Benefits of walking for women. What are the benefits of walking? What are the types of walking

Walking and walking are the most accessible means physical education for middle-aged and elderly people, especially in urban areas. It does not require much effort to learn some new movements and exercises. Walking should be a healing tool for every person. While walking, as with other physical exercises, muscles work, energy is expended. When walking, fats and carbohydrates are mainly consumed. Therefore, walking is the easiest and available remedy for weight loss for persons and older.

Walking for weight loss.

Although running, cycling and skiing use more energy than walking and hiking, not every adult can master these sports, let alone practice them every day. And walking can be done daily by everyone, without exception, to get rid of excess fat.

But do not forget that walking is very useful for thin people, and they will not lose weight from it. On the contrary, walking and walking after 50 years - excellent tool to increase appetite, so that anyone can easily and quickly replenish energy costs. Surprisingly, the same remedy helps both weight gain and weight loss. The thing is that walking normalizes metabolism and weight returns to normal.

Breathing while walking.

In addition, while walking trains respiratory system. Since working muscles need more oxygen, then breathing becomes frequent and deeper. The faster man goes the more air passes through the lungs. If at rest through the lungs passes from 6 to 8 liters of air in 1 minute, with moderate walking - 2 times more, and with fast walking this amount increases many times.

At good health You can gradually increase the distance, walking pace and stride length. At the same time, you should feel a slight, pleasant physical fatigue, uncomplicated even breathing and light perspiration.

In no case should you hold your breath - inhale 2 steps, exhale 2-3 steps. And even better: inhale for 3 steps, exhale for 3-4 steps. By training in this way, you will gradually develop deep breathing. Breathing exercises increase lung capacity and maintain elasticity lung tissue- it will stretch better. When inhaling, the lungs will contain enough air, and when exhaling they will be more completely freed from it.

Walking for the heart. Like any exercise, walking increases cardiac activity: the heart begins to beat faster and pumps more blood with every push. In older people with weak heart walking pace is slow. But even slow walking has a beneficial effect on the work of the heart and makes it adapt to muscle load. It has been established that the heart muscle, like all other muscles, needs training. By gradually changing the pace of walking, you can very finely regulate cardiac activity.

Walking and hiking after 50 years of age have a beneficial effect on digestive and excretory organs, on the glands internal secretion and nervous system.

Walking improves mental performance. When you need to seriously think about something, then do it while walking.

In addition, walking fresh air promotes cheerful mood. That's why, bad weather should not be an obstacle to hiking. Depending on the weather, you only need to adjust the duration and routes of walks. Clothing and footwear must also be appropriate for the weather. The best routes for walking: boulevard, park, field or forest.

Time for walking and hiking after 50 years preferably in the morning, but for those who suffer from insomnia, it is good to take a walk in the evening. It is useful for older people who are prone to fullness to take a walk after dinner.

If it is difficult to allocate time specifically for walking, then you can walk to work or walk only part of the way to the place of work (no more than 2-3 km).

Do not miss the opportunity to go out of town, wander through the forest, look for mushrooms, admire the beauty of the trees, listen to the noise of the leaves. When inhaling forest air, phytoncides enter the lungs, killing harmful bacteria. This is a wonderful, healthy vacation!

Winter hiking no less pleasant and helpful. Clean, transparent air, the beauty of the winter landscape have a beneficial effect on a person.

In conclusion, I would like to say: try to walk more, do not miss slightest opportunity work with your feet and walking will regularly guard your health!

Useful articles:

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It's important to know!

• When walking with a pulse of 50-70% of the maximum, after 15 minutes FAT starts to burn
• Control your pulse! With a heart rate over 70%, your muscles may start to burn.
• It is best to do cardio (walking) in the morning on an empty stomach or after strength training.
• You can and should walk every day!
• The effect of walking depends only on the regularity of training.
• Try to walk in parks and squares, and not along the polluted streets

The load during walking is affected by its pace and duration. Walking will be considered exercise if you increase its pace and choose uneven terrain, thus creating a training effect. The movements made when walking help to improve the movement of blood in the muscles of the limbs, the pelvic area and abdominal cavity, they also increase the blood supply to the lungs, brain and myocardium. If you move quickly or go on sand, gravel or any other rough road, energy costs will increase from 3 to 12 times . For example, if a person with a body weight of 70 kilograms walks at a speed of 110 steps per minute, he will spend 290 kcal/hour, and when walking on a snowy road, energy consumption will increase up to 384 kcal/hour. When walking at a sufficiently high pace on a relief terrain, the whole body shakes, as a result of which there is an increase in blood flow, an increase in vascular tone, an outflow occurs venous blood from lower extremities.

