walking? - FreeTrainers.com Forums

Group: General Fitness & Exercise

General Fitness & Exercise

Created: 2011/12/31, Members: 379, Messages: 54577

Various general exercise related discussions. Find out what it takes to reach your fitness goals through daily effective exercise. With so many options we try to find out what works best.

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walking?

nichole05 Posts: 11 Joined: 2005/06/01	2005/06/01, 10:25 PM I walk 5 times a day at 4mph. I could jog it out but I like walking better. I really want to get the most out of my workout, though. Should I run a little too? I lift weights every other day. I want to lose some weight but mostly just to tone up a bit. Speed walk vs. running????

flyonthewall Posts: 1,823 Joined: 2005/01/18	2005/06/02, 10:26 AM Any exercise is good exercise! You will burn more calories running the same distance, but it all comes down to what you enjoy doing and whether your putting in enough distance to burn calories. How far and for how long are you walking with each session? You need to get your heart rate up for an extended period of time, I'd say at least 30-45min, if walking I'd even say 45-60 min would be better. Maybe you could try a faster pace or walking on an incline (assuming your using a treadmill) for 1 or 2 of your sessions and maybe try running for 1 of your sessions, 3X/week. If your sessions are short, I'd suggest increasing your time and cutting the number of sessions.
dvelswk Posts: 192 Joined: 2005/05/07	2005/06/02, 12:45 PM If you like walking better than running try speed walking. As flyonthewall said you need to get your heart rate up, regular walking doesn't raise it too much. However, anything is better then doing nothing. Try the speed walking though, it will work better for you. Take care.
spamalope Posts: 149 Joined: 2004/12/20	2005/06/02, 12:57 PM 4.0 mph is a pretty brisk walking pace. I find that 4 is that real annoying pace where it's too slow to jog at and too fast to walk at. :angry: I usually do a minute of 4.0 in my cooldown - it drives me nuts. --- Why do you like walking more than running? Is it a "new to the sport", physical conditioning, or something else? Believe it or not, in general, you are going to burn the same total amount of calories (albeit a different ratio from fat/carbs) based on the distance covered (approx. 100 calories/mile on average) - not how your covering that distance. Obviously, with running you cover more distance and thereby burn far more calories per hour. Even with the ratio changing to a higher "carb" burn rate, the total fat calories used is maximized with running - hence, IMO, the cardio exercise to strive for. -------------- _Shane I dont have to outrun the bear - just you....
nichole05 Posts: 11 Joined: 2005/06/01	2005/06/03, 09:00 AM I walk for 30min and I end up walking for 2miles. I have always been athletic. I don't walk because I can't run. I am in good condition. Would it be good if I walked 4min and ran 11min and then repeated it. (30min workout). It just takes all of me to run a full 30min straight. The harder it is the less likely I will stick with it. I am used to aerobics more. I did that everyday religously. I thought I would just mix it up a bit since I have a treadmill. I guess the easier the workout is the more I would do it everyday. Later on when that gets easier I could run more and walk less. Would that be better for my overall workout?
nichole05 Posts: 11 Joined: 2005/06/01	2005/06/03, 09:02 AM Thanks for all the advice. I really appreciate it.:)
spamalope Posts: 149 Joined: 2004/12/20	2005/06/03, 09:29 AM OMG - totally! There is absolutely, positively, NOTHING wrong with mixing up the walking/running. I think that would be just fine! You definitely want to stick with what you are going to keep doing. Another idea that you may be able to do is play around a bit with the speed on the TM. For example: walk one minute at 4.0, the next at 4.1, so on and so forth until you are at like 5.5, and then drop it back down until you are at 4.0 again (30 minutes). The next week, start at 4.1 or something a bit higher. In two or three months you'll be running that whole 30 mins! -------------- _Shane I dont have to outrun the bear - just you....
flyonthewall Posts: 1,823 Joined: 2005/01/18	2005/06/03, 09:39 AM Totally agree with spamalope! That's how I started running, by doing a walk/run split. You'll probably find your workouts a little less boring when you mix it up a bit as well. If you have the option to change the incline on your TM, that's a great way to bump up the workout while still walking as well.
groovergrl23 Posts: 5 Joined: 2005/06/10	2005/06/10, 06:55 PM I think i will try the walk/run approach as well to build up some endurance
gangstershoes Posts: 641 Joined: 2005/05/27	2005/06/13, 01:22 PM walk/run will definitely help you build up your endurance. Also the split will increase your heart rate during the walking portions as well.
atmasters Posts: 70 Joined: 2005/08/10	2005/11/20, 05:00 PM I like to walk as well. I used to do it two times a day and walked a total of 14km. I lost a LOT of weight doing this. I was also watching what I ate as well. Walking is a lot better for your knees than running all the time. But if you get bored or your body gets used to walking try Intervals. Run for 1 min walk for 2 mins and so on.
519 Posts: 69 Joined: 2003/11/03	2005/11/23, 04:09 PM this is from a mens fitness article i was just reading... "It's one of the oldest myths in fitness: the notion that you need to raise your heart rate to a certain level and maintain it for a certain amount of time in order to burn the most fat. "That's utterly untrue," says Alwyn Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., a strength coach in Santa Clarita, Calif. "The idea is based on the fact that low-intensity exercise burns a higher percentage of calories from fat than high-intensity exercise," which is fueled more by your carbohydrate stores. "But it's a higher percentage of a smaller number." Think about it: Reclining on a couch is about as low-intensity an activity as there is-which means the calories you burn just lying there are primarily from fat-but because you're burning so few calories overall, it's hardly an effective method for fat loss. "Forget about the diagrams hanging on the cardio equipment," says Cosgrove. "Do high-intensity intervals or lift weights." You may not burn quite as high a ratio of fat to carbs, but you'll burn substantially more calories overall, leading to greater fat loss"
Grunt_82 Posts: 71 Joined: 2004/03/22	2005/11/24, 12:43 PM I'm kind of curious about this as well. I would imagine that HIIT would be the best for fat loss, then maybe a longer period of running/jogging etc. would be second. I see the science and eveything, however I have seen first hand people lose LOTS of weight by JUST walking. My friend's sister lost around 50 lbs just by walking, and nothing else. I'm confused because the science says one thing, but I've seen both work in reality. I suppose one just works faster than the other. For instance, in Marine Corps boot, after about 6 weeks I actually saw a six pack on myself. I doubt 6 weeks of walking would do that. However thats a little on the extreme side. :) I'm curious as to how much walking it would take to rival the benefits of doing HIIT once or twice a week.
519 Posts: 69 Joined: 2003/11/03	2005/11/28, 10:45 AM ^^"I have seen first hand people lose LOTS of weight by JUST walking. My friend's sister lost around 50 lbs just by walking, and nothing else." often when i see people who lost 50lbs by walking, they were in such bad shape to begin with they could have lost weight by almost any means. The leaner you become the harder it is to loose fat. The further down the road you want to go, the more involved you have to become. That is when you have to start concerning yourself with what days to walk, run or to do your HIIT sessions (or whatever it is you choose to do)
Rose3721 Posts: 1 Joined: 2006/01/04	2006/01/04, 08:57 AM So if I walk for a mile and a half every day will it help bulid muscle or burn fat or both?:(
Getto Posts: 1 Joined: 2010/05/02	2010/05/06, 04:25 AM I,m dealing with a scatic disk,and so I have just started walking agian going for 50 pound lost .I walk two sets at night around two miles and am starting a morning walk as well.what other things can i do that targets the middle but does not stress my back ?:(