Simple walking can become a perfect way to lose weight. For this, you need to know a few rules on how to burn calories practicing walking. Walking is the most affordable, cheapest form of fitness. But leisurely walks in the summer park will not help those who want to lose weight. Nutritionists calculated: if a woman weighs 120 pounds, then she loses just 100 kcal in 30 minutes of walking. To achieve the effect of losing weight, a woman must burn at least 500 kcal per day without taking into account proper nutrition. Walking experts and coaches have figured out how to walk properly for those who want to lose weight. So, listen to their advice.
Go faster
Goal: to increase calorie consumption at a time by 15-30%. Walking for weight loss at high speed strengthens the heart. And if walking is intensive (walking is considered to be intensive, at which it is difficult to speak, 2 miles in half an hour), then such a walk contributes to weight loss. When walking fast, the muscles are loaded harder, almost as many calories are burned as when running, but the body does not feel stress.
To move faster, you need to take the correct posture: you need to be relaxed and not slouch. The elbows are bent at an angle of 90 degrees. The hands also work, making vigorous movements: when lifting the hands should be at chest level, with a decrease at the level of the hips. Steps should be quick and short. To properly distribute the load on the legs, step on the heel, pushing off with the toe.
To control your heartbeat, purchase a sports gadget – a heart rate monitor that will not let you be lazy. The optimal load is considered to be 75% of its capabilities.
Increase the duration of the walk
Goal: to increase calorie expenditure by 50-100% in a week. Many people think that walking for weight loss is walking for 30 minutes 3 times a week. But scientists have found that such training is not enough to lose weight.
Those who already practice walking for weight loss 3 times a week, you need to gradually accustom themselves to daily walks. At the same time, you need to increase the duration of the training for up to an hour. For those who find this workout difficult, divide you’re walking into 15-minute parts. Choose the right shoes: with ankle fixation and air cushions, which reduces the risk of injuries during long and heavy loads.
Change the speed
Goal: to increase calorie consumption by 10-15% at a time. An interval training system will help: change energetic movements with faster ones. This technique allows you to strengthen the heart, increase calorie consumption.
There are two ways to change your workout intensity:
1. Landscape. You can change the speed near each road sign or bench. If you train in the stadium, halfway you can go at normal speed, and after that faster.
2. You can monitor the time: go two minutes in a normal rhythm and one in an intense rhythm.
Go up the hill
Goal: to increase calorie consumption at one time by 50%. The inclusion of elevations or an ordinary staircase in your usual route allows you to increase the load. This technique also allows you to strengthen the muscles of the legs, buttocks, so the legs work more actively. It is advisable during the walk on the hills.
Remember about posture when moving uphill or on the stairs, so as not to create additional load on the lower back and knees. Don’t step wide; take the position of the body, in which the upper part of the body is slightly bent forward.
One study at Loughborough University in the UK found that just an hour of dynamic walking on a treadmill changes the content of two hormones that regulate appetite: ghrelin and YY peptide. Ghrelin is a hormone that stimulates appetite. “YY peptide” – on the contrary, reduces appetite. This hormone is produced in the intestines and, when supplied with blood to the brain, suppresses the center of hunger. It turned out that after an hour of training on a treadmill, the level of “ghrelin” in the blood of the subjects drops sharply, and the level of “YY peptide” rises. All together leads to a decrease in appetite! That is when you do aerobic exercise – you do not want to eat. Strength training acted in the same direction, but to a lesser extent, as it affected only one of these hormones. She lowered the content of ghrelin, and the other hormone remained unchanged. The effect of a decrease in appetite is quite short-lived, but it was noted by all athletes. After a treadmill, it lasted about an hour, and after an active training – only half an hour.
Scientists from the University of Aristotle (Thessaloniki, Greece) in their studies have reliably proved that “walking quietly helps lose weight better than running fast!” For 3 months, they observed two groups of women. Some were engaged in walking, others – in running. The load was calculated so that everyone lost 370 kilocalories per session. As a result, every woman in the group training at a steady pace lost an average of 6 pounds, and the “runners” – less than two. Researchers explain this result: “Women who worked more intensively ate more and spent their free time passively”.
Are you ready to go out for 1-hour walking?
