You need to walk!

The all-age exercise

Walking is that simple of an activity where we just need to keep putting one leg in front of another as slowly as we can. It is something that we learned on our own as a baby and since then it has been with us. People of all ages can walk without too much of an effort or training. But over the years we have got lazy and now we avoid walking as much as possible. Even if the distance we have to walk is about a few 100 metres we resort to vehicles. Imagine how fit the previous generations(or younger version of ourselves) were who used to walk kilometres to go to school or market. We just need to rediscover that lifestyle.

(PC: Google)

Health benefits

Before I tell on how to rediscover the lost walking lifestyle, let me start with some benefits on walking (most of them are associated with any exercise):

• Strong legs - carrying our own weight over and over, our leg becomes real strong.
• Strong core - the core muscles that stabilise our posture will get engaged and get strong
• Weight loss - obvious enough. Calorie burning happens which will eventually lead to weight loss (provided we don't overeat after walking and walk at a pace at which we are putting effort)
• Feel good - endorphins get released and we feel good after the walk
• Break from stress - once we are involved in walking, we forget the other stresses in our life
• Vitamin D - if we are walking in morning, we can be assured of surplus Vitamin D from sun

Other benefits

• Social Interaction - if we are walking with others (family/friends/neighbours), it is a good chance for social interaction
• Prelude to running - if we are someone who haven't had any activity for a long time and want to get back to running, walking is the best exercise to get started
• Save money - yeah in 2 ways: One by avoiding doctor visits because of health related issues. Second by avoiding autos/taxis or saving fuel
• Go green - no pollution by avoiding vehicles for travel
• Self reliance - we wouldn't have to rely too much on others. We don't have to argue with the arrogant auto drivers to take us 2 kilometres. Instead we walk those 2 kilometres :)
• If we have dogs, we can take them as well with us. It will be a good time for the dogs to stretch their legs

Getting started

Actually not much to mention here. We already know to walk. We walk inside our house. Just need to extend it. It is easy to restart walking even if we haven't been doing it for a long time. Walking is almost injury free compared to other exercises. Also we don't need any sports gear or specific place to do walking.

• Find a time slot that fits in our daily routine - either in morning or evening.
• Amount of time also could be chosen based on our comfort 
• Make it a habit - it should be part of our lifestyle so that we don't skip it
• Company - yes having someone to do walking with us may be more fun and also we can motivate each other
• Variety - vary the route in between. Also vary the pace, duration etc so that we don't get bored. Can try barefoot walking or hill walking. Carrying weight and walking is also another variation.
• Tracker - Most mobile phones have in built step tracker or we can install apps that help track our daily steps. Advantage with using a tracker is that we can see how much improvement we are making, which will inspire us to do even better
• Rest days in between - if we are doing walking for many hours, make sure to get rest days in between
• Songs - if getting bored and no one for company, then we can make use of songs to kill boredom

My observations

In my apartment in Chennai, there is a driveway around the apartment. It is not just for vehicles. People of all ages walk around the apartment. Lots of them. Some walk on the terrace. A 80 year old thatha (grandfather in tamil) who I know personally, walks daily around apartment for 45 minutes. He is an inspiration for many. Also there are people doing 8 walking. I know many of my relatives/friends who used to walk a lot, and now they are in excellent physical condition.
But in these times the trend has gone down drastically. It is mainly due to our busy lifestyle. We don't have enough time to exercise let alone live peacefully.

Caution

• Take caution if we are carrying an injury. It may get worse in case we push too much. Give time for the injury to heal before starting to walk
• If we are overweight, start with a slow pace as to reduce the impact on the legs
• Don't increase the mileage all of a sudden. Give it time and increase the distance slowly
• Take doctor advise in case of any sharp shooting pain in your legs or any major discomfort (Muscle fatigue(quadriceps mainly) is normal and we should be happy that we pushed ourselves)

Conclusion

So I hope it is clear that it is high time to think of the long term health benefits and start to walk. Especially if we are not doing any other physical activity. I can assure you that it will do wonders for you.