i walk twice a day. rain, sun, wind, hail, snow - i walk twice a day.
flood, fire, earthquake, tornado - i walk REALLY REALLY fast.
twice a day, without fail.
if i don't, the dog eats my house.
Now THERE'S some motivation!
I should walk more. I have zero desire to run. Not a sports bra in the world that could convince me to try, but that's another discussion. Probably not a good idea for my knees either - ACL replacement in 1, which led to chondromalacia in the other.
For the first ~8 months of my weight loss, my cardio was almost exclusively walking. I loved it. I tried to do C25K a few times, not because I really thought I'd like running (even way back as a child, I LOATHED running), but because I felt like I *should* be able to do it. Silly, and totally the wrong reasons to try it. I quit each time because it made me miserable, and each time I quit I felt like a failure. Then one Saturday I was really angry, and decided I was going to run just to pound out all that anger... and somehow I managed to run the entire 1.6 mile loop through my neighborhood. It felt so good to do something I had believed I couldn't do, and made me want to do more. Now I run pretty regularly because I truly love it (who knew THAT would ever be possible!), but I still do a good amount of walking too.
But I'm posting here to note that I'm not terribly comfortable with other people prescribing the One True Way to exercise. You like to walk and you find it hard enough to be an aerobic workout? Good for you. But I'm not you.
Different strokes for different folks...weird thing is that when I view your opening comment while not logged in it looks like you have an ad for Ascis included in your post.
But I'm posting here to note that I'm not terribly comfortable with other people prescribing the One True Way to exercise. You like to walk and you find it hard enough to be an aerobic workout? Good for you. But I'm not you.
What I'm trying to say here is that most of us here were in terrible physical condition and most of us add exercise to lose weight. We go to the gym, we lift weights. We go from all to nothing. What is the couch to 5k all about? Getting from no fitness to running, but why???
Sure, is there a point in time where walking might not feel hard enough? Maybe, but I know some super fit people who can walk and get their heart rate up to an aerobic level -- a high level, no, but it's doing something.
I posted this because people tend to go to extremes. All or nothing. Is a reminder that moderation and doing Something, like walking is far from doing nothing.
I could say the same thing for gardening.
It wasn't to say we shouldn't run or shouldn't do aerobics or go to the gym. I do those things too, but I'm not going to dismiss walking as exercise either.
i like walking or stat bike best when it comes to exercising.But i can get lazy so I'm in a walk challenge for 10 mins a day but i do at least 30 mins myself
I love a good walk too. I can't run - my right knee is shot and running aggravates it so I stick to walking. Never used to be able to I was sooooo unfit, but now happily route march for miles, lost in thought and with my ipod pumping out good tunes.
What I'm trying to say here is that most of us here were in terrible physical condition and most of us add exercise to lose weight. We go to the gym, we lift weights. We go from all to nothing. What is the couch to 5k all about? Getting from no fitness to running, but why???
Sure, is there a point in time where walking might not feel hard enough? Maybe, but I know some super fit people who can walk and get their heart rate up to an aerobic level -- a high level, no, but it's doing something.
I posted this because people tend to go to extremes. All or nothing. Is a reminder that moderation and doing Something, like walking is far from doing nothing.
I could say the same thing for gardening.
It wasn't to say we shouldn't run or shouldn't do aerobics or go to the gym. I do those things too, but I'm not going to dismiss walking as exercise either.
The people who do Couch to 5k do it because running, itself, is actually a goal or the goal. Running is hard, it requires you to be in great physical shape, especially if you are doing long distance running. Most of us have probably never been able to run or haven't been able to run for some time now so it's just one of those things where you want to push yourself to that point, you want to go from walking to jogging to full on running because it just feels amazing to see that progress.
I don't think many people really discount walking as exercise. Those who do really don't understand exercise in general. The same goes for people who believe they need to hit their exercise routine hard but, again, that's more of an issue with not understanding exercise/health in a broader capacity.