Walking has no contraindications, it can be a means to restore former harmony or be used as a therapy after illnesses, walking also helps to develop endurance, improve physical fitness, prevent various sores and the ability to maintain activity on long years.

Walking is useful regardless weather conditions and in different time days, however, this should be done either 1.5-2 hours before a meal, or after the same time after a meal. Those who have an excess of body weight are advised to take walks on an empty stomach, you can walk after a meal, while starting with a slow step, after an hour, switch to a fast pace, keeping it for 30-60 minutes. It must be remembered that effect will only be seen brisk walking . Walking at a slow pace is practically of no benefit, since there is no load on the body, at this pace work of cardio-vascular system, metabolic and other processes occurring in the body occur in almost the same way as when they are at rest. When walking slowly, a person gets tired more than when walking fast. That's why it is more useful to walk a shorter distance at a fast pace and take a break than walking for a long time slowly. For walking, it is better to choose places located at a distance from transport and roadways, with clean air, on the outskirts, outside the city.

Slow (2.5-3 km / h, which is approximately 60-70 steps per minute). It is indicated for patients who have had a myocardial infarction and those who are prone to angina attacks.

Medium (3-4 km / h, which is approximately 70-90 steps per minute). It will be useful for people suffering from diseases of the heart and blood vessels.

Fast (4-5 km / h, which is equal to about 90-11 steps per minute). Useful for all people who do not have health problems. Able to have a training effect.

Very fast (5-6 km / h or about 110-130 steps per minute). It has a pronounced training effect. It is difficult for an untrained person to maintain such a walking pace for a long time. Well, keep practicing! Fuck...

It is difficult for the body to adapt to a walking speed of more than 130 steps per minute.

Walking at an average and fast pace is suitable for people with good training, slow (speed 2.5-3 km / h) - for people mental labor as a means of maintaining health and creative activity. A slow pace of walking is recommended for people with diseases of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, while they need to take into account the characteristics of their body. An adult who does not have serious problems with health, whose work is not associated with regular physical activity, it makes sense to walk daily at a speed of 4-5 km / h for 1.5-2 hours. For a trained person, it is optimal to go at a fast pace for 2 hours 3 times a week.

The main principles of health walking are the same as in any other types of physical activity - systematic and gradual . If there are health problems, it is necessary to reduce the frequency and time of walks. At the beginning of spring, as well as during periods of particularly busy work or lack of sleep, it is recommended to reduce the time or slow down the walking speed. Periodically it is necessary to take breaks for a while, especially after past illness. For more effective wellness walking you have to watch your breath : it is recommended to breathe only through the nose, the rhythms of walking and breathing must match. When increasing the pace of movement, you need to ensure that there is no shortness of breath and, if possible, do not stop breathing through the nose. If you have chosen to walk at a fast pace, it is allowed to breathe through your nose and mouth at the same time, if the air outside is not polluted. During extreme cold and with wind, and also if there is a lot of dust in the air, the breathing rule is as follows: inhale through the nose - exhale through the mouth (after 3-4 steps). After a session of wellness walking, you need to take a shower, then lubricate your legs with cream and massage them.

People without special problems those with health should focus on the pace of walking, and the elderly and people recovering from illness should focus on its duration. You can monitor the body's reaction to walking by the frequency of heart contractions after walking and how quickly it recovers to its usual level. For walking, it is necessary to use only comfortable shoes: it can be sports shoes - sneakers, sneakers, half-sneakers, as well as worn-out shoes, worn-out closed shoes with low or small (3-4 centimeters) heels. Be sure to wear socks, regular or woolen (but not synthetic). Sports shoes must be with an insole or, as prescribed by an orthopedist, with an arch support. Comfortable, well-fitting walking shoes will help to avoid foot injuries and allow you to walk for a long time without feeling tired. For walks in hot weather, you need to wear a hat.

