Daily walking instead of medications!

Folk wisdom, which came to us through many centuries from our great-grandfathers, has always guided us on the right path. Numerous Proverbs and sayings with their succinct phrases they always gave us correct, time-tested advice. Today we will remember one such saying. As our ancestors used to say: “Daily walking instead of taking medicine cures all diseases!».

So, why is it useful? walking, and how does it affect our health and longevity? Walking is a universal exercise. Anyone can do it independently, regardless of:

1. a) age,
2. b) gender,
3. c) physical fitness,
4. d) and health status.

Already 4-5 year old children are able to walk 5 km or even more, while making short (1-2 min) rest stops every 500 m. The speed reaches 3 ~ 3.5 km/h. At the same time, the child’s body experiences a beneficial tonic effect.

The role of walking in the life of an adult is no less important. Systematic exercises allow you to maintain good health, high performance, clarity and mental acuity for many years.

When walking you must follow correct posture and gait. The back should be straight, the stomach should be tucked, the shoulder blades should be slightly pulled together, the neck should be straight. The heels are placed on the same line, the toes are slightly turned out. The “push” leg is fully straightened at the knee and ankle joints, while the “supporting” leg smoothly “rolls” from heel to toe. American experts recommend imagining that a stretched cord emerges from the middle of the chest at an angle of 45°, which pulls the student up and forward. This helps to adopt correct posture without additional effort, promotes significantly easier and free breathing, and even improves mood and emotional background, and reduces fatigue.

Dress You need warmth, comfort and lightness. It is best to walk in a woolen tracksuit and a hat that covers your ears. In the rain you can wear a raincoat or raincoat with a hood, in severe frost - a warm coat or sports hat.

Of great importance during a winter walk is correct breathing. When you go out into the cold, you must immediately switch to breathing exclusively through your nose. However, in this case, less air will penetrate into the body than through the mouth. Therefore, to avoid shortness of breath, you should walk slowly at first. Gradually, the nasopharynx will begin to allow a large flow of air to pass through, which will increase the pace of movements. It is better to exhale through the nose.

It should be remembered that exhalations during intensive walking should be 2-3 times longer than inhalations. So, if you inhale in 2 steps, then exhale in 4-6 steps.

Before starting training, you should determine duration of the lesson, distance length, speed (pace), rest breaks. In this case, you can follow the walking intensity criteria given in the following table:

Speed can be selected by pulse or heart rate (HR), which should not exceed 130-150 beats/min. This corresponds to accelerated and fast walking. Its duration can be adjusted according to how you feel, continuing the walk only until the “lightness” disappears. It is especially important to dose the load when walking with children. It is necessary to frequently (approximately every 500-1000 m) count the pulse for 10 seconds and ask the children about their well-being and desire to continue moving.

1. in the first week - in 18 minutes 30 seconds;
2. in the second - in 16 minutes 30 seconds;
3. in the third - in 15 minutes.

Starting from the fourth week, walking should alternate with running. Do a 5-minute warm-up beforehand, which includes:

1. stretching of arms, legs and torso;
2. getting up from a position lying on your shoulder blades without using your hands;
3. push ups;
4. walking at a fast pace;
5. jogging;
6. very slow jogging.

Each part of the warm-up lasts 1 minute. The main distance (1.6 km) must be completed by slow walking or jogging for about 5 minutes. The warm-up and final part of the lesson may contain exercises to develop motor skills, coordination, muscle strength of the arms and the entire shoulder girdle.

The following technique will help determine how to increase the load when doing measured walking throughout the year. Using it, first lengthen the walking time, and then increase the speed.

It is necessary to start walking training with an average pace of movement, increasing the load in a certain sequence.

In the first weeks of training, in the middle of the distance you should make a 2-3 minute stop, performing several (8-10) breathing exercises. After 10 weeks, if there are no deviations in your health, you can slightly increase the walking pace and gradually increase the distance to 6 km.

Daily walking and the degree of its load on the body.

Metered walking has several conditional qualification modes:

1. gentle,
2. gentle training
3. and training.

Let's give definitions and analyze each of these modes in more detail...

Gentle mode. Walk at your usual pace at an average speed of 3 km/h for 1 hour with a couple of 5-minute rest stops. After every 2-3 days, the distance is increased by 500 m and, without changing the speed, the duration of the lesson is increased to 1.5 hours. In this case, the pulse should be the same as before the walk.

Training mode. Walk at a speed equal to (or more than) 6 km/h for 1 hour. It is recommended to exercise in the evening, preferably an hour before the last meal or, alternatively, one and a half, preferably two, hours after it, but no later than 2 hours before going to bed.

In bad weather, instead of the usual ones, it is worth finding easier walking routes and significantly reducing the distance.

So, what conclusions Can you and I do from all of the above? Do you want to be healthier, stronger, stronger, more energetic and fresh? And instead of medicines on the bedside table, always have a good mood and excellent health? – try to move more! Do this regularly, outdoors, in any weather; alone, in pairs or in groups. Do it with pleasure, enjoy every walk - and you won’t need any medications for a long time!