Hello friends, I want to welcome us all into
the New Year 2020 which incidentally is the beginning of another decade.
Like I said in my last post, for everything
we do in life we must have the WHY which will lead us to the HOW. If like me
you have identified your the WHY which now necessitate Exercise, change in diet
and lifestyle modification in general,
then we are good to go. I will start by talking about one of my the HOW today -
Daily Brisk Walking.
To get started, if you are above the age of
40 or you are on any maintenance medications, the first point is to consult
your doctor to discuss your plans about getting started on a walking program. Incidentally
one of the easiest exercises to do is walking, because virtually everyone
walks.
After you must have gotten clearance from
your doctor, what you need most next is a determined mind. Another thing you
need to do is to record your body weight and your blood pressure level before
you embark on the program, this will enable you to track your progress as you
go on with the program.
After doing all the above, then we are almost
set to begin the worthwhile journey and you still need to do the following to
get fully set and be good to go:
1.
You have to determine the time most suitable
for your walk, i.e. morning or evening (in my own case, I do my walks in the
morning between 6 – 7 am and it has served as a good daily morning tonic to set
me up for a productive day)
2.
You need to determine the distance you want
to start with. If you have not been exercising for a long time, you will need
to start with a short distance and then increase the distance to be covered as
you progress with the program (in my case, I started with 2.5 kilometres and
after six months I graduated to 5 kilometres which I have maintained for well
over a year now).
3.
After deciding on the distance you want to
start with, the next and very important step is to determine the route you will
be walking through. It is very important to choose your route very carefully, a
route that will have less traffic but at the same time that will not be too
deserted for security reasons (it is always advisable that you have more than
one route so that you can alternate your walks for security reasons).
4.
You must get the right kits. To start and
maintain a walking program you need to be properly kitted. You must be properly
dressed, if you are walking during the hot period you will need to put on light
clothing and if it is the cold period like what we are in right now, you will
need clothes that will cover your body very well and produce the necessary heating.
Next is the foot wear which is of utmost importance, you will need a nice
fitted shoe and it must be light weight so that it will not make your feet to
get tired easily due to heaviness.
When you have put all the above in place,
then you are set to embark on this interesting journey.
In my next write up I will be talking about
my experience in starting and I will surely post a short video to guide you on
how brisk walking is done.
Have a wonderful week. Cheers
