Keep Walking Programs Interesting |
5 Comments |
It is well-known that walking can be great exercise. Many people who are just beginning exercise programs are often advised to start with walking programs. But, there’s a problem with typical, everyday walking—it can get really dull.
If you are trying a walking program and you simply open the door to your home and take your walks from there every time you take a walk, you are going to get bored with your walks pretty quickly. Sure, it might take a few weeks or so, but after some time goes by, you are going to get tired of looking at the same scenery day after day.
Tips for Keeping a walking program Interesting
First of all, try grabbing a walking partner for some of your walks. This can be a friend, a spouse, or a child. It really doesn’t matter who you choose. Just having someone along on a walk can make the walk a lot more fun. You can even plan your walks ahead of time, scheduling certain people to walk with you for certain walks. This will give you motivation for sticking with the program.
Next, try going to a friend’s or relative’s house and taking your walk from there. Whether or not your friend or relative joins you matters not; you will be in a new area, taking in new scenery. So, the walk will not be dull or boring because you will have a great deal of interesting things to look at.
Also, you can try a change of scenery in a different way. You can simply try driving to another location where you need to run an errand and then taking a walk from there. For example, drive to the public library. Take a walk around the block a few times, perhaps. Then go inside the library and check out a few books. Another example for this type of walking would be for you to drive to the dog groomer’s. Take your dog inside, and while the groomers do their work on the dog, walk around the block. Come back after your walk to pick up your dog.
Any change of scenery can help—you can try going to a park, or walking inside a mall, or strolling along a golf course.
Try to keep your walking program from getting stale by walking with partners and by walking in different locations. If you do this, you will be much more likely to stick with the program.
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This post deals with:fitness, health, walking
... and focuses on:Exercise
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May 12th, 2008 at 6:38 am
It helps if you both walk at the same pace. I used to walk around NYC for my lunch hour. My girlfriend would ask to come with me sometimes, but she walked slower than a snail. On those day, I’d just count it as hanging out with a friend and not activity.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I agree that mixing it up helps keep things fresh. I’ve also found that it allows me to more energy into the effort.
Other things I’ve done to freshen up a workout:
- burn a new CD for the MP3 player to listen to.
- walk or run different speeds for portions of the walk.
- time the walk and try to beat the previous time each time.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I hear you Nadine. My wife is a much faster walker than me, which makes it difficult for both of us to go on walks together.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:11 am
I keep thinking Im going to start a powerwalking book club.
or movie discussion group.
must
get
past
the
thinking
phase
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:42 am
[...] We all know the saying about the apple, but can walking once a day actually prevent the common cold? I was doing a little research and round a study in late 2006 from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle seemed to indicate that this may indeed be possible. This may be great news for those looking for an extra reason to get more exercise. Sometimes walking can be difficult, here are some timps to keep walking programs interesting. [...]