Walking For Exercise

With today's sedentary culture, many of us sit behind a desk or use our spare time as a couch potato exercise, watching a sitcom or listening to music. Video games and surfing the net can fill in a lot of hours and before you know it, the day is done. All of these activities may serve to stimulate the mind, but they don't offer a lot in the way of keeping fit. Striking a balance between stimulating our minds and maintaining our health can be tricky, but necessary to a healthy lifestyle. An all around fitness program may be as simple as a consistent walking for exercise program.

The fast pace of life that we all endure invites a lack of exercise and slowly going to pot physically. The temptations of the media combined with little available leisure time tends to be a trap for most of us. It's easy to excuse ourselves, with all the mundane obligations that life imposes. It's true that we have little time for leisure and we want to spend that time in pleasurable pursuits. Nonetheless, we can't ignore the fact that the sedentary lifestyle takes its toll on the general health and fitness we might otherwise enjoy.

Is Walking for Exercise better than Running?

It takes little effort and a short window of time spent in exercising our bodies to make big gains in longevity and a vigorous, strong body that will see us through to an old but enthusiastically enjoyed life time. A walking for exercise program, practiced on a daily basis can add years to your life. Walking is as simple as tying your shoe, yet many of us don't even consider taking the time to put a walking for exercise program in place. Walking is also less stessful for your knee joints than jogging, especially if you're carrying an extra few pounds.

Along with swimming and bicycling, walking for exercise is one of the best workouts you can give your body. Every muscle is engaged, benefiting from the simple movements of 'keeping on keeping on'. When you're walking for exercise, the entire body is called to duty, arms swinging, legs moving, abdominal muscles called to perform and heart rhythms adjusted to an active mode you won't experience on the couch.

When you think about it, you can easily tailor a personal walking for exercise program exactly to your circumstances. If you live in the city, your program may dictate an afternoon walk through the park or around the block in your neighborhood. If you're out in the country, you might spend an hour wandering the roads or venture down to the creek. The main point of any walking for exercise program is to walk!

Walking for exercise is one of the easiest ways to keep your body fit and trim. Designate an hour each day to devote to a walking program, and you'll soon reap the rewards. You'll find the longer you continue your daily walk, you won't feel right if you miss a day.

Article by S.R. Harrison an independent writer for Healthy Help Files on Fitness and Exercise Issues.

Fitness and Exercise Links....