Many elevate walking to the rank of a real panacea, which can cure the body of most diseases, both existing and possible (age-related). True, not everyone thinks so. Is it possible to rely on walking and expect miracles from it? Let's try to understand how great the benefits of walking are and what doctors and scientists say about this. Yes, scientists are talking about great benefit from walking, but many doubt it, and for good reason.

How much to walk a day to lose weight

To start the mechanism of weight loss, the average walking speed must be at the level of 6 kilometers per hour. Walking at this pace should not be a few minutes, but at least half an hour. Health walking or walking for weight loss is a complete physical activity, from which you should be thrown into the pot (one of the main conditions). With this approach, there is a real chance to lose a few kilograms in a month without sports hall, simulators and other equipment used by athletes.

If the walking speed is lower, then the person in best case will become a little more enduring, and at worst, get tired and stop exercising without feeling a positive effect.

How much do you need to walk to lose weight? The bigger, the better. The main thing is that your muscles begin to work actively, your heart rate accelerates and sweat flows in a stream. By the way, professional walkers for every 50 kilometers of walking lose up to 5 kilograms of weight, that is, you have something to strive for.

What is the average speed of a person when walking

It is convenient to measure the average walking speed in steps per minute. By the way, this is how professional athletes who practice physiotherapy exercises recommend measuring walking speed.

To make it more convenient for us in the future, let's classify the average walking speed, taking the number of steps per minute as a basis:

• Very slow walking - 60-70 steps.
• Slow walking - 70-90 steps
• Average walking - 90-120 steps
• Brisk walking - 120-140 steps
• Very fast walking - 140 or more steps.

By the way, doing 10,000 steps daily is quite easy, since each of us visits shops, walks to the car, to work, around the house - on average, this is 2-3 thousand steps. The remaining amount must be walked separately, and it is advisable to increase your pace. As a result, in an hour you can easily get the necessary steps to the norm.

What are the benefits of walking

And we will start with the spine, which has a rather large nervous network and affects the whole life of a person. In addition, a straight spine allows the organs to occupy the correct position. If you walk a lot, the tissues of the vertebrae and joints are massaged and strengthened, due to the fact that when the muscles are tense, the blood enters the most inaccessible places, enriching all places with oxygen, and a slight "swaying" of the vertebrae creates the effect of a soft massage.

Also, walking (especially fast) has a positive effect on all organs, saturates them with oxygen and expels poisons and toxins from tissues.

If you regularly walk at a good pace, the likelihood of problems with blood vessels and the heart will decrease. Cholesterol will be released from the body and blood pressure will improve. Even osteoporosis and oncology are receding. Of course, the very weight loss mentioned above is definitely present.

That is, walking is useful, just half an hour of daily walking will help you:

• Strengthen bones and muscles.
• Relieve stress (at least partially).
• Reduce the risk of cardio - vascular diseases and normalize blood pressure.
• Regulate blood sugar levels.
• Finally, be alone for a while.

When, how and how much to walk

By the way, it is good to walk often and a lot. Ideally - every day for an hour, but here you need to look at your own workload and strive for the standard. If a forced break occurs, you need to start with small loads and gradually raise the “bar”, otherwise you can harm yourself. It is useful to walk on an empty stomach - an hour and a half after eating.

The maximum benefit of walking will be manifested when the spine is in vertical position and shoulders wide apart. You can’t slouch at the same time, because the position of all your internal organs when walking. It is important to learn to walk straight and gracefully.

It is equally important to establish correct breathing- inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Try to get into rhythm with walking, your breathing should not go astray and be chaotic. For this reason, it is better to walk silently. You can also breathe through your mouth, but if you carry water with you and stay in a warm climate, away from road dust and city smog. When short of breath, you need to slow down the pace.

