Power Walking – Everything That You Need To Know
The daily walk is the most important exercise you can add to your routine. Walking is known to be the most understood yet most effective workout so far. You will notice that just a 15 minutes daily morning walk will help you stay fit, which has also been proved by Harvard health. However, although walking has many benefits, most brands will only endorse walking if you do not need any equipment. On the contrary, you will see most brands endorsing another workout that requires much more time and are hardly as effective as walking.
Even within walking, you have as many variations and ways to change the workout and make it much better. The change in overall time or distance and speed will not only help you work out so much better, but it will also help you target the right muscles and choose between burning fat or carbs. Moreover, you will also find different walking styles like brisk walking, jogging, and power walking.
With the help of this article, we will mainly focus on one of the most effective walking styles, called power walking. So first, we will look at how effective the power walking style is and how we can benefit from it.
Table of Contents
What Is Power Walking?
Power walking is the style where your main emphasis is motion rather than actual walking. As a result, you will use your arm swing and your walk speed to burn more calories. If you master the power walking style, you will be able to boost your calorie burn-out rate and work on your heart health, joint strength, and overall body balance. Although these benefits are excellent, they are just the tip of the iceberg, and you will eventually find out that power walk has so many other benefits as well. If you are not yet sure how you can master your power walking style, here are some of the most important things that you need to focus on while working on your power walking style.
Also Read: Exercises For Tennis Elbow
How To Master Power Walking?
Power walking style requires the involvement of your whole body, so you must ensure that every body part is aligned with how you walk. You also need to ensure that the speed of your moving legs is the same as your moving and.
To make sure that your power walking posture is perfect, here are some of the best ways to master the power walking style:
1. Posture Adjustment
Your eyes need to be on the terrain, and your shoulders need to be slightly back while keeping your head straight and upright. This is the same posture you will get when you stand by the wall in a straight posture, and you will feel that this adjustment is taking a toll on your neck; you can start yoga to fix the posture. This will eventually help you improve your whole body posture, and you will not have to worry about getting tired very often.
2. Arm Swing
Your arm swing must be very gentle, yet it should look natural. The best way to adjust your arm is to set it at 90 degrees and then move them up and slightly back. Keep them aligned with your legs and arms as you move but in an opposite motion. For example, if you step your left foot right, then make sure your right arm gets forward first and vice versa. With the movement, the style does not swing too fast but keeps it natural and powerful. Unfortunately, some people exaggerate the movement and eventually feel the strain near the shoulder.
3. Landing And Heel
Your landing should be very balanced; rather than landing on the toe or mid of the foot, make it heel first. As you land on the heel, you must go a little forward to the foot and then to the toe roll. Your hip movement should be forward and backwards rather than side to side.
4. Adjusting Strides
Your strides should be short yet powerful because if you take longer strides, your body will struggle to balance, and your upper body movement will not go along. The focus should be on marinating the proper movement and discussing the impact on the speed.
Power Walking Tips
Although power walking is just another form of walking and it hardly requires you to buy something, however, if you are thinking about making the most of your walking style, here are a few tips that can help boost your overall performance:
- Try to make sure you have the best and most comfortable shoes. Your shoes must have a flat sole and a steady yet thick heel, so you do not feel the pain. If you have flat food, get medication shoes for full support.
- Choose a part for the walk where you see greenery as well. Walking on the side of traffic means you will inhale polluted air, so try to avoid this.
- For the power walk, it is much better to have a group of friends with you so you can also talk and enjoy the weather. You can also listen to music or podcasts on the way. This will help you stay engaged and not feel bored alone.
- Keep your eyes on the terrain, so you know when to slow down and when to pick up the pace. In case of uneven terrain, make sure you balance your body well.
Bottom Line
To sum it all up, it all comes down to the way you master the power walk style and then make sure that you maintain your posture. You will notice that although most people can pick up the pace, they find it challenging to follow the posture. You can start with simple motion-style running and eventually use that to walk in the park at full speed. Also, ensure that you get the best gear because more movement will only make it worse for your feet, so you need to be fully secured and use good jogging shoes to see the improvement in your body.