Walk Your Way to Good Health

04/06/2004

"Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them." - Agatha Christie

WALK YOUR WAY TO GOOD HEALTH

Marilyn L. Bach, PhD, a certified personal trainer and fitness consultant, offers this advice for walking your way to better health in her book ShapeWalking: Six Easy Steps to Your Best Body (Hunter House):

Brisk walking is not only the safest form of exercise but also among the most healthful. It has been proven to reduce the risk for heart disease, breast cancer and type 2 diabetes. Because walking burns an average of 100 calories per mile, it even can help you lose weight if you maintain a well-balanced diet.

Problem: It's easy to get bored with walking... or it can become so routine that you slip into a leisurely pace and sacrifice the fitness gains.
Solution: Adopt a walking program that targets every part of the body, including the cardiovascular system.

If you're walking for fitness, you should aim to cover a mile in 13 to 15 minutes. Ideally, you'll walk an hour most days of the week.
To get the best workout...

Stand tall, with your head raised, and don't lean forward at the waist.

Bend your arms at the elbows and pump them as you walk. It exerts the cardiovascular system and allows you to walk faster.
Walk fast enough to reach your target zone. This means elevating your heart rate to 65% to 85% of its maximum rate. Some people check their pulse, but I think that's an inconvenient method.

Easy way: Rate your perceived exertion. On a scale of 0 (sitting on the couch, doing nothing) to 10 (running from a pack of wild hyenas), maintain a pace of 5 to 7. It's about the speed you'd walk if you were late for an appointment.

If you are concerned about the health of your staff, check out the Beginnings Workshop, "Caregiver Health and Safety" at http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/0146

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.