walking for fitness, exercise and fun

The secret is in the starting, what I mean by this is most people start their exercise program by doing to much exercise. Start small and build a foundation, I know it’s hard to start small but think about the next day after starting a program of walking and how those muscle are screaming to skip the walk and lay on the couch watching TV.

Try this instead, start by walking 1 mile or less but do it 4-6 times during the week. Now you can build a program by adding a half mile every two weeks. Now the second part of starting, make your goal long term oriented, like for five years. Here’s my goal program, walk 1200 miles per year for five years with a long term of 5000 miles. The best thing about this kind of goal setting is it will focus your viewpoint out in time, not on next week.

Take a look at this article, it has some great tips:

How Do I Stick With My Exercise Program?

To be successful with an exercise routine, you must make it part of your everyday life. It should become as important to you as going to work, or spending time on leisure activities. Do not let it become an afterthought, or something you will do “if you have time.” Be sure to make the time. Your body will thank you.

Take these steps to help make sure you stick with your exercise program.

• Make your daily life more active.
• Schedule time for exercise.
• Set goals and keep track of your progress.
• Reward yourself.

Make Your Daily Life More Active

One way to maintain your motivation to exercise at a dedicated time is to be more active throughout your day.

How an active lifestyle helps you stick with exercise. Being active is a mind-set. If you think of yourself of an active person, you will move more. If you’ve been inactive for awhile, even small steps, like taking the stairs instead of asking your child to get something upstairs for you can start making you feel lighter, more energized, more able to move, and more confident.

How to add activity to each day. You’ve probably heard or read common tips for doing this, such as getting off the bus a few stops early and walking the rest of the way to work. But are you really making this sort of activity part of your life? If not, take a look at the tips under How Can I Be More Active Each Day? Pick the top three that you think you can easily adopt. Picture yourself doing each of these. Pick a date to start doing them, and track your progress each day. When you’ve made the first three part of your routine, pick out three more to incorporate.

Schedule Time for Exercise

Make exercise a priority.

How a routine helps you stick with exercise. When you make exercise part of your routine, it becomes just something else you do and not a decision you have to make each day. Having a set time also helps some people who tend to mentally punish themselves all day as they brood over whether they will exercise. If you have a set time, you can count on following through on it and free your mind.

How to fit in exercise. Consider your preferences and what will work for you. Are you more likely to exercise early in the morning, during lunch, after work, or in the evening? Schedule a time and place that’s convenient for you. Try exercising at the same time every day. Put it on your calendar so you’ll remember. Treat it just as you would any other appointment, such as a dentist appointment – don’t cancel it.

Set Goals and Keep Track of Your Progress

Having goals is a great way to stay motivated.

How setting goals and tracking help you stick with exercise. Setting goals allows you to see yourself doing your activity and that mental preparation is key to becoming an active person. Continually having new milestones can also keep you moving when you might feel unwilling to be active. Plus, keeping track of your progress concretely shows your accomplishments. Some people get so caught up in pushing themselves that they actually want to quit because they expect so much from themselves. An exercise log keeps you from forgetting how far you’ve come.

How to set goals. Select some short-term and long-term goals. Perhaps your short-term goal in the first week is to walk for 10 minutes three times a week. By your 12th week, your goal might be to walk 35 minutes 5 days a week and to take part in a 5-kilometer fund-raising walk in your community.

Your longer-term goals might be to lose 10 pounds and to reduce your total cholesterol by 20 mg/dL.

Reward Yourself

There is nothing that makes you want to keep doing what you are doing more than a little positive reinforcement.

How rewards help you stick with your exercise. Changing any habit – including being inactive – is hard. It takes energy to stick with it and mental persistence too. Planning to reward yourself can help you stay motivated. It’s also a way to remember to be kind to yourself and not too hard on yourself – those are the mental attitudes that lead to good health.

How to reward yourself. As you achieve each of your short- and long-term exercise goals, reward yourself. Purchase a book you’ve been wanting or treat yourself to a tape or CD you would enjoy. Don’t think your rewards always have to be items that cost money. You can motivate yourself with some positive self-talk. Phrases such as “I can do this” and “I’m taking control of my actions and making my life healthier” can help keep you focused on your purpose for exercising in the first place. It may also help you feel stronger and more energized just to say to yourself, “I am a winner!” Don’t reward yourself with food, which could derail your efforts to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Now that you have the tools go and take a walk, changing your life and losing that weight forever. I know I have by walking 100 miles a month.

MikeZume_walking step by step to weight loss, fitness and fun.

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.

