How to Walk the Right Way

Simply put, walking is good for health. It’s a type of gentle exercise that lifts spirits and has been shown to improve depression. ^{[1] X Trusted Source Harvard Medical Schop Go to Source} In addition, studies have shown that countries with a high percentage of people walking have lower rates of obesity than countries where Cars are the main means of transportation. ^{[2] X Research Source} In other words, walking can make you happier and healthier. This article will teach you how to walk properly, after reading, turn off your computer, put on your shoes, get out and start walking right away!

Table of Contents

Walk with the right posture

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Keep your body straight when walking. Everyone has a unique gait, but if you keep a few things in mind, most people will have a better walking experience. The first thing to mention is the walking posture. When walking, you need to keep your head up, lift your chin, and straighten your back. Maintaining this posture will help keep your spine straight, reduce pressure on your diaphragm, so you will breathe easier.

Try not to stoop when walking. Over time, the wrong walking posture will cause you back pain, stiff neck and even other more serious problems. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

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Use your calves, hamstrings, and quads for efficient walking. For an effective walk, you’ll need to use not one, but all of the leg muscles. As you walk, imagine you are using your inner thighs and quads to push one leg back, and at the same time bring your body forward, putting pressure on the heel of the other foot. You will walk while rolling your feet forward, from the heel to the toes. This will cause the calf muscles to work to help the foot lift and create a moderate angle with the ground when walking.

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Push your shoulders back comfortably. ^{[4] X Trusted Source National Health Service (UK) Go to the source} Although most of the muscles involved in walking are concentrated in the legs and spine, you still need to pay attention to your upper body posture. Relaxing and pushing the shoulders back has many benefits. This pose helps to maintain an “upright” and stable support that stretches from the neck to the hips as you walk. Combined with keeping the back straight and lifting the chin, this pose also helps limit back strain, preventing injury in the long run. At the same time, pushing the shoulders back is also a good habit to prevent hunchback, thereby limiting the strain and pain of the shoulder caused by hunchback.

Finally, when you push your shoulders back, you will look more confident, strong and beautiful . This is small but important – why not choose to walk in great shape and protect yourself from injury when possible?

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Just walk and wave. For most people, this is also an instinct. As you walk, let your arms hang naturally along your body, your arms will begin to swing in a small arc – the faster you go, the bigger the arc will be. ^{[5] X Source of Research} The action of swinging arms while walking is completely natural and has been shown to increase stride performance; With the same amount of energy, you will go farther when you swing your arm than when you leave your hand alone. ^{[6] X Research Source} Therefore, do not hesitate to swing your arms when you walk. Don’t worry – you don’t look weird at all. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

If the weather permits, try to keep your hands out of your shirt or pants pockets to take advantage of the swing, and you’ll be able to go faster and farther.

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Start going slow to boot. For the first few minutes of walking, walk at a steady and comfortable pace to warm up. Assuming 100% is the maximum speed you can go fast without running, go at 50 – 60% speed. In general, when you warm up you need to go at a pace that allows you to speak normally and converse without breaking your breath.

Although controversial, in general, a warm-up will help you do exercises that increase your heart rate better. ^{[8] X Trusted Source PubMed Central Go to Source}

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Increase walking speed to medium after warm-up. When you feel comfortable, accelerate to about 70-80% of your maximum walking speed and don’t forget to maintain good posture. As you walk at this pace, you’ll begin to breathe heavily but not as quickly, and you’ll still be able to maintain a conversation even though it may not be as easy as before.

Try not to take unnatural long strides when accelerating. The increase in stride at this time will cause the leg muscles to be tense, the spine unstable and will gradually make you uncomfortable.
To improve your heart health, warm up and keep walking at least 5 times a week for 30 minutes each time. Studies have also shown that dividing your 30-minute walk into smaller chunks throughout the day is just as effective, as long as you walk for a full 30 minutes. ^{[9] X Research Source}

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Air conditioning near the end of the training session. After ramping up and maintaining your pace for about 30 minutes (or longer), slow down to your starting speed and continue for about 5 to 15 minutes. Conditioning after a period of high-speed walking will help the heart rate gradually (not suddenly) return to the heart rate of the body at rest. ^{[10] X Research Source} Plus, you’ll feel better, too.

