We all know walking is great for our health. Wellness experts from coast to coast agree it is the gold standard for exercise. Call it the activity that can make you “most likely to succeed” into old age. It reduces weight, increases bone density and boosts balance and memory. “I often call walking the miracle drug, magic bullet or the fountain of youth,” praises David Sabgir, M.D., a cardiologist who founded the walking network Walk with a Doc. “If you could put all of the benefits of walking into a pill, you would never be able to afford it or find it.”
As helpful as regular walking is, however, there are easy, completely free ways to enhance your stroll to lose even more weight and gain extra health benefits. So we consulted fitness pioneer and legend Denise Austin on exactly how to “step” up our walking routine a notch. Keep reading for our exclusive fall walking plan and learn how to get a great workout utilizing the latest science.
Lay the groundwork with a daily step goal
“I often get asked how many steps you should aim for each day, and my goal is always 10,000!” says Denise, who often shares walking tips in her magazine, Fit Over 50. It’s a great goal: In one study, when overweight couch-potato types started walking 10,000 steps a day, they lost more than 5 pounds of body fat and whittled their hips and waistlines, compared to those who didn’t get those 10,000 steps. But don’t feel deterred by big numbers.
Experts agree that taking just 100 or 1,000 more strides each day than your usual pattern is a step in the right direction.
STEP 1: Start with an a.m. stroll. Minimum: 10+ min.
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