Tag: fitness level

Is “Walking” exercise?

I realize this might sound ridiculous at first sight, because you are probably thinking well “duh walking is exercise” and to be honest, this is true, it is a form of exercise BUT there is a BIG BUT involved because walking varies and depending the kind of walking and the length of time, it can be less effective as a form of exercise.

 

For starters, I am not knocking those that walk – I walk. I am not knocking those that choose to walk on the treadmill the whole entire gym period long, or that say they walked to the fridge and back to their bedroom and that was their exercise. LOL. — seriously though ( I know people like this) My concern isn’t that you walk because there are people missing limbs that can’t walk and would love to, my concern is “is your walking effective”? think about this for a minute or two and think about what it means to be effective and you would obviously know what walking is… so think about how often you walk and how far, do you think that your walking can be considered effective?

 

Just like any other exercise, walking has to be “challenged” , otherwise it no longer becomes an effective method of weight loss, it will either get to a point where you plateau fairly quickly or get to a point that it bores you or it will get to a point where it is no longer as effective. Everyone has their own fitness level and their own level of what they can do and I don’t expect anyone to run marathons or 5ks ( I surely don’t) so walking is a good thing to get started, to get yourself moving and to stay productive, not to mention it allows you to explore (if you are outside) or if you go to a gym and walk, it allows you to get to know the treadmill and the functions. The key with walking is “Type, time (duration), frequency, and distance” – All of these play an important role with walking and making it effective for you. Now before I go over these fun words, I want to let everyone know who is reading this, NOT EVERYONE IS THE SAME, so don’t expect your results to be the same as someone else’s and all of this information will vary person to person.. depending on your lifestyle choices.

 

Type and/or mode: What kind of walking are you doing? 

 
  • Brisk walking
  • speed walking
  • leisure walking
  • walking backwards
  • walking uphill
  • walking downhill
  • walking stairs
  • walking on grass, concrete,
  • treadmill
  • elliptical
  • resisted walking
  • slow walking
  • moon walking LOL
 

Time (Duration): How long are you walking for? 

  • 10 minutes
  • 1 hour
  • 2 days straight

You get the point, someone who is hiking and walking for days at a time vs someone who walks to their car from their front door.

 

Frequency: How often are you walking?

  • everyday
  • once a month
  • once a year
  • three times a week

again you get the point, this also will make a difference down the road when you hit a plateau.. just like the amount of time. 

 

Distance: How far do you walk?

  • 1 mile
  • 15 km
  • 10 steps
  • 10,000 steps

ALL of these things play an important role with fitness as a whole but since I am talking about walking specifically.. I made this post so that you can see your own flaws and have an idea as to how to “fix” it or better deal with them; whether that means you change the type of walking you do, or change the amount of time you stay on the treadmill – there is different variations, so use it at your disposal if you have to. Maybe some of you are just beginning your journey and can only walk .5 miles once a week at a slow pace – that is fine because if you keep doing that you will see results, however, it will get to the point where results stop or happen rarely and that means you will decide to try to walk 1 mile once a week or .5 miles every 2 days.. or whatever it maybe in order to progress in your workout. Then there may be others of you who are fitness advanced, and walk 10,000 steps easy in a day and decide you want to walk 20,000 steps daily and again that will progress your workout and give you results. 

 

Everything is a trial and error, what works for you may not work for the neighbor, so as long as you progress and overload in your walking – you have a higher chance of results and cardiovascular fitness increasing. Got it? 🙂 good. 

 

Feel free to leave comments, share and like. Thank you for reading.

 

Your Fitness Blogger,

Shay-lon xxxooo 

 

P.S keep in mind eating habits play a part in this as well. 

What is ‘Tabata’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKlU42Z51tU

Let me be honest by saying, I had never heard of ‘tabata” before taking an exercise science class where one of my former classmates was doing a workout with her client, and I decided to ask what it was and she explained to me that it was called “tabata”. Watching her and her client do the workout made me sick thinking about it, because it was so high intensity and had so many rounds, not to mention the exercises weren’t exactly that easy in the first place (Although there are more beginner tabata workouts for those starting out).  Don’t get me wrong, I have done high intensity workouts, and survived just fine, but have never done tabata, and still haven’t done it. I have been thinking about it, but first wanted to see what was all out there and of course there are many different tabata workouts depending on your skill level, goals, and whether you want to use equipment or not.  I will begin by saying if one didn’t know any better they would normally call it a regular circuit exercise, but actually tabata is different in nature and I want to share with you what Tabata is and what it does for the body depending on what your goals are.

 

‘Tabata’ – A form of HIIT training, it consist of eight rounds of ultra high intensity exercises in a specific 20 seconds-on, 10 seconds-off interval.   (The video will give you some insight)

 

What to know about ‘Tabata’:

 
  • Fitness & weight loss benefits
  • Short workout usually no more than 20 minutes long, but it can go longer depending on the class and how long you choose to go
  • The name was invented by the physician and researcher Dr. Izumi Tabata who conducted a study to see if athletes could benefit from a 20/10 HIIT training. 
  • Some may argue to say Tabata is not for beginners, I would say, it isn’t something I would start a beginner off with, but one can do it with practice and discipline. A beginner tabata class may be slow paced at first but eventually it will get faster and harder, so one should be at certain fitness level before jumping into this routine. 
  • Greater risk of injury, because of it being HIIT , something to speak with your doctor about if you have prior injuries or conditions that need to be evaluated before starting Tabata. I would say it is greater risk if you don’t know how to perform the movements with proper form/technique. 
  • Anaerobic and aerobic capacity increase

I would highly recommend that you watch some videos on Tabata to get an idea of what it is, and the type of exercises that can be included in it. Here is a short list of exercises that are popular:

  • mountain climbers
  • planks
  • sit ups
  • burpees
  • squats

but many more other exercises one can add to their tabata routine. I would also recommend that you wait until you are at a comfortable fitness level (fairly high) so that you can do the exercises with minimal injuries, and are able to keep up with the 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off routine. I hope those of you who have done tabata can share your experience with me and others, letting us know if you enjoyed it.  Thank you for reading, please feel free to share this! 

 

Your fitness blogger,

 

Shay-lon xoxo

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