Treadmill Walking: 5 Tips to Supercharge Your
Calorie Burn
By Kathryn O'Neill
Treadmill walking
is one of the easiest ways to get in shape and burn fat. In fact, mile for mile,
you can burn as many calories walking as you would jogging. Walking is also one
of the best stress relieving exercises and anyone can do it, regardless of fitness
level.
Want to start a treadmill walking program? Here are 5 tips to help
you get the most walking bang for your buck:
1) Get your arms pumping.
Bring your upper body into your workout by pumping your arms. This is an
easy way to burn more calories while walking. If you want to tone up and use more
arm muscle during your workout, try carrying 2 - 5 pound handweights.
Bonus
Benefit: pumping your arms propels you forward and helps you move faster - which
means more distance covered and more calories burned!
2) Build in incline
intervals.
Walking on an incline is one of the fastest ways to drastically
skyrocket your calorie burn. But you don't have to spend your whole workout on
an incline. Try building in 30 - 60 second intervals of incline walking on your
treadmill every 5 to 10 minutes.
If you're walking outside and can't control
your incline, try stopping every few minutes and doing 10 - 15 squats or lunges
to tone your lower body.
Bonus Benefit: Building in intervals will also
help your body continue to burn calories post-workout.
3) Increase your
pace, not your stride
Got short legs? No problem! Instead of increasing
your stride (and possibly pulling something), increase the number of steps you
take. This also increases your speed which means more distance covered and more
calories burned.
4) Invest in a pair of excellent walking shoes
Walking
in poor shoes can cause damage to your feet, knees, hips, joints and back. Wear
poor shoes and you may not be walking for a long time!
If you want to feel
great after a walking workout (and be ready for the next one tomorrow), make sure
you have the best possible walking shoes you can afford.
Bonus Benefit:
A solid pair of walking shoes can actually help you lengthen the time that you
walk, which again means more calories burned.
5) Take plenty of time to
warm up and stretch to avoid injury.
Walking is one of the best exercises
you can do for stress relief and long term fat loss. However there's this little
thing called shinsplints that can threaten to put you out of walking commission
for a while.
Many walkers and runners struggle with this problem. This
constant repetitive flexing of the shin muscle can create soreness when a walker
increases their speed or distance.
To help ward off shin splints or other
muscle injury, take plenty of time to warm up before you really get into your
workout.
Also, make sure you stretch. Pointing and flexing your foot helps
stretch and build the shin muscle. Ankle rotations also help with this. Stretching
properly will definitely keep you happy and walking for a long time to come!
So
there you have it - 5 essential walking exercise tips. Keep these in mind and
you're guaranteed to enjoy many stress-relieving, fat burning walks!
About
the Author: Kathryn O'Neill is a contributing writer for Buying A Treadmill,
a website that lays out exactly which feature you need to look for to find the
best treadmill for you. Visit http://www.BuyingATreadmill.com
for more information.
Source: www.isnare.com
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