Walking and running are two primary options for a healthy workout. Of course, many people use these two methods quite successfully to achieve their fitness goals. Do you know that you can reap maximum benefit from running and walking by turning these options into a full body workout? Here are some tips to help:
- Include a high-intensity move during walking or running. For instance, stop and perform 60 seconds of alternating lunges. Do this as many times as you can.
- After doing a mile or so to warm up, include sprint intervals in your run. A 30 second sprint can be followed by a walk or jog for 30 seconds. Do this several times and end your run with a jog.
- Set challenging goals other than normal walking and running. Deliberately create some obstacles on the way such as stairs or turns. You can even use a bench to jump up and down to speed up your heart rate.
- Once you completed a fair amount of walking, spend some time doing push-ups to work out your arms. Go hard with the push-ups and continue until you get tired. You can even try wall pushups using any available surface such as a wall, a tree or a bench.
- Try different ways of running such as running with higher knees for some time and then with a longer stride. Twist through your torso more or pump your arms harder.
- Steadily increase your running or walking pace. Start off slowly and gradually increase it to the maximum in several steps. Once you reach your peak, drop back to normal in almost the same intervals.
- Take small breaks from your walking and include moves such as burpees, squats, dips, push-ups, lunges and sit-ups to get a full workout. This will make your routine more interesting.
Extending your workout by just 10 minutes or doing things a bit differently can help you make the most of running and walking and also have fun while you are at it.
