Walking: Reap the benefits & avoid plateaus

Although often overlooked for its health benefits, walking is not only a fantastic way to keep in shape, but great for overall health and well-being. Here are my top tips to ensure that you continue to reap those walking results, and avoid unwanted plateaus:

Add hills - be it steep or small, incorporating hills into your walk will add resistance and challenge your body.

Pick up pace - increasing your speed to a brisk power walk will not only make that heart rate soar, but burn more energy.

Suck & squeeze - for an effective full body (ish!) workout, squeeze those leg and butt muscles and suck in that tummy...you will be surprised at how different and more intense your walk feels!

Interval training - great for weight loss and a fantastic way to keep those motivation levels up, interval training is the perfect way to add intensity to your walks. Even a 1 minute brisk walk followed by a 30 second steady jog repeated in the same cycle for 30 minutes, is a brilliant way to burn more energy, remain interested and really challenge your body. You can also increase and decrease intervals to suit your personal fitness level, making it the perfect option for both beginner and advanced walkers.

Stretch - more flexibility, less prone to injury and a reduction in muscle tension are just a selection of the numerous benefits stretching pre and post workout provides - never underestimate the importance of incorporating stretching into any workout!!

Walk more - although any fitness programme should be progressively increased over a period of time, walking for longer durations, increasing mileage or walking five days a week as opposed to four, will burn more energy and keep you on your toes.