This last one is pretty important, the better you feel after your workout, the more energetic you’ll be able to walk regularly. Therefore, spending time in air conditioning will help you reap the long-term benefits of walking.

Increase the intensity of walking exercise

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Choose the right walking shoes. If you’re about to start your exercise regimen with daily walking, consider buying a comfortable pair of walking shoes if you don’t already have one. A good pair of shoes brings a lot of benefits, you will both have a better gait, and be able to walk longer and more comfortably. Choose a pair of sturdy shoes to keep your feet straight, with heel protection and ankle support to avoid injury when walking. You can ask the staff at the sports shoe store to advise you to choose the right shoes. ^{[11] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Go to Source}

You don’t necessarily have to delay walking for exercise just because you don’t have specialized walking sneakers. Although specialized athletic shoes will provide maximum benefits, you can walk in any pair of shoes, as long as you can walk comfortably for a long time without pain or swelling.

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Wear appropriate clothing. When walking, you should keep in mind some basic and practical clothing principles. Be prepared that you will sweat, so wearing a simple cotton, sweat-wicking t-shirt will be quite comfortable. You should also choose pants so that you can walk comfortably, some types of pants such as sweatpants, shorts, sport pants or jeans are all suitable options. Finally, the clothes you wear need to be suitable for the weather outside so that your walk won’t be affected by wind, rain or heat. If it’s cold, you can bring a jacket or windbreaker, but when it’s hot you should wear shorts, etc.

Just like sports shoes, you don’t have to wear sports clothes from head to toe to be able to go out for a walk. If not really serious walking, sports clothes will not bring much benefit. You can completely use the clothes you already have without buying new.

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Choose the path with the desired difficulty. Terrain also affects the benefits of walking as much as how fast or slow you go. When starting out, you should choose to go in flat places, when you are more confident, you can challenge yourself by choosing more difficult and longer paths.

Walking uphill and downhill is a great exercise, but puts more strain on the muscles and joints, especially the ankles, because it has to move at great angles to support the leg with each step. . Work out on steep slopes like you would with heavy weights in the gym – slowly approach your goal instead of rushing and rushing.

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Take time to stretch before going for a walk. Even if walking isn’t an intense exercise like running, lifting weights, climbing, or any other type of exercise, you still run the risk of injury. To reduce your risk of walking injury and increase flexibility, stretch before and/or after walking. Spending about 5-10 minutes stretching your legs and arms before walking will help you feel more comfortable and have a better body. ^{[12] X Research Source}

Note that the benefits of stretching (and the consequences of not stretching) will increase when you have certain chronic conditions like back pain or arthritis.
Since the muscle groups in the legs are involved mainly in walking, you need to prioritize stretching for the lower body; Stretching the spine and upper body also has many benefits, especially in areas where you are prone to fatigue. You can refer to some of the following types of muscle relaxation:
- Thigh stretch
- Stretch the hamstrings, such as an inverted V yoga pose
- Stretch leg muscles
- Back stretches, such as the cat and alligator yoga pose
- Shoulder stretch

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Set a goal to gradually increase walking speed and distance. If you haven’t exercised before, you’ll soon realize the benefits of walking – a better mood, more energy, and you’ll probably lose more weight (provided you don’t eat more to lose weight). compensate for the energy expended while walking). For these benefits to grow, improve mood, have more energy and lose more weight, you’ll need to increase your walking distance, increase your walking pace, or better yet, both. . Think of walking like any other exercise regimen, by gradually increasing the intensity, one day you will be surprised at the change in your own appearance and mood. ^{[13] X Research Source}

Walk more in daily life

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Take walking as the main means of transportation. Walking just for exercise and nothing else is a great idea, but you can greatly increase the amount of time you walk each day by choosing to walk every time you need to move. In addition, because it has the effect of increasing mental excitement, choose to walk so that you can get where you need to be energetic, alert and ready to work at optimal capacity. If you’ve walked enough during the day, you won’t even need to spend any more time walking for exercise! You can choose to walk when: ^{[14] X Research Source}

Go to work every day. This is quite important, if you can walk from home to work and vice versa (or walk to the public bus station) instead of driving, you will not only be active and less boring, but also contribute to actively involved in environmental protection.
Go shopping. A lot of people have the habit of going to the supermarket or department store to shop a few times a week. If you take advantage of this opportunity to walk, you will both exercise on the way to the store and be more active when carrying the goods on the way home..
Visit friends’ houses. Finally, if you plan to visit someone, you can choose to walk instead of driving, so when you get there you will definitely be happy and full of energy.

