Marching Orders: How to Start a Walking Program

Walking with a friend or spouse can aid you persist with your fitness goals. Image: Thinkstock Contents Keeping track If you've heart disease. Two months for a goal Start walking.

This easy activity is the most effective ways to guard your heart.

Keeping track

Start by tracking your steps from whenever you get up within the morning until you go to bed at night. Average your total steps for 2 or three days, then aim to extend your every day total to about 1,000 to 2,000. Each week, increase your steps by the identical amount until you reach at the least 10,000 steps per day.

If you've heart disease.

If you've had a heart attack or have been diagnosed with heart disease, walking is a really perfect exercise because you possibly can easily adapt your routine to your fitness level. If you've heart failure, ask your doctor to recommend a cardiac rehabilitation program so you possibly can safely reap the advantages of exercise. This form of supervised exercise is particularly helpful in case you haven't been lively shortly.

Whether you begin a walking program on your individual or with supervision, plan to begin slowly and work your way up to raised fitness—and follow these safety suggestions:

• Always warm up with a straightforward five-minute walk to get your muscles and heart ready for exercise. Finally, cool down by slowing down.

• Don't push through fatigue. Stop in case you feel drained or have any heart symptoms.

• Take a walk in an indoor shopping center if it's too cold, too snowy, or too hot to exercise outside. Ask your doctor in case you should take any extra precautions.

Two months for a goal

If you haven't been exercising, eight weeks of exercise (see “Start Walking”) is an awesome solution to start. You'll step by step increase the period of time you walk, as much as the beneficial 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week. It means walking briskly, as in case you are in a little bit of a rush. Your respiratory rate should increase, but it's best to still give you the option to talk in complete sentences. Pay attention to your posture—keep your head up, shoulders down and back, and abdominal muscles tight.