I hope that makes sense because I'm falling asleep over here so I apologize if I didn't get any point across well at all.
tbh, just plain walking doesn't do squat-all for me. i used to walk the dog 10k/day and that was on a twisting, winding, up-and-down country dirt road AND pushing the stroller with a 50lb kid in it the whole way. the only time my heart elevated was going up that flipping hill - it was a grade about a hundred miles long at about a 40deg incline; just *brutal*. past that, it was gravy - coming back, the same hill only heart elevated for completely different reasons: it's very very difficult to control a heavy stroller and a rambunctious dog on an incline going rapidly downhill.
i think the most benefit from walking for me is i'm not eating while i'm doing it, lol.
not really - i really REALLY lived a "country" life: no running water unless i bucketed it from the river to fill up the barrel in the basement; firewood to split on a daily basis; gardening - heavy-duty gardening, not just flowerbeds; shingling the roof; replacing the siding; renovating the bathroom (gutted it to the framing and then cut the wall out of the back of the house - used sit in the bathtub and wave at the ppl canoeing past on the river, lol).
oddly enough, that happened after i left - my mother decided she liked what i'd done to her cottage so much she moved in and we are very not compatible housemates.
but the walking probably did help stop me from killing myself with overwork and stress - that was 2-1/2hrs a day i could just walk and not think about anything (plus there was always a yummy snack along the way in the right season - raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc).
Last edited by threenorns; 03-24-2012 at 03:44 PM.
When I first started losing weight, that's all I did for exercise, long walks with my dogs. Probably all I did for the first 40 lb or so. I still love walking: with my dogs, as transportation to wherever I need to go, etc. but I don't count it as exercise any longer because it would be too easy to decide that's all I need to do that day when I simply need more intense exercise at this point. Now I view my walks not as my day's exercise, but something extra on top of other exercise I do.
I believe it's a great thing for people to begin with, though.
When I first started losing weight, that's all I did for exercise, long walks with my dogs. Probably all I did for the first 40 lb or so. I still love walking: with my dogs, as transportation to wherever I need to go, etc. but I don't count it as exercise any longer because it would be too easy to decide that's all I need to do that day when I simply need more intense exercise at this point. Now I view my walks not as my day's exercise, but something extra on top of other exercise I do.
I believe it's a great thing for people to begin with, though.
I still find that walking is what's working for me as I work off my 1st 10% of fat. Except I don't have dogs I'm slowly transitioning to more intense work-outs, longer walks and c25k, because I believe that will be of benefit to me. Not everyone's built for or has the inclination toward race-walking - although it's great exercise. Also, sometimes i just have to get my errands/jobs done and don't have the time to walk for walking's sake.
At the end of the day, it's all good. Find what you enjoy and do it.
We are lucky enough to live in a planned community and we live in the first neighborhood built, so it's true to the planner's design (later years the plan was strayed from). I can walk and my kids can walk to all the schools - elementary through community college. We can walk to the mall, the library, swimming pools and elsewhere all by sidewalks and paths. We live 100 feet from a lake with a walking path that is about 1.4 miles from our door and back. There also used to be a grocery store, but it went moved out as the parking was too tight, but I can bike ride by paths to another close one.
Just by walking to and from with school pick up. Just from looping around the lake every day has helped so much with fitness and with feeling better.
It's all that movement that will help me from regaining. You don't burn many calories driving to the library and driving kids to and from school every day.
Probably not a good idea for my knees either - ACL replacement in 1, which led to chondromalacia in the other.
I still love walking: with my dogs, as transportation to wherever I need to go, etc. but I don't count it as exercise any longer because it would be too easy to decide that's all I need to do that day when I simply need more intense exercise at this point. Now I view my walks not as my day's exercise, but something extra on top of other exercise I do. 
I'm slowly transitioning to more intense work-outs, longer walks and c25k, because I believe that will be of benefit to me. Not everyone's built for or has the inclination toward race-walking - although it's great exercise. Also, sometimes i just have to get my errands/jobs done and don't have the time to walk for walking's sake.
