Fitness
Can You Make Walking More Effective? Expert Shares Tips
Can You Make Walking More Effective? Expert Shares Tips (Image Credits: iStock)
Walking is one of the most effective and easily accessible exercises. Walking can be easily undertaken by most people, even by those who are suffering from neurological or orthopaedic problems. Regular walking not only enhances cardiovascular fitness but also plays a pivotal role in reducing the risk factors associated with various chronic diseases. It is an effective way to improve health and reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, dementia and cardiovascular diseases. Further, the benefits of walking go beyond physical health and have a significant impact on mental well-being as well. It has been linked to reduced stress levels, improved mood, and enhanced overall quality of life.
Walking helps in weight management, improving insulin sensitivity, and lowering blood pressure, which helps prevent obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Further, some studies reveal that the health benefits of walking extend to cognitive health, and it can work as a catalyst in reducing the risk of dementia through increased blood flow to the brain and enhanced neural connections.
But can you make walking more effective? Dr Sudhir Kumar, MD, DM Neurology at Apollo Hospital Hyderabad took to X (formerly Twitter) where he has shared some means by which you can make walking more effective:
Vary Stride Length: Take shorter or longer steps while walking. For every 1 per cent increase in step length variability, there is a 0.7 per cent increase in the metabolic cost of walking.
Walk Backwards: Walking backwards can be fun as well as healthy. Walking backwards activates different sets of muscles (hamstrings and calves) and strengthens them. Walking backwards also improves balance and coordination, reducing the risk of falls. It is also good for joint health.
Walk In Greenery: Walking in parks with greenery or in natural forests provides benefits beyond what is expected from the effect of exercise alone. Greenery improves mental & cognitive functions and boosts the immune system as well.
Walk Briskly (faster pace): Walking is beneficial; walking faster is more beneficial. Aim for a pace of 3 miles per hour (or faster) to derive greater benefits from walking.
Walk More: In general, the benefits increase as the total number of steps (walked) increases. If you are healthy and well-trained, there is no upper limit for walking. People who are just starting, or those with heart or joint diseases, need to be careful about the duration (and distance) of walking.
Walk After Meals: Short walks (5-10 minutes) after meals improve insulin sensitivity and help in sugar control and weight management.
Take Walking Breaks During Office Hours: Prolonged sitting may be as dangerous to your health as smoking. As per research, doing five minutes of light walking for every 30 minutes of sitting can help offset the harm.
Fitness
The overlooked key to fitness? Strengthening your joints and tendons
Isometric exercises, like planks or lunge holds, require holding a position for an extended period. In these positions, your muscles are firing, but you’re also working on the alignment of the joint and working the tendon to hold that position, says Wulke. Ho adds that while ligaments and joints cannot technically be trained directly like tendons, you can support their health by strengthening the surrounding muscles and encouraging proper movement patterns.
Wulke often programs training days with a mix of goals for her athletes: “high” days for muscle and strength development and “low” days focusing on alignment, isometric holds, and mobility. But most people don’t have enough time to dedicate separate days for joint-specific work. Instead, try integrating these movements into your existing strength training sessions. Consider adding a few sets of isometric holds during your warm-up or as a finisher.
(Is cracking your joints bad for you?)
During your workouts, focus on the eccentric phase of your movements. Slow down and maintain control throughout the exercise to help you ensure proper form. You can also use higher reps and lower weight to reduce the risk of overstressing connective tissues.
Last, Hinson recommends incorporating low-impact exercises such as walking, cycling, Pilates, water aquatics, and yoga. “Taking care of and improving the structures that make the joints stronger and more flexible—it really will pay huge dividends in keeping [people] out of my office and away from injury,” he says.