Part Four of Four

The Basics of Fitness Walking continued…

ZumeWalk - walking for weight loss

Out and About

• Get off a stop or two early on the bus or subway, and walk the rest of the way.
• Park farther away at the shopping mall, and walk the extra distance.
• Walk around while waiting for a relative or friend’s game to begin.
• Walk while waiting for the plane at the airport.
• See the sights in new cities by walking.
• At the beach, sit and watch the waves instead of lying flat. Better yet, get up and walk, run, or fly a kite.
• When golfing, walk instead of using a cart.

Advice for Caregivers of Children

• Have kids walk to and from school.
• Provide time for activity in a school setting.
• Be an active role model.

This is one of the best articles I’ve  has read about walking, walking for fitness and starting a program of walking. The one thing I’ve learned from walking for almost 15 years with a two year stoppage and then restarting for the last two years and 2400 miles. Here’s the secret to weight loss and getting fit with walking, start that’s right start. Strap on your shoes, open the door and take that first step. Start small and build a program that you stick with and one that includes walking 4-6 times per week by building toward a goal of walking 1 hour per day, six days of a week.

Good luck I know you can do it, just start today and turn your life around with a life long program of fitness which includes the best form of exercise – walking.

MikeZume_walking, exercise for the rest of us. walking, exercise for the rest of your life.

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.

Part Three of Four

zumewalk - step by step for fitness

Need to start exercising? What could be easier than walking? Fitness walking reaps as many rewards as other physical activities, and you don’t need special equipment or training.

(continued)

The Basics of Fitness Walking continued…

Intensity: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 meaning relaxed and 10 thoroughly exhausted, Stein advises starting a walk at level 2 or 3, working up to level 6 to 8, and then cooling down to a 2. “The recommendation is the same for everyone,” he says, “because as you get more and more fit, you actually end up having to walk faster or steeper to keep that 6 to 8 up.”

Form: Stein says it doesn’t matter whether someone is swinging his or her shoulders or walking straight from the hip, as long as they’re comfortable and have the right intensity. Hoffmann, however, says it’s best to have elbows bent at a 90 degree angle, the arms swinging freely so that they come up to about chest level, the fingers curled into a loose fist, and the feet moving forward at a brisk pace. “If your hands are just dangling at the sides, you’re probably not walking fast enough to get any heart rate increase,” says Hoffmann, who notes that the extremely sedentary and overweight can begin an exercise plan with a stroll and work up to a quicker pace.

Mileage: Many guidelines give recommendations on time and intensity, so distance may not necessarily be a factor. On the other hand, some walking events and campaigns with specific distance requirements have been known to be very motivating. For example, Corbin says children have loved digital pedometer programs, which have enabled them to keep track of steps during the day. Students who take a certain number of steps a day for at least five days a week for several weeks receive a President’s Council Activity Award. Volkssporting groups have also given honors to walkers of all ages that have achieved particular distances.

Walking Through Life

Putting one foot ahead of the other may yet be the easiest form of exercise because it can readily be incorporated into daily life. Various sources, including the AHA, the AARP, and the NASPE, have provided the following tips, which could make fitness walking seemingly effortless whether you’re doing it for love or against love handles.

At Home

• Go out for a short walk before breakfast, after dinner, or both.
• Walk to the corner store instead of driving.
• Instead of asking someone to bring you a drink, get up off the couch and get it yourself.
• Walk instead of watching TV.
• See neighbors.
• Walk the dog.

At Work

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Or get off a few floors early and walk the remaining flights.
• Walk down the hall to speak to someone at the office rather than using the telephone.
• Conduct a meeting with co-workers while taking a walk.
• Walk around your building for a break during the work day or during lunch.

MikeZume_walking step by step for fitness

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.

Part Two of Four

ZumeWalk - walking for fitness

Need to start exercising? What could be easier than walking? Fitness walking reaps as many rewards as other physical activities, and you don’t need special equipment or training.

(continued)

The Benefits of Fitness Walking continued…

As an active member of volkssporting groups, she and her husband have traveled by foot in all 50 states, and are now working on traversing through all the state capitals. They have met many friends through treks and have seen people begin lifelong relationships.

Fitness walking “gives people purpose to get out and do something,” says Cottrill. “It improves their health, it improves their blood pressure, they can lose weight, and it just keeps them flexible.”

Cottrill’s observations correspond well with the scientific research on physical activity. According to the AHA, vigorous activities that include brisk walking and moderate activities that include walking for pleasure can help reduce the following risk factors for heart disease:

• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Obesity and overweight
• High levels of triglycerides
• Low levels of HDL (“good” cholesterol)

Additionally, Richard Stein, MD, AHA spokesman, says fitness walking is easy to do and can achieve the same cardiovascular benefits as many forms of physical activity.

“The heart is really a very nice organ,” he says. “It really doesn’t know whether you’re walking barefoot on the beach or you’re in $4,000 Nike gear in a million-dollar treadmill.”

