Who doesn’t love a nice long walk? Walking is one of the simplest and most effective ways to improve your health. Just by incorporating a daily walk into your routine, you can reap so many benefits for your mind and body.
Here are some of the top reasons why walking is so powerful:
1. Walking helps to reduce fat.
While it may not be perceived as the most effective way to lose fat, walking can help to reduce your overall inches. This is because walking is a low-impact form of exercise that helps to burn calories and improve your metabolism.
By walking briskly for one hour per day without changing eating habits, research found a 20 percent reduction in belly fat over a three‐month period.
2. Walking is easy on your joints.
If you are suffering from joint pain, walking can be a great form of exercise to help improve your symptoms. This is because walking is a low-impact activity that puts minimal stress on your joints.
Low-impact activities are also sustainable meaning that you can walk everyday without getting sore or injured. Sustainable low-impact exercise can be done throughout the course of your whole life. Obviously you can make walking more challenging by increasing the incline on the treadmill, increasing your speed, or walking a really hilly route, but no matter what your fitness level is, you can walk.
3. Walking can improve your mood.
If you are feeling down, a daily walk can help to improve your mood. This is because walking releases endorphins, which have mood-boosting effects.
Walking outside is especially beneficial for the mood. Research has found that being in nature can help to reduce stress and anxiety. So, next time you are feeling down or stressed, go for a walk in the park and get some fresh air.
4. Walking is great for weight loss.
Walking is a great form of exercise for weight loss because it is easy to do and does not require any special equipment. You can walk anywhere, anytime.
Walking is also a very effective form of cardio exercise. Cardio exercises, like walking, help to increase your heart rate and burn calories.
5.Walking is a form of LISS cardio.
It’s great to vary the type of cardio you do to keep your body guessing. LISS stands for low-intensity, steady state. This means that this form of cardio is typically performed for a longer duration, but it is not too strenuous on the body.
Like other forms of exercise, LISS cardio has many health benefits, including improved blood flow, reduced stress, lower risk of heart disease, and improved brain function.
Here are some other benefits of LISS cardio:
- It aids in fat burning and fat loss. Steady-state training improves your body’s ability to use fat as fuel instead of using glycogen stored in your muscles. According to multiple studies, continuous aerobic exercise is more effective than HIIT at improving fat distribution.
- It’s appropriate for all levels. Since LISS is easier to do and gentler on the body, it’s appropriate for beginners. Intermediate to advanced fitness levels often use it as part of an endurance training program.
- It allows for easier recovery. Because you’re putting less stress on your heart and body, you may find you recover more quickly and easily from LISS.
- It’s an effective way to train for endurance events. Exercising at a lower intensity for a long period of time puts less stress on your heart and lungs than a more-intense workout. This can be an effective way to prepare for an endurance event.
- It’s also great for recovery after a difficult workout. You can use LISS as a recovery session the day after a high-intensity workout.
Walking is a simple and effective way to improve your health. Just by incorporating a daily walk into your routine, you can reap many benefits for your mind and body, including reducing fat, improving mood, joint pain relief, and weight loss. Walking is an activity that can be done throughout the course of your whole life and requires no special equipment – all you need is a good pair of shoes 😉