Fitness Walking

If you're a jogger like me, I'll bet you once thought of fitness walking as being for wimps.  I mean how much exercise can you get just strolling about the place! 

Ok, walking is fine just after that Thanksgiving dinner, but I'd never thought of walking for fitness as a realistic possibility.

I was a jogger, you see. If someone had tried to convince me that fitness walking was a form of fitness training, I'd have though they were nuts.

After all, aren't they essentially the same activity? The only difference is that jogging is done faster and more vigorously, and so it must be better!

Usually it takes something significant to change a viewpoint like this.  And my ailing joints were what pushed me over the edge.

Jogging is great for your cardiovascular health, it is great for your metabolism, but it is not so great for your joints. It was only a matter of time before my jogging caused serious injuries. I was one of the lucky ones – I was able to make a full recovery, which many injured joggers are not able to do. But my doctor told me that my days of jogging were over. I would have to try something new.

Fitness walking makes for a great aerobic workout

That is when one of my friends introduced me to the joys of fitness walking. Fitness walking may be a less vigorous activity, but it is still possible to get a full aerobic workout, and as a bonus it does not damage your joints. Another advantage that fitness walking has over jogging is that you get a little bit more of a chance to enjoy the scenery.

When I was a fitness jogger, I would put on my jogging music, and start going as quickly as I could. I would use music to psych me up, and never you pay any attention at all to my surroundings. Although you can take this approach to fitness walking as well, plugging in your Walkman or your iPod and chugging away as quickly as possible, I find that it is much easier to enjoy your surroundings at the slightly slower rate that you take.

This means that, not only does fitness walking allow you to exercise without straining your joints, but it also allows you to exercise without missing out on your surroundings. Walking for fitness combines all the best things of a jog with all the best things of a nice walk in the park. It's now a key part of my fitness training and I cannot recommend it enough!