^[10] Plus, you’ll feel better, too.

• This last one is pretty important, the better you feel after your workout, the more energetic you’ll be able to walk regularly. Therefore, spending time in air conditioning will help you reap the long-term benefits of walking.