Walking

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wonderwoman

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outdoor walking or treadmill?

which is better? when i walk outside it seems harder. i guess because of the sidewalks going uphill or downhill. i can walk about 3mph and usually walk 3-4 miles each night. on nights that it is raining i use my treadmill (no incline) and notice that im able to walk about 3.5-4.0 mph. it seems easier inside altho i sweat twice as much. which one will give me better results? im currently trying to lose weight and gain some muscle too.
 
I think walking outside might be slightly better but I really prefer my treadmill.
You may need to add some incline for variation and intensity. Also when I am on my treadmill, About every 5 minutes I turn around and walk backwards,
that uses more muscles, different ones and you can really feel it, especially after a couple minutes(no incline). Also I mostly walk but every five or so minutes I run for a minute or two. All of these variations are better than just walking alone and help burn more calories. I also use hand-held weights for 5 or 10 minutes as well. Anyways...my vote is for the treadmill! :) Tina
 
Fast Walking?

I've been doing "cardio" in the form of speed walking for the past week now. I do about 60 minutes of fast walking, about 5x a week. My top speed, however, is 3.2 mph. Would you say that this is too little? How do I know when to increase time and speed? Is it too soon????

I feel like crap speed walking while Ms. Model jogs beside me. She does 30 min while i'm stuck there an hour. How bad does this suck? LoL But seriously is there anythig I can do to boost my energy w/out caffeine? And of course like I said....how do I know when to increase time/speed?

Any help ANYONE can give would be great. I don't even know how to calculate my target HR.
 
I am not a fitness expert (like duh! lol) but with my last weight loss one of the trainers at my gym informed me its more important to stay "in oxgen" for fat burn. Meaning if you can hold a conversation while doing your fat burn, you are "in oxygen". The heart rate charts are a guide, but it really depends on your condition. If you are on the tread mill, dont hold on while you walk, pump those arms, and if you are remaining "in oxygen" challenge yourself some more and increase your speed even to a slow jog for a minute or two, or go to a slight incline and get sweating. If you feel you need to hold onto the rails, and you are sucking in air its a pretty good indication to decrease your speed/ incline. Be in tune with your body and listen to it, challenge yourself without over exerting, and before you know it you will build stamina and jog along with the best of em. 60 minute walk...way to go!!!!!,...everything counts and never mind what other people are doing....this is about you. Your doing awesome.
 
walking??

ok well I was talking to someone the other day and they were telling me about just normal walking is good and stuff like that...

Well I decided to get out in my back yard and start walking about 25 laps a day (my back yard is not to small, but not huge)... eventually will this help tone my legs/inner thighs??? :confused:

~and I also have heard about this cream ...palmers co co butter cream for stretch marks... I’ve heard good things about it...but I’m still not sure... have any of you tired it?

~Thanks
 
I know of someone who used that cream while they were pregnant and they never got stretch marks..unfortunately i have been told by doc that you cant get rid of them ..only fade them a bit once you have them unless you do surgery or some cosmetic stuff. I walk and that is one of my major exercise tools..i love it and i have noticed a change in my thighs..however squats help more than that..kickboxing ..mixing it up helps so much. good luck
 
Love the cream its a great moisturiser(but it wont take away the stretch marks and i dont think it firms up anything its just a good cream)nothing gets rid of the stretch marks, they do have a laser treatment now that helps make em fade away something about stimulating collagen.
walking is a great beginner exercise, any amout you do is a great start, once that gets easy for you pick up the pace and get your heart rate up, it will add some muscle but not much, cardio tapes a great. for adding muscle "tone" to your legs i suggest doing walking lunges when your doing your walk, squats are excellent too, jumping squats,wide squats add em in, when they get easy for you add some hand weights to up the intensity.
 
Walking is very good, I was just thinking that walking in your backyard might get kinda boring. Maybe you can walk around the neighbourhood so it wont get as boring. Mix up the routes you take.
 
walking and shinsplints

I get terrible shin splints. I walk about 2.5 miles at a time.
I have tried new shoes and arch supports. Does anyone else have this problem?
 
I did in the beginning...I found a stretch that you walk on your heels and do that for a few minutes ...you look silly but they do work. Also..you can sit in a chair and tap your toes up and down & do it as long and as fast as you can... until you feel a real tightening in your shin..and then switch. I found that this helps alot. I havent had them since Ive started those....and then once you strengthen your muscles ..you will be ok. promise :-D
 
when i had these i taped up my leg and continued walking. after about a week the pain was gone.
 
i like that site, thanks for posting it! by the way, thats how i was walking last year and i didnt even know thats how it was recommended. :D
 
I'm used to walking alot but I live in the praries and theres not a hellva lot of hills and we went on our honeymoon on the coast near Vancouver and thought I would walk. I'm used to walking uphills but not used to going down them. The next day I could barely walk the splints were SO bad. I found stretching immeditaley after really helped. Good Luck :D
~Dominique~
 
Silly question about walking...

I've lost 12 pounds and am close to having a healthy BMI, but hadn't done much moving around (aside from shopping trips) as I work on a computer from home.

After adding a couple miles of walks each day this week (to get my steps up to 10,000), everything has come to a screeching halt--and I've even gained a couple pounds back (and then lost .5 pound).

Is this normal? I know that muscle weighs more than fat, but would my muscles be building up this fast from such a small amount of activity (keeping in mind I had NO activity before)?

Also, is it okay to walk a few miles every day or should I take a break from it one or two days a week--as I would more intense exercise? I actually wiped out last night at 6pm and slept til 8:30am (though this may also be because I missed a day of sleep earlier in the week).
 
Hi impish
its not a silly question
as far as walking i try to do 2 miles a day but when i first started i strted out with 1/2 mile but it really will be what you can do now when i walk i useally walk in the evenings not so hot snd then when i do go to bed i sl;eep like a baby where normally i am up 3 to 6 times a night
 
Impish said:
Is this normal? I know that muscle weighs more than fat, but would my muscles be building up this fast from such a small amount of activity (keeping in mind I had NO activity before)?

If your muscles were really slack, then yes, you can see a major improvement in a short amount of time. Your body needs time to adjust to the new exercise levels. It is thinking "OMG! We are burning calories like there is no tomorrow... let's store some and see how this goes!"

When starting out, unless you are just strolling, you might want to think about walking every other day. Your body recovers faster and adjusts faster to heavy exercise if it has time to rest and recover.

Once you settle into a new routine, your body will adjust and the weight will start coming back off. The good thing is that your heart and lungs will be healthier, will provide better blood flow and oxygenation and the fat will come off before the new muscle you are developing. You metabolism will speed up and you will lose more, with exercise, than you ever could with diet alone.

Just be patient and keep up the good work!
 
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