Take a Walk on the Wild Side

Yes walking is actually a legitimate workout for guys! But beware, after some time, walkers can become so good at their workouts that your body gets sucked into maintenance mode, and you burn less calories than at the beginning.  Yes, you become too efficient from covering the same ground and speed, day after day and hit the plateau.  What to do?  Trick your body past the plateau by walking at a harder intensity for short bursts and/or spice up your walks with interval training and strengthening moves designed to crank up your calorie burn.  Once you’ve reached your goal, you can resume your regular walking workout or continue with one of the plans that follow.  Always remember to do a three- to five-minute warm-up and cool-down before and after each walk, and remember to rest.

But for those of you who are still too embarrassed to just walk because it doesn’t seem manly enough (like I was) consider taking your walks uphill and hike. Find the trails or roads that lead you up to the top and you’ll get a great workout and work more muscles groups. Poles will give you an upper body workout, too.

Besides weight loss, the following benefits are gained from following this advice:

• maintenance of current body weight

• prevention of obesity

• lowered risk of cardiovascular disease (one study showed that women who walked at least three hours per week cut their risk of heart disease by nearly one-third.)

• helps to regulate blood pressure

• will have lower cholesterol levels

• lowered risk of being dependent on antidepressants in the future

• lowered risk of diabetes (one study showed that risk was cut by one-half in people who combined diet and brisk walking for at least 150 minutes per week)

• lowered risk of osteoporosis