Have you been getting out each day for a stroll, and you feel like it is time you stepped it up with some new challenges? Do you have any ideas in mind? Well, here are a few possible ideas that can help you step up from just having a normal walk around your neighbourhood to an actual exercise that helps you burn calories and increase your strength.

Keep count of your steps.

You may want to start counting your steps each time you are out having a walk. Having an actual track of the number of daily steps you make will help you push yourself. When you have an idea of the actual number of steps you make regularly, you will be able to surpass the number during each successive walk. You could challenge yourself by adding at least 600 steps to each walk through the week. This will ensure that you are making good progress.

Increase your speed

With you already tracking your steps and adding extra steps during each walk, you could then now taking it further by walking a similar number of steps in a reduced time frame. You could achieve this by either making several steps per minute time or covering a longer distance in a shorter time. One advantage of this is that you will be burning more calories as well as increasing your heart rate.

Read More: Experiencing Soreness and Pain from your Daily Walk?

Swing your arms

Having a walk needs to be as comfortable as possible. I would, therefore, not imagine carrying some weights in my hands to increase my calorie burn.  However, you can still burn a good amount of calories just by swinging your arms as you walk. This does not only get more of the muscles involved in your exercise but it also greatly increases your heart rate.

Change direction

Walking towards the same direction each time you are having a stroll sounds a little bit boring. Even though you may be limited in the areas you can walk, you can still find a way through. Have you tried walking in the opposite direction? Maybe instead of going downhill as you always do, you can decide to walk uphill. This will make the walking exercise more challenging and with even better outcomes. You could also look for neighbourhoods with different terrains, and with that, you can be stronger for longer.
Incorporate weight

Now that you have been getting out walking almost every day, stepping up the challenge would be a bold move if you still need to gain more fitness from the walk.  There couldn’t be a better way to do this than adding some weight.  You could carry some backpack with some stuff in it just to add on your body weight.

Consider doing strength exercises

Doing additional strength exercises during your walks could also have a greater positive impact on increasing your strength. Some of the exercises you may consider doing include:

• Walking on high knees for about 45seconds
• Doing calf raises 10 to 20 times
• Using curb to do approximately 20 step-ups
• Adding walking lunges

It is advisable that you try one new challenge after the other but only within your limits as you keep enjoying your walk and gaining progress while keeping safe.

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If you’ve found this helpful, please share. And if you have any further questions, please let me know below and I or one of my team will do our best to provide you with answers.

Jx

Jamie Wood, Founder & CEO

@jwoody74