5 Ways to Burn More Calories Walking
Going for a walk is one of the easiest ways you can start incorporating fitness into your life and make progress towards your weight loss goals. It’s easy to do and very low impact, making it a great option for almost everyone. Walking not only can help you lose weight, it also has the added benefit of lowering blood pressure, decreases your risk for type 2 diabetes, and releases endorphins.
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that healthy adults get 150 minutes of moderately-intense aerobic activity over 3-5 sessions. Walking is the perfect way to fulfill this recommendation. Here are five ways you can burn more calories while walking:
1. Walk Further
It’s simple. The further you walk the more calories you burn. Slowly increase your distance by adding on time to your workout. Slowly increase the amount of time you spend walking each day until you can comfortable reach 30, 45, or 60 minutes at a time.
2. Conquer Some Hills
Find some hills around you and go dominate them! The varying inclines and declines of the hills will work your muscles in different ways and burn more calories than walking on a flat surface. Don’t have hills near you? No problem! You can do a similar type workout on a treadmill by increasing the incline. TIP: Don’t use the handrails. Keep your hands free and pump your arms. If you can’t walk without holding on to the treadmills you are either going too fast or the incline is too steep.
See: How To Choose a Walking Shoe That's Right For You
3. Add Intervals
Interval training is a sure fired way to torch additional calories. Add some intervals into your walking by walking at a higher intensity for 1 minute and then a low-to-moderate intensity for two minutes. Repeat this for the duration of your walk. The intervals will increase your heart rate and therefore your calorie burn.
See: Boost Your Results With Interval Training
4. Try Nordic Walking
Nordic walking uses walking poles to work the upper body while walking. The benefit of Nordic walking is that it increases your heart rate but not your perceived rate of exertion. It has a similar cardiovascular benefit as walking at a faster pace without having to increase your speed. Spend a lot of time hunched over a desk or just have bad posture? This can help! Proper Nordic walking encourages good posture and proper body alignment.
See: Target Heart Rate Calculator
5. Find A Walking Buddy
Time spent walking with a friend doesn’t feel like working out. The more fun you are having doing it the more likely you will lace up your sneakers and head outside to exercise. Plus, having a walking buddy is a good accountability partner and can help keep you on track for your weight loss goals.
Incorporating these five tips into your walk this week will help you burn more calories and make a big step towards your fitness goals. Keep in mind that taking shorter steps helps you walk faster therefore increasing your heart rate and torches extra calories. To see just how many calories you burn you can use FitWatch’s Calories Burned Calculator. Other useful tools for monitoring your walking are a pedometer or a heart rate monitor. A pedometer will tell you how many steps you took during your walk and a heart rate monitor can help you reach your target heart rate for more efficient calorie burning.
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Madeline Glasser holds a Bachelors of Science in Physiology from the University of Arizona and is currently working on becoming a certified personal trainer. She loves to share her passion for healthy living on her blog Food, Fitness, and Family (http://www.foodfitnessandfamilyblog.com).