The Rewards of Interval Walking - Critical Details You Need to be Aware of

Walking is a proven exercise that carries a wealth of benefits. However, if you want to up the ante a little bit and gain more benefits from your walking regimen, you can do interval walking. This is a type of walking exercise where you walk at a steady pace and then like interval training, do short bursts of aerobic activity combined with periods of rest and recovery.

For example, if you are planning to do brisk walking for 30 minutes, you can speed up the pace by jogging for about two to three minutes every five minute intervals. If you are on the treadmill, do the same thing by breaking into a run or getting off the equipment and doing jumping jacks. The same thing can be done when you are power walking-- two minutes of slow jogging every five minutes. You can adjust the time intervals depending on your fitness level, making the more intense periods longer or shorter as you would like them to be.

Interval walking has many benefits. For starters, it's a very effective way to lose weight faster. The extra few minutes that you use to "up the ante" or engage in more intense exercises boosts your metabolism so that your body burns more calories and hence, more fat. Like HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training, it's also one of the best ways to shake your system out of an exercise plateau. When you have reached that dreaded plateau, you won't anymore lose weight even if you keep on doing the same exercises. This is because your body needs calories in order to burn more calories. However, when you decrease your caloric intake, as is most often your wont when you engage in a fitness regimen, your body's metabolic rate also slows down as a response. With a slower metabolic rate, you'll simply not anymore lose weight. Moreover, your body has already adapted to the new workload after doing the same workout regimen for a certain period of time and won't anymore respond to the same type of exercise.

Interval walking allows you to continue with your weight loss efforts by making your walking regimen more challenging. You will definitely lose weight faster if you break out of your plateau by modifying your walking workouts this way.

Another benefit if you interval walk is increased stamina and endurance due to a strengthened cardiovascular system. Regular walking, by itself, already reduces your risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and heart attack. It lowers your cholesterol and blood sugar levels and protects you from kidney diseases and the development of cancers. When you interval walk, you enhance your cardiovascular capacity and as a result are able to reap these benefits even if you only do the exercise in a much shorter period than what your regular walking regimen would actually take.

Since a little high-impact routine is included in interval walking, make sure that you consult with your doctor before adding this to your workout repertoire if you have a heart or some other medical condition. Also, wear comfortable clothing and well-fitting shoes before you go out to walk. Don't forget to bring a bottle of water with you as well.

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