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Walk for fun. As mentioned above, walking to places you need to go is a smart choice, but you can also choose to walk just because you want to walk . Walking is not only a way to get some exercise, but also a pretty enjoyable activity (provided the weather is good). It would be great to be able to go outside, get some fresh air, and see the world around you. Instead of staying indoors all day, spend some free time walking and relaxing, over time you will find this is much more worthwhile than watching TV.

You can go for a walk and explore at the same time. Take the risk to choose a route other than the familiar route to work or school every day, and you will see miracles, convenient shortcuts and places you didn’t even know they were before. exist.

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Walk to connect. If you stay indoors all day, you won’t meet new people, so take advantage of going outside for a walk. Walking in public places like malls, fairgrounds, and busy streets is a way to meet people and increase your chances of making new relationships. At the same time, you can also participate more in community activities when you are there. It’s easy to forget the simple joy of seeing others and being seen by others if we don’t go out often, get up and get out more!

Walking is a great way to gently start “stepping out of your shell” if you’re shy. There are more effective ways to meet new people, but walking is also a good option for those who have been at home for a long time and want to reintegrate into the community. Moreover, when you start a conversation with someone new while walking, you will naturally be more flexible and alert because walking helps to lift your spirits.

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Walk to improve appearance. Correct walking posture has many positive effects on appearance. For beginners, walking has a clear effect on improving physique. Just like other types of exercise, walking can help you become leaner, leaner, and more attractive. ^{[15] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Go to the source} In addition to the basic benefits above, walking with good posture will gradually help you to have a better gait. You will be much more beautiful standing upright than hunchback.v

For men, maintaining good posture while walking by keeping your upper body straight and pushing your shoulders back can also stretch your chest and abs, making you look a bit more muscular. For women, there will be benefits as above.
Don’t think that investing time, thought, and energy into looks is in vain. Attractive looks are a real and direct influence on a person’s dating potential and you shouldn’t ignore this.

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Be persistent. No matter how you choose to incorporate walking into your life, it’s important to persevere . Walking is only beneficial when done regularly. If you only go for a long ride a few times and don’t go again for the next month, you won’t get much benefit in terms of health, mood or appearance. However, if you walk about 5 times a week, 45 minutes each time, it will be effective . Form a habit of walking, be persistent and try to walk as much as possible. ^{[16] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Go to Source}

Since you have time for work, school, and/or family, it can be difficult to find time to walk every day. If you can’t walk on a regular basis, you can take advantage of the opportunity to go for short walks during the day. You can walk at some times such as:
- During lunch break or coffee break
- After school or work
- Early morning before going to school or work
- After dinner

Advice

Do not wear shoes that cause discomfort, especially when hiking, or your feet will be at risk of blisters and sores. Worse still, foot pain will make you lose interest and motivation to continue walking exercise.
If you absolutely want to wear a pair of shoes that are uncomfortable but very nice, you can wear them but try to limit or consider carrying another pair in your bag or backpack.
Do not bring backpacks or heavy bags. Heavy backpacks can cause back and shoulder pain. Carrying a heavy bag on one shoulder will make one shoulder low and one shoulder high and affect your posture.

Warning

Walk in safe places. You need to be alert to your surroundings and try to avoid dangerous situations. If necessary, bring some basic personal self-defense equipment.
- If it’s not safe where you live, move to a safer place to walk. On the plus side, you’ll also be able to choose from more places to walk.

Steps

Walk with the right posture

Increase the intensity of walking exercise

Walk more in daily life

Advice

Warning

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