Walking in place

If you do not have the desire or ability to go outside or treadmill(for example, there is a severe frost outside the window or you are embarrassed by someone), the best choice for you - walking in place. When performing this procedure, it is desirable to observe the following rules:

• Feel free to wave your arms vigorously.
• We raise our knees high.
• Do not tap your heels on the floor, walk on your toes.

Stair walking

If you are not yet familiar with physical education and walking up stairs, then you need to start by climbing 1-2 floors (2-4 flights) per approach, and then rest until your breathing stabilizes and heart rate.

At first, do not step over the step, it is better to methodically count each step, stepping on the toe. And when you manage to reach the last floor in one run without shortness of breath, you can step over the step. Don't forget the railings. It is necessary to walk up the stairs until you are tired, it is important not to overdo it.

Heart rate while walking

To control the pulse, you need to arm yourself with a stopwatch and a simple formula: 220 minus your age. This will be the maximum allowed safe heart rate for you. So that the benefits of walking do not become harm, it is necessary to slightly fall short of the maximum mark, otherwise you can plant a heart. Therefore, you can multiply the resulting figure by 70-80% and get the required heart rate value.

Walking shoes

In order not to injure the spine and leg bones, it is necessary to choose walking shoes wisely. Definitely, it is best to choose sneakers with a light, soft and shock-absorbing sole, otherwise you can damage the foot and in particular the heel, we have already written about what to do if. Also central part shoes should bend well. Be sure to choose shoes according to size, the foot should sit tight and not slip on the insole.

Which is better, running or walking?

It is better to start with walking for weight loss, and then either learn race walking or run. Whatever you choose, you can only start running when normal weight and endurance, otherwise you can harm the heart and joints. About that, we have already written on the pages of our site ..

Over time, when you begin to feel strength in your body and after training, harmony and peace will come, and not fatigue with a desire to abandon what you started, you will realize that all this was not in vain, because you can live with pleasure and fully only in a healthy body.

Health is the most valuable thing a person has. You need to take care of him always, without waiting for problems to appear. Most affordable way to improve the body - walking. In this article, we will analyze the usefulness, varieties and principles of walking.

What are the benefits of walking?

The benefits of hiking can hardly be overestimated, they are able to:

• Improve health and general state organism.

Studies show that it helps to reduce the likelihood of getting heart and vascular diseases by three times.

In addition, thanks to active image life, bones are strengthened, blood pressure is regulated, muscle tissues are brought to a tone, the sleep mode is normalized.

Walking for several hours daily, you can reduce the risk of oncological neoplasms in the mammary glands and eliminate pain in the lumbar region, which were previously chronic.

• Partially replace sports and help reduce excess weight.

Walking increases the heart rate, which increases blood flow and improves oxygen supply to the muscles. While walking, calories are burned 5 times more than when at rest.

• Prolong youth.

Aging is associated with high level the content of special proteins in the body that contribute to the development of inflammation and all kinds of "senile" diseases. By walking every day, you can reduce the amount of such proteins and keep youth as long as possible. Vigorous walking increases the life expectancy of a person in a ratio of 1: 2, that is, walking 1 hour, you can get an additional 2 hours of life.

• Cheer up.

The benefit of walking, even for half an hour, is the effect of raising self-esteem, positive action on mood, distraction from negative thoughts and energized. Arranging walks in the fresh air, there are all the prerequisites to get rid of the impending depression. This happens due to the release of endorphins and neurotransmitters during the release of adrenaline.

• Increase the functionality of the brain.

Mental abilities are improved as they are strengthened neural connections. The benefits of walking are manifested not only in the left hemisphere, which is responsible for analytical work, but also provides a wide field for the realization of creative potential. It has been experimentally proven that the ability to generate ideas increases by 60%.

• Save.

A nice bonus to all the pluses of walking on foot will be their "free". In addition to comfortable walking shoes, there are no more restrictions, it does not require financial investments. No need to buy a subscription or pay for the services of a coach. All it takes is a little effort on yourself to turn walking into a daily hobby.

What are the types of walking?

There are many types of walking. Among them:

• walking in place;
• on foot;
• Scandinavian;
• sports;
• energy;
• up the steps.

