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54 WALKING INTO A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE COVID RECOVERY Part 3 You are clear and back to normal and you have decided to start taking up walking "congratulations" all you need now is a structured program and you are on your way. Firstly ask yourself "why" are you doing this? And most importantly what will you get from this? The health benefits of walking: • Increased cardiovascular and pulmonary (heart and lung) fitness. • Reduced risk of heart disease and stroke. • Improved management of conditions such as hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, joint and muscular pain or stiffness, and diabetes. • Stronger bones and improved balance Before commencing on your new journey you need a clear goal that you want to achieve and when you have this you need to give it your full attention, As a beginner, you should focus on using good walking posture and technique as you steadily build your walking time. Brisk walking for 30 minutes per day, totaling 150 minutes per week, is recommended by health authorities to reduce your health risks for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other conditions. Nonetheless, walking is just fun and peaceful. Overview Now that you have decided "Why" and "What" this four (4) weeks program will put you onto a better path to better health. Brisk walking for a total of five hours per week is associated with maintaining weight loss and even greater health benefits. For this reason, you should build up to walking for an hour a day, most days of the week. You can build a walking habit by walking at least five days per week and tracking your walks. If you have an ongoing health condition, talk to your doctor before starting any new exercise program. I believe tracking your walks will help as it becomes competitive and you will soon realise that you need to hit your target each time when your out walking, and if you don't hit your target you'll be pretty annoyed with yourself. Right if you're ready to start, let's go. If you're starting for the first time you need to be checking and correcting your walking posture, you also need to make sure you're wearing comfortable clothing/ wet gear at the ready and comfortable footwear before setting off. Once you start walking, walk easily before picking your pace up, plan your walk before you leave your home and tell someone where you're going and how long you'll be out for. Week 1 Start with a daily 15 - minute walk at a relaxed pace. Walk five days the first week. You want to build a pattern, so consistency is important. Spread out your rest days, such as making day 3 a rest day and day 6 a rest day. Weekly total goal: 60 to 75 minutes. Week 2 You will need to add five minutes a day so you are walking for a total of 20 minutes, five days a week. On week 2 if you're feeling good and you need to add extra time on you can and record this result on your page. Weekly total goal 75 - 100 minutes followed by 2 rest day. Week 3 Another week Congratulations, this week you need to add five minutes a day so you are walking for 25 minutes, five days a week, with 2 rest days Weekly total goal: 100 to 125 minutes. Week 4 Welcome to your last week and congratulations if you got this far, if you haven't reached week four it's not the world of the world, please just refocus yourself and start it again, clear mindset and have that finish line in your sights and the very best of luck. Congratulations your last week, you need to add five minutes a day to walk for 30 minutes, five days a week and two rest days Weekly total goal: 125 to 150 minutes During the four weeks "walking into a healthy lifestyle" if you did find a week that you found difficult instead of moving on repeat that week again till you are comfortable walking for that length of time. Once you reach your 30 minutes walk at a comfortable pace you are ready for different variations of workouts, adding more intensity and endurance. Again make sure you structure your plan before moving out, this will help you reach your goals, and why not push yourself that you can walk that Marathon or charity walk that everyone talks about. By Sgt Thomas Deveraux DFPES, DFTC

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