If you’re embarking on this cleansing program because you’ve put your body through the mill with parties and wild living, then vigorous exercise may not be an altogether inviting prospect. And yet physical activity is one of the best ways to help eliminate toxins, while also encouraging health and efficient digestion and raising your vitality levels.
Walking is the perfect activity for those in need of a gentle detox.
Benefits of Walking
Simply being out in the fresh air makes you feel healthier and more energetic, and it gives your mind a workout. It lets you appreciate your surroundings – smell the air, notice colors, listens to sounds - there by taking the focus from your internal life. Walking can help put things into perspective.
According to research, brisk walking for 45 minutes four times a week can result in fat loss of over 8 kilo (18 lb) a year. In the long term, walking can reduce your risk of osteoporosis, strengthen your heart and lungs and reduce levels of LDL (harmful cholesterol) in the blood.
Walking can also improve your fitness as quickly as jogging, with less risk of injury. When two groups of women were studied over 13 weeks, (one on a walking programme, the other on a jogging programme) both were found to have gained the same health benefits, but the walkers had sustained fewer injuries.
The hardest thing to grasp when fitness walking is the pace. If you are used to walking at a gentle stroll, it isn’t easy to know when you’re walking hard enough to give your body a proper workout.
Two Ways to Walk Harder
- Carry light hand weight to exercise your upper body while you walk.
- For increased intensity and more variety, try interval training. Walk at a fast pace for say 400 m, then slow down for the next 200 m. Repeat as many times as is comfortable.
How fast to Walk
Imagine a scale of 1 to 10 for effort: one is very comfortable, ten is extremely strenuous. Aim to work out at about six, so that your body temperature is raised and you feel warm but you are still able to carry out a conversation at the same time.
Amrutam Walking Tips
- Wear supportive shoes.
- Start with a warm up
- Maintain good posture: keep your shoulders back and your ribcage lifted, strike forward with your heel and push off with your back foot.
- Keep your shoulder back and lift your ribs. Pull your abdominal muscles in and think tall. Look forward, not down.
- Listen to your body: increase the pace when you no longer feel challenged: reduce the pace when you feel tried. If you feel slightly breathless but comfortable, you are working at the right level.
- Don’t increase speed at the expense of distance. Walking quickly for five minutes is not as beneficial as walking more slowly for ten.
- At the end of your walk, slow down gradually and repeat your stretching routine.
We also recommend you eat two spoonful of Amrutam Gold Malt to boost your energy and immunity, two spoons in a day with warm milk or water.
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