Good forms of exercise supposedly include activities that burn fat, use large muscle groups, or happen over long distances, particularly if there is no resistance involved.

For older people afflicted with arthritis, Hoffmann says fitness walking can actually ease pain instead of cause it. “There is a huge body of research that shows that the symptoms of arthritis are usually relieved by walking, that if people will get up and get moving, they will find that their joints will get better and they will be less stiff and less sore.”

At the other end of the spectrum, walking can also help meet children’s healthneeds, says Charles Corbin, MD, author of the NASPE’s physical activity guidelines. “Kids need to expend enough calories during the day to maintain desirable weight,” he says. “Plus, they need to expend energy consistent with building bones and muscles for fitness and normal growth and development.”

The Basics of Fitness Walking

Most people may think they’ve mastered this skill at toddler age, but certain steps apparently need to be taken in order to maximize the health benefits of going by foot:

Timetable: The surgeon general recommends moderate amounts of activities such as a brisk walk of at least 30 minutes a day every day for overall health. The NASPE proposes that kids get more — from 60 minutes up to several hours of physical activity (which includes walking) a day — on most, if not all days of the week. People looking to lose weight are encouraged by the AARP to hit the pavement at least an hour a day for most days. For heart, lung, and circulation health, the AHA suggests 30 minutes of vigorous activity (including walking) a day, three to four times a week. Many of these guidelines allow time requirements to be non-continuous, with bouts of physical activity sprinkled throughout the day.

MikeZume_walking step by step for fitness

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.

Part One of Four

ZumeWalk - step by step for fitness - walking for fitness

Need to start exercising? What could be easier than walking? Fitness walking reaps as many rewards as other physical activities, and you don’t need special equipment or training. From WebMD and written by Dulce Zamora and reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD.

If I could fall
Into the sky
Do you think time
Would pass me by
‘Cause you know I’d walk
A thousand miles
If I could
Just see you
Tonight

The lyrics hail from Vanessa Carlton’s 2002 Top 40 song, “A Thousand Miles.” The mileage, of course, is figurative, but what if someone did decide to walk a tiny fraction of that distance for love, for charity, for errands, or for exercise? Whatever the reason, it would probably delight many health professionals who having been touting physical activity as one way to trim the nation’s burgeoning waistline.

More than 60% of American adults are overweight, and about one out of three is obese, according to the CDC. In the kid department, 15% of 6- to 19-year-olds are also overweight — almost double what it was two decades ago.

Sedentary lifestyles have repeatedly been held partially responsible for the excessive poundage. This is why many groups, including the American Heart Association (AHA), the National Association for Sport & Physical Education (NASPE), and AARP, are now promoting campaigns on how to incorporate physical activity into daily life. And since these organizations recognize the challenge of getting people moving, many have included fitness walking into their recommendations.

“Something is better than nothing,” says Melane Kinney Hoffmann, director of health campaigns at AARP. “Everyone, even people who are totally sedentary, if they get up and do something, that’s better than sitting in a recliner chair.”

Besides, traveling by foot is something most people arguably know how to do, usually without requiring expensive equipment (except for maybe the shoes, but that’s another story). It can be done for any length of time, and the intensity can be adjusted according to age, health status, and fitness goal. Plus, there are so many kinds of fitness walking, from strolling to brisk walking to marathon walking to volkssporting (more on this later).

So “Walk this way!” as the rock group Aerosmith would shout, and maybe one step could lead to a thousand, and that could lead to better health.

The Benefits of Fitness Walking

Anna Cottrill says she doubts she would be mobile today if she had not insisted on her daily strolls. The 66-year-old has had osteoarthritis in her lower spine since 1979, even once unable to take a step for six months. Her ailment, however, hasn’t flared up since she started her regular jaunts.

The Fort Worth, Texas, grandmother joined up with a walking group known as the American Volkssport Association (AVA) and soon became highly involved with the organization and its affiliates. She is now co-president of the Tarrant County Walkers, and is second vice president of the Texas Volkssporting Association. (For the unaware, volkssporting is a German-derived term describing participation in sports such as walking, swimming, skiing, snowshoeing, and biking. In Cottrill’s case, the sport is obviously walking.)

(continued in the next post)

MikeZume_walking step by step for fitness

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.

zumewalk - step by step for fitness, weight loss & wellness

I’m going to figure out how many steps I take each and everyday, I wonder if I’m achieving my 10,000 steps everyday. PBS.com’s article “America’s Walking: Personal Health & Fitness,” gives a look at starting a walking based fitness program by counting your daily steps.

Looking for a way to get healthy, lose weight and generally have more energy? Why not start walking! It’s easy, you need no special equipment, and just thirty minutes a day can dramatically improve and extend your life. Plus, walking is often the gateway to a more active lifestyle.

