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6) Use a comfortable stride.
When walking, especially walking fast, very long steps will bring the
pelvis into excessive rotation, and it will take more time to bring your
body over the front foot before taking the next step. The exact length
should be determined by your leg length and hip joint flexibility. If in
doubt, take slightly shorter but faster strides rather than long ones.
7) Keep your trunk erect at all time.
Do not lean forward from the waist or from the feet as is sometimes
recommended. When you lean forward, it requires extra muscle
contractions to maintain your balance.
8) Push off with ankle-joint
extension. The actual push-off should consist of very strong ankle
(but not knee) extension. If you completely straighten the push-off leg,
you will be taking too long a stride. Concentrate on the ankle-joint
action rather than knee-joint extension during this phase.
9) Adjust your arm stride to your
walking speed. When walking slowly, keep the arms relaxed but fairly
straight. When walking fast, bend the arms about 90 degrees at the
elbow. Doing this cuts the swing lever in half, enabling you to move the
arms twice as fast as when they're straight. In this way your arms will
move back and forth in synchronization with the legs.
10) Land on the heel first, then
roll to the ball-toe area. As you move through the stride, the whole
foot should come in contact with the ground so the knee can flex to help
absorb some of the landing force.
11) Warm up. Start off walking
slowly and gradually increase your speed. If you wish, after a 5-7
minute warm-up, gently stretch the major muscle groups of the body,
especially the legs.
12) It's not for everyone. Most
bodybuilders can benefit from fitness walking, but if you have existing
joint or foot problems - or you develop them after you try fitness
walking - consult your physician. You might need to slow down, find
softer surfaces or water walk.
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