Walking for health and fitness is one of the best investments you’ll ever make in your future well-being and happiness. A daily walk can boost your mood, improve your productivity, and take inches off your waistline. The health benefits of walking are numerous but just as important walking is fun! Your walking exercise could soon be the most enjoyable part of your day.
These walking tips cover everything you need to know from how to start walking for exercise to choosing a walking plan for beginners. Find answers to all your walking-related questions and start walking!
10 Walking Tips For Beginners
These walking tips answer the burning questions beginner walkers ask.
1. Start With Short Frequent Walks
Any successful exercise plan must be doable. If you’re a complete beginner, don’t start by walking an hour a day. This could be your eventual goal but you need to build up to walking longer distances gradually.
Start with 10 minutes. For some people walking for 10 minutes is easy, for others, it’s a big challenge. Find your level.
This isn’t a competition. It’s about building on your current fitness level. Start small and you can always walk further the next day.
2. Find The Right Walking Plan
When you exercise it always helps to have a plan. It keeps you motivated when you’re just not feeling it and stops you from getting carried away and doing too much too soon.
Choose from one of our walking plans:
- 6-Week Walking Exercise Plan For Overweight Unfit Beginners: This plan is for complete beginners.
- 21-Day Shed The Pounds Walking Plan For Fat Loss: Aimed at beginners with short walks twice a day.
- Couch To 5K Walking Plan For Beginners: 6 Weeks To Walk 5K: Build up to walking 5K (3 miles).
- 5K Walking Plan For Beginners: Train To Walk Your First 5K: 5 week build up to walk 5K.
- 28-Day Walking Plan For Weight Loss: Shed Pounds And Get Fit: A tougher challenge of daily walking to help you shed weight.
- 30-Day Walking Challenge For Beginners: Get Fit, Lose Weight: Daily walking for fat-burning.
- 9-Week Fat Buster Walking Challenge: Our most popular walking plan. Gradually build up to walking 35 miles a week.
Make sure you choose a walking plan that’s suitable. Not too hard and not too easy!
3. Tips To Walk More
Whichever walking plan you use to start walking, you can always break down the distances into 2 or 3 shorter walks. For example, a 30-minute walk could become a 15-minute walk to work and a 15-minute walk home at the end of the day.
There are many ways to walk more during the day, you just need to look for them:
- Walk to meet friends or carry out local errands.
- Leave the car at home and walk your daily commute.
- Walk in your lunch break.
- Walk to pick up children from school.
Related post: How To Get More Steps In A Day is full of tips for walking more.
4. Walk At A Brisk Pace
Most walking plans ask you to walk at a brisk pace. But what is it?
Brisk walking is when you walk at a pace that’s slightly faster than your typical walking pace. The pace should be enough to raise your heart rate but you should still be able to walk and talk.
Brisk walking pace is typically 3 miles per hour about 20 minutes per mile but everyone’s pace is different. It’s a pace you can comfortably maintain.
Related post: Brisk Walking Pace and Walking Speeds.
5. Walk Even When You’re Sore
When you’re new to walking you’re going to feel a little stiff and sore the next day. That doesn’t mean you need to skip your next walk.
Being a little sore is different from being injured and forced to rest. Muscle soreness will ease off with walking provided you warm up gently and don’t push too hard. Often the best thing you can do for your muscle soreness is take an easy walk. A walk will help get the blood flowing to your muscles and speed up the recovery process.
Related post: 9 Tips for Sore Muscle Relief.
6. Invest In Your Feet
We neglect our feet. We cram them into poorly fitting shoes and some of us have shortened and stiff achilles tendons from wearing high heels.
When you start walking invest in some comfortable walking shoes or trainers. Make sure the shoes have adequate cushioning if you’re walking on hard surfaces both under the heel and the ball of the foot. Choose walking shoes that fit properly giving your toes ample room to spread. You use your toes to power off when you walk and they need space!
7. Dress In Comfortable Clothing
Most people will already own comfortable clothing that’s suitable for walking. If you’re walking in an urban environment you don’t need any specialist equipment, just clothing that’s unrestrictive and won’t get in the way as you walk.
Just make sure you dress for the weather to keep warm and dry.
Related post: 7 Tips To Walk In The Rain
8. Walk Facing The Traffic
Try and plan your walking routes away from traffic by walking in parks or on sidewalks (pavements). Where I live in the countryside it’s not always possible and I find myself walking frequently on quiet country roads.
The recommended way to walk on roads when there isn’t a sidewalk is to walk facing the traffic. In the US that’s on the left-hand side of the road. (On the right-hand side of the road in the UK).
The problems start on country roads with high hedges and tight bends. Some motorists like to cling to the hedge and can give you a nasty fright as they swing around the bend.
The solution is to anticipate the traffic. I cross the road when I approach a tight bend on my side of the road so that I can see approaching traffic (and they can see me). Just make sure you cross at a safe point.
9. Use Bone Conductor Headphones
Many people find walking is a great time to listen to podcasts or their favorite music. It can help you get through the miles on your daily walk and keep to your walking plan. However, you do need to stay safe and stay aware of other people.
Bone conductor headphones allow you to listen in as you walk but still be able to hear other sounds in your environment. They’re essential if you’re walking in traffic but also a good idea if you’re walking in parks and need to be aware of other users such as dog walkers and runners.
10. Hydrate But Not Too Much
You’ll find walking easier if you stay hydrated during your walks and in summer months when the weather is hot, taking fluids with you can be essential.
It’s no longer recommended to drink a target level of fluid when you exercise because of the dangers of over-hydrating. Instead, you should drink to thirst. I find on hot days it’s best to take small sips of water frequently and if you’re thirsty those sips will naturally become longer drinks. This way you should end up drinking enough but not too much.
Related post: These tips for Running In The Heat apply just as much to walking for fitness.
I hope you’ve found these walking tips helpful. This site is packed full of advice for walking for fitness. Find out more about How To Start A Walking Program For Beginners.