Let's take a closer look at some of the types.

On foot

A person walks all his life, such is his physiology, unless, of course, there are serious health problems.

The main thing in this type of movement can be called gradualness and periodicity. Gradualization consists in starting with shorter and slower walks with gradual increase time interval and speed.

Discount must be made on the state of health and age. so young and healthy people should focus on the speed of movement, and the elderly - on the duration.

Frequency should be understood as the preference for systemic walks, since walking "from time to time" will not bring the expected result.

The main benefit of walking is the improvement of the whole organism as a whole. Thanks to walks, you can significantly improve your well-being and improve the quality of life.

nordic walking

This variety consists in movement based on two ski-like poles. When walking, you should slightly push off from them.

The benefits of Nordic walking are:

• improving the work of the heart muscle;
• enhanced ventilation of the lungs;
• strengthening of muscle tissue.

In order not to harm your health, you should choose the right sticks. Their size is calculated by the formula: P * K, where P is the height of the athlete, and K is a constant coefficient equal to 0.68.

Race walking

This style of walking is distinguished by speed. You must try to move at the highest possible speed. In this case, you can not go on a run, that is, at any time one of the feet must touch the ground.

The benefits of walking in a sports style are provided by a general strengthening effect on the body; with such a movement, a person gets tired much less than when running.

Girls should Special attention pay attention to race walking, because it contributes to the creation of beautiful feminine outlines of the figure.

How to walk correctly?

You need to know how to walk correctly. It's not just about rearranging the legs and moving in space. For walking to be beneficial, it is important to adhere to some rules.

Do you need a warm-up

Before walking or doing sports or Nordic walking, you should prepare the muscles for the load. To do this, at least a minimal warm-up should be done. It may include the following groups of exercises:

• Initial.
  • swing your legs;
  • shallow squats;
  • jumping in place.
• Intensive. Includes stretching exercises:
  • wide steps with body fixation;
  • springy squats.

What to keep pace

Wellness walking involves several speed modes:

1. Slow. Makes no more than 3 km/h. This type is recommended for use by people with poor health or in the period after illness.
2. Average. The speed can vary from 3 to 4 km/h. preferred as initial stage for untrained people who do not yet have experience.
3. Quick. The speed can be increased up to 5 km/h. Recommended for people with no health problems.
4. Very fast. A person moves 6 kilometers in 1 hour. Suitable for healthy, physically developed and trained people.

How to finish

Walking should not be interrupted without preparation. Just as before starting a walk, you should do a few gymnastic exercises. AT this case this will be moderate walking and exercises to relax the muscles that were overstressed during the walk.

Who can't walk?

The benefits of walking are great, however, there are conditions when, out of ignorance, you can harm your health. Contraindications include:

• Recent surgeries. There is a risk of suture divergence and increased pain due to increased physical exertion.
• Exacerbation of chronic diseases.
• The presence of pathologies in musculoskeletal system. Short walks are possible only with the permission of the attending doctor.
• Increased blood pressure.
• Development of infectious processes.

How much should you walk every day?

To maintain health, you need to walk daily, and not from time to time. To begin with, it is enough to get out early when traveling to work or home, to a stop earlier than necessary.

In addition, it is better to calculate the walk not by kilometers traveled, so that there is no desire to unnecessarily accelerate, but by the time spent on the road. Half-hour or hour walks at an average pace in the fresh air are considered optimal and most effective.

Hippocrates also spoke about the health benefits of walking: "Walking is the best medicine Centuries have passed and the words of Hippocrates have been confirmed by numerous studies that have scientifically proven that the benefits of walking are not a myth, and the practice of regular walking shows impressive results: a significant reduction in the risk and consequences of both types of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, a decrease in elevated blood pressure, increase in bone density.

In this article, we have collected 8 reasons why you need to unstick yourself from a chair or sofa and start walking - every day, in summer and winter, through the forest, asphalt, hypermarket floors or a treadmill - it doesn’t matter. The main thing is that the benefits of walking will be noticeable almost immediately.

Lyrical digression. Do you remember your first step?

