Brisk walking is considered one of the best cardio workouts. Incorporating brisk workouts can work wonders for your overall health. If you are planning to start brisk walking, here is all you need to know how to start immediately!
Indulging in the right way of brisk walking can help maintain the pace for your heart and lungs, affecting your overall well-being. However, maintaining regularity with brisk walking daily can be challenging at times. Keep reading to learn more about brisk walking and how to make the most of it.
What is brisk walking?
As the name suggests, “brisk” means faster. So yes, brisk walking is slightly faster than your average walking pace. Therefore, going into a brisk zone at the right speed is essential to enjoy walking, allowing you to sweat out and burn more calories.
Let us take a closer look at how you get started with brisk walking. I am sure once you start with brisk walking, you will get addicted to it.
Tips to get started with brisk walking
Here are some essential tips and tricks which can help you get started with brisk walking:
- Get it right with brisk walking
- Start with a shorter duration of the period with short-distances
- Get ready to challenge yourself for longer-distances
- Focus on the pace and speed of brisk walking
- Stay focused by increasing the duration and time for brisk walking daily
- Couple up brisk walking with a healthy diet
- Fuel your body pre and post-brisk walking with good protein intake
- Ensure to sweat out with brisk walking
- Sip in water regularly during brisk walking to keep dehydration at bay
- Stay motivated with music to pep you up.
Apart from getting the technique right for brisk walking, there are some other essential facts that you need to know about making brisk benefits more enjoyable and reaping more benefits from it.
Let’s get started with the requirements you need for brisk walking in the next part of the article.
Things you need to get started with brisk walking
There is no primary requirement to get started with brisk walking. Brisk walking is a simple and essential exercise that has minimal requirements. Here are some of the primary important things you need to get started with brisk walking which is as follows-
- Sweat-inducing environment, indoor or outdoors
- Good pair of sneakers or shoes which are comfortable for the spine and knees
- You can also opt for a treadmill in case you find it hard to hit outdoors at odd times
Key features of brisk walking
Brisk walking is quite different from normal walking. It is an intense and focused cardio exercise requiring stamina and motivation. Here are some things which you should know while opting for brisk walking.
Focus on targeting your heart rate.
Brisk walking is all about speed which may increase your heart rate. You can opt for heart rate apps and keep your respiratory and heart rates under check while brisk walking to know that you are going right with it.
Count your steps
This is the best way to check the pace of brisk walking by counting your steps. British Journal of Sports Medicines suggests that walking for 100 steps per minute is essential to get the most fitness benefits. In addition, you can opt for fitness trackers, which will help you maintain a good pace for walking long distances.
Talk test
The third way to test the pace of brisk walking is to check with a simple talk test. Talking while walking can cause you to be out of breath at times. You are at a fast pace if you experience slight breathlessness while talking and walking simultaneously. Ensure you are not out of breath while walking, which may signify that you are into vigorous brisk walking.
Knowing about the benefits of brisk walking can help you stay motivated to achieve it and follow walking daily. So let us check out some of the fantastic benefits of brisk walking.
Benefits of brisk walking
Brisk walking offers many benefits for physical, mental, and social well-being. Here are the best benefits of brisk walking.
- Weight loss
- It helps in focused fat loss, especially belly fat
- It helps strengthen muscles, bones, and movement
- Helps improve the cardiovascular health
- It helps improve brain power and its functioning
- It helps improve lung capacity
- It keeps immunity at its best
- It helps in improving blood circulation to all parts of the body
- It helps improve oxygen and nutrient supply to all systems of the body
- It helps burn calories and increases lean muscle mass
- It helps boost mood and memory power
- It keeps you motivated and improves productivity
- It helps improve energy levels and overall stamina
- It helps control cholesterol levels
- Sweating releases “feel-good hormones.”
- Maintain a healthy hormonal balance
- Reduces stress and keeps anger issues at bay
- Relieves control of blood pressure and maintains an optimum level
- It helps improve the insulin sensitivity of the cell
- Supports boosting metabolism and overall gut health
- Improves and maintains good sleep quality
- Maintains a better physique with good self-esteem and confidence
Sounds interesting right? Well, the list of benefits of brisk walking is endless! Once you indulge in it regularly for 15 days, you can experience all the above benefits with the best health.
The total calorie burned with brisk walking
The rate at which you can burn calories with brisk walking depends on several factors, which are as follows-
- Body weight
- Age
- Sex
- Muscle mass
- Duration of brisk walking
- The intensity of brisk walking
To burn more calories, it is essential to be regular with brisk walking at a faster pace for more than 30-40 minutes.
Boost your calorie burn with brisk walking
Here are some of the best ways to boost your calorie burn with brisk walking
- Walk uphill and inclines to your treadmill for brisk walking.
- Add high-intensity interval training with short bursts of faster-paced brisk walking and low-intensity, moderate-paced brisk walking.
- You can also carry hand weight which will help you burn more calories with brisk walking.
Proper technique for brisk walking
Following the proper technique for brisk walking can help you achieve the best results.
- Keep your head up in front, looking forward and straight.
- Relax your neck, shoulders, and back
- Do not slouch or lean forward
- Keep back straight and tighten your core abdominal muscles
- Walk with a steady gait and proper posture
- Swing your arms comfortably
- Do not get distracted by outside traffic or loud noise
- Plug in earphones with some music to stay focussed
The bottom line
Incorporating brisk walking and getting addicted to it for 30 minutes daily has many benefits beyond imagination. Initially, you may find it challenging to start brisk walking, but once you get into the groove in 15-21 days which is about three weeks, you will enjoy brisk walking from the bottom of your heart. So, stay motivated to follow brisk walking in your daily routine and change your personality completely to welcome a new you!