Fitness
Avoid doing these gym exercises now! Orthopaedic doctor reveals exercises that do more harm; the answers may shock you
Did you know that some popular exercises that we all do at the gym to stay fit and healthy may be doing more harm than good? Dr Venkatesh Movva, an orthopaedic doctor trained in Sports Medicine, sat down with Ranveer Allahbadia for The Ranveer Podcast, where he talked about the exercise one should avoid at the gym. The answers will surprise you.
(Also Read | Ranbir Kapoor ‘decides to clap’ in between his pullups. Guess how Alia Bhatt reacted?)
Avoid doing these gym exercises now!
In the clip shared on The Ranveer Show Podcast Instagram page, with the caption, “Dr Venkatesh on Which Exercises you should Avoid in Gym?”, Ranveer asks Dr Movva which exercises he would recommend gymgoers to avoid as an orthopaedic doctor. He suggested three exercises which are quite popular among gymgoers aiming to get fit, lose weight or stay healthy. According to him, one should not do overhead exercises, deadlifts, and crunches.
Dr Movva stated in the clip, “Overhead, heavy [exercise]. I mean, you can go stretch, but no military press, number one. Number two crunches; avoid them. Number three, deadlifts. (sic)” To this, Ranveer replied, “So, I’d replace the military press because it’s for the anterior delts with just front raises.” As an alternative, Dr Movva suggested people to ‘bend down’ during such exercises. “You can go bend down, raise it [weights], rather than overhead (sic),” he said.
While Ranveer, a fitness enthusiast himself, said that he would replace crunches with planks, Dr Movva suggested ‘planks and bridges’.
Lastly, for why one should avoid deadlifts, an exercise you must have seen many celebrities doing at the gym and fitness influencers pushing their followers to include in their routine, the orthopaedic doctor said, “I see more injuries than benefits with the deadlifts. If you are really well-trained and have a good muscle balance, do it. But if you are trying to get better, that’s one thing you may want to avoid. Because the risk of injury is very high. There are so many other exercises that you can compensate without doing these things.”
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
Fitness
Woman who shed 54 kg shares 7 back and bicep exercises that helped transform her body
Carrying excess fat in your back and arms can cause health concerns for many. Sorting out this issue is important, not just for how you look, but also for your general health and ability to move around easily. If you are on a weight loss journey and looking for exercises to help you target these areas, worry not. We have found seven exercises to help you develop and tone your back and bicep muscles. The routine was shared on Instagram by Meredith Hutson, who shed 120 lbs (approximately 54 kg) naturally. Check out the exercise that helped her transform her body.
(Also Read | Avoid doing these gym exercises now! Orthopaedic doctor reveals exercises that do more harm; the answers may shock you)
Back and bicep workouts to try
In the video, Meredith suggested exercises like the Smith machine or barbell mid-grip rows, outer curl into Zottman curl, cable rear delt fly, straight arm pulldowns, reverse seated rows, cable hammer curls, and cable lat pulldowns. She also demonstrated how to do each exercise in the clip and showcased modifications she added to make the routine effective.
The fitness influencer also had an inspiring message for those trying to lose weight or tone their muscles. She said, “Nobody saw my potential the way that I did…” Check out the exercises.
According to Meredith’s video, each exercise targets different areas in your back and biceps. Talking about the Smith machine or barbell mid-grip rows, she said that the exercise targets your ‘middle back for a balanced development’. For the Zottman curl, she modified the exercise by adding an outer curl, which helped her target the long head of her biceps and forearms.
While the cable rear delt fly exercise (a personal favourite of the fitness coach) targets the real delts, upper back muscles, traps and rhomboid, the straight arm pulldown helps work out the rhomboid and ‘big muscles’ on the back, thus helping create the V shape.
As per Meredith, the reverse seated rows also target the rhomboid along with the traps, biceps, rear delts, and the ‘main muscle in our backs that helps us in doing pulling movements’. Lastly, the cable hammer curls work the entire upper arms ‘focusing on the front of the arms and the outside of the forearm’, while the cable lat pulldowns target ‘lats, rhomboid, traps, and biceps’.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
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