Remember your first step? How you aspired to begin to explore the Earth with your feet from a crawling creature! How did you smile when this first step was taken - with the help of your mother, apparently the pleasure from it can be compared with a step in outer space. Childhood, youth and even the beginning middle age- all this constant movement, but somewhere in life there was a watershed, after which, like most adults, you probably drastically reduced the amount of movement.

Among the reasons may be stress, the environment, the passivity imposed by progress - from escalators to remote controls, from robotic vacuum cleaners to electric toothbrushes ... In cities, the number of normal sidewalks and safe places to walk has been significantly reduced. Inactivity, physical inactivity, is the second leading preventable cause of death in developed countries, second only to smoking.

Remember yourself as a small teenager, remember what a pleasure it is to "turn the Earth with your feet" (the phrase is not mine, the great Vysotsky, may he forgive me for a different context).

Walking for health is the most simple and free of charge for improving health that anyone can afford. Surprisingly, studies show that 50% of those adults who do physical education and do a lot of exercise do not practice walking at all, which significantly reduces the effectiveness of the same fitness or gym.

Top 8 reasons to walk

Walking - our salvation from all diseases? It's impossible to say for sure, but evidence suggests that highly likely, that's a good start.

Walking prevents type 2 diabetes. The Diabetes Prevention Program has shown that walking 150 minutes a week and losing just 7% of your body weight (12-15 pounds) can reduce your risk of developing diabetes by 58%.

Benefits of walking for heart health

Walking strengthens the heart if you are a man. One study found that the death rate among retired men who walked less than 2 kilometers a day was almost twice that of those who walked more than two kilometers a day.

Walking strengthens the heart if you are a woman. Scientists analyzed the health of 72,488 women and found that those women who walked three or more hours a week were 35% less likely to suffer from heart attack or other coronary complications compared with women who sedentary image life.

Walking is good for brain health and performance. The results of the study argue that walking is associated with the quality of cognitive functions of the brain: women who walked at an easy pace for at least 1.5 hours per week showed significantly better cognition and less cognitive decline than women who walked less than 40 minutes per week. week. Think about it!

Benefits of walking for bone health

Walking is good for the health of your bones. Studies show that postmenopausal women who walk about 2 kilometers every day have more high density bone tissue than women who walk less. In addition, walking is also effective in slowing down the rate of loss. bone mass legs.

Walking is good for fighting depression

Walking helps relieve symptoms of depression. Walking for 30 minutes, three to five times a week for 12 weeks, reduced symptoms of depression by 47%. Do not laugh at such figures, they were obtained using a special questionnaire that almost officially determines the presence and degree of depression in a person.

Walking can help prevent cancer

Walking reduces the risk of breast and colon cancer. Women who walk briskly from an hour and a quarter to two and a half hours a week have an 18% lower risk of developing breast cancer compared to inactive women. Many studies have shown that physical exercises can prevent colon cancer, and even if a person develops colon cancer, there are benefits from exercise that improve quality of life and reduce mortality.

Benefits of walking for exercise

Walking improves the quality of training or fitness. Walking just three times a week for 30 minutes can significantly improve the cardiorespiratory system.
walking on short distances also improves physical form! A study of sedentary women showed that short episodes of brisk walking (three 10-minute walks per day) resulted in similar improvements in fitness and were at least are as effective in reducing body weight as one 30-minute walk a day).

Benefits of walking for fitness

Walking has a positive effect on the physical capabilities of the body. Research shows that walking improves fitness and physical function and even prevents disability in older people.

Many of these benefits of walking are probably not surprising. After all, thousands of studies prove that exercise is good for human health, and we've been hearing this for years. But in recent decades, scientists have taken a different approach to studying physical activity. Instead of discussing the benefits, they look at the negatives. sedentary image life. Numerous studies show that physical inactivity is very bad for health. For example, people who sit "almost all the time" die earlier from cardiovascular diseases than people who move much more. The main fact that should convince you of the benefits of walking: the more you sit, the more likely that you will die prematurely.

Disclaimer: Information provided in this article about benefit of walking is for the information of the reader only. It cannot be a substitute for the advice of a health professional.