Starting a Walking Program
The first thing to do: check with your doctor. You should not begin any exercise program
until you get his or her approval. This is especially important if you have not
been exercising regularly!
Then start slowly. All of us would like to see immediate progress and instant success!
But a too-quick start will probably lead to injuries.And injuries from walking are almost always caused by increasing the number of days
you walk, or your distance, or your walking speed, too quickly. So begin slowly and
increase gradually!
You may want to start by walking 15-20 minutes, three days a week. Just walk as far
as you can in that time. After the first week, increase your time 5 or 10 minutes. After
another week, increase your time again. Gradually!
When you are walking 45 minutes a day, you may want to add another day to your program.
But do not increase the number of minutes you are walking the same week that
you are increasing the number of days you are walking. Gradually!
How fast should you walk? You should be able to carry on a light conversation while
you walk. If you are huffing and puffing too much to talk at all, slow down!
But to receive the health benefits of walking, you can't just stroll. You should be
breathing harder than usual and perspiring a bit, and feel tired when you are through.
If you don't feel like you have "worked out" then you haven't!
When your walks stop feeling like a good workout, you are getting stronger - so you
should do more work! Increase one thing - the time you walk, or the number of days
each week, or the intensity (how hard you are working) - until you feel that you are getting
that good workout again.
Varying your routine is also a way to work harder. You might want to walk longer on
one day of the week, and walk harder on another - but don't increase more than one
thing at a time.
When you finish each walk, there are three things you must do: carry identification,
drink plenty of water, stretch thoroughly to prevent injuries, and congratulate yourself!