To get started, kick off your walking with our quiz, and according to your results, we’ll recommend a week-by-week walking program that suits your fitness level. Then find out what type of exercise personality you have. Learn the best way to warm-up before you walk and then how to stretch out your muscles afterward. And while you’re improving your cardiovascular health, don’t forget to supplement your walking with strengthening exercises. It will help increase your metabolism and build stronger bones and muscles.

Did you know that many fitness experts recommend that you walk 10,000 steps every day? Monitoring your daily steps with a simple pedometer can be an effective way to increase your activity level. Check out our 20% Boost Program, the realistic way to build up to 10,000 steps a day.

MikeZume_walking, exercise for the rest of us; walking, exercise for the rest of life.

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program. 
Your physician is your very best resource.

walking for fitness and weight loss

I love to walk and have successfully walked 2300 miles in the last 20 months and reaped the benefits of weight loss, stress relief and fitness. A Dulce Zamora article appearing at WebMD, “Step by Step: Walking for Fitness,” this article on getting fit and using walking as the primary method to get back into shape.

Need to start exercising? What could be easier than walking? Fitness walking reaps as many rewards as other physical activities, and you don’t need special equipment or training.

If I could fall
Into the sky
Do you think time
Would pass me by
‘Cause you know I’d walk
A thousand miles
If I could
Just see you
Tonight

The lyrics hail from Vanessa Carlton’s 2002 Top 40 song, “A Thousand Miles.” The mileage, of course, is figurative, but what if someone did decide to walk a tiny fraction of that distance for love, for charity, for errands, or for exercise? Whatever the reason, it would probably delight many health professionals who having been touting physical activity as one way to trim the nation’s burgeoning waistline.

More than 60% of American adults are overweight, and about one out of three is obese, according to the CDC. In the kid department, 15% of 6- to 19-year-olds are also overweight — almost double what it was two decades ago.

Sedentary lifestyles have repeatedly been held partially responsible for the excessive poundage. This is why many groups, including the American Heart Association (AHA), the National Association for Sport & Physical Education (NASPE), and AARP, are now promoting campaigns on how to incorporate physical activity into daily life. And since these organizations recognize the challenge of getting people moving, many have included fitness walking into their recommendations.

“Something is better than nothing,” says Melane Kinney Hoffmann, director of health campaigns at AARP. “Everyone, even people who are totally sedentary, if they get up and do something, that’s better than sitting in a recliner chair.”

Besides, traveling by foot is something most people arguably know how to do, usually without requiring expensive equipment (except for maybe the shoes, but that’s another story). It can be done for any length of time, and the intensity can be adjusted according to age, health status, and fitness goal. Plus, there are so many kinds of fitness walking, from strolling to brisk walking to marathon walking to volkssporting (more on this later).

Walking is the most perfect exercise and is one of sources of fitness that can be enjoyed for a lifetime. Get those shoes on and make your way to the front and take a walk every day for bring your body back into shape and keeping it there.

MikeZume_walking step by step for fitness.

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.

ZumeWalking for Stress Relief

As you have seen, my posting has been less than stellar but my heart is always with you, the reason is work and starting another company. With work comes travel and when you travel, it can be more important grab some exercise and rid yourself of the stress than when you’re home in your regular routine.

7 Tips for Staying in Shape on the Road

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.

ZumeWalking for Weight Loss

One of the best ways to lose those love handles is walking and if you wantt to shed those unwanted pounds try walking to work. Here’s a great article from Detroit News written by Tali Arbel titled, “6 Ways You Can Put a Little Exercise Into Your Work Day.”

Stressed at work? You need some exercise! But if working out after or before the job isn’t working out, make your desk a gym, says the Mayo Health Clinic, which offers these ideas on how to incorporate exercise intooffice life:

1. When you need to talk to a co-worker, get up and walk to other desks and offices rather than calling or using instant-messaging.

2. When walking to and from work — or at any time during your day — make sure you move quickly.

3. Instead of a coffee break, take a “fitness break.” Go on a walk, do some stretches or even try a few easy muscle-building exercises with equipment you can store in your desk, such as resistance bands or small hand weights.

4. See if you can find others who want to increase their activity level to join you on a lunchtime stroll. Regularly-scheduled exercise with a group makes you more likely to stay involved, according to the Mayo Clinic, and is also a nice social opportunity.

5. Stand, don’t sit! Just getting up burns more calories than if you remain seated for hours at a stretch.

6. Make your commute an opportunity to move. Bike to work if possible, or get off public transportation before your destination and hike the rest of the way to work. If driving, park as far away as is reasonable. And always take the stairs.

MikeZume_walk everywhere not just for exercise.

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.