The magic word? Power-walking.
Who knew walking could have such a positive effect on your health? Fast-paced walking, combined with healthy eating, is hugely effective for weight loss, Health.com reports.
And weight loss is just the beginning of it. Your daily strolls can cut your risk of everything from heart disease to depression too.
If you’ve been tying up the laces on your trusty runners for a while now and you’re not noticing a difference, it could be the speed at which you’re walking. Think power-walker more than window shopper and, at a challenging pace, you should be shedding the pounds quick.
Art Peltman, PhD, director of exercise physiology at the University of Virgina told the website that, as part of his study, women who do three short (about 30-minute) high-intensity walks plus two moderately paced recovery walks a week lose up to six times more abdominal fat than participants who simply stroll five days a week.
Interestingly, this is despite the fact that both groups burn the exact same number of calories.
The power-walkers also drop about four times as much total body fat.
“There is a strong relationship between intensity of exercise and fat-burning hormones,” Weltman told Health.
“So if you’re exercising at a pace considered to be hard, you’re likely to release more of these hormones.”
Join friends and make it a social event… Just dont’ forget to breathe while you’re talking!
Any more pluses? Yes.
For women, a power-walk targets deep abdominal fat first. Sounds good. On top of this, power-walking is actually easier on your joints than a jog.
So, what to do now?
For maximum fat burn, aim for 30 minutes at power-walk (4/5 miles per hour) intensity three days a week.
If you’re not quite there yet, a brisk walk (3.5/4 miles per hour) can burn up to 340 calories an hour.
Time to tie up those laces ladies!
