Beginner Fast Walking and Running to Lose Weight By Beth Reid At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Walking may not be rocket science. I mean we do it every day so easing into a fast walking program may sound a little strange. That is unless you are talking about a walking program to lose weight which is what fast walking is in the first place. It is walking with intention of burning fat. You can then transition into jogging and turn up the intensity even further.

Most of the walking we do is out of necessity and not out of action to reach a goal. A goal that can be reached by fast walking is losing weight. For that kind of walking you need a specific plan of action and possibly a plan that includes a buildup. Depending on your fitness level you may or may not be able to jump right into some serious activity that is required to burn fat. It is far better to err on the side of caution than to jump right in only to get injured and out of action while you heal. Part of the challenge in doing something like losing weight is getting up the motivation to get started. Losing the ability to keep going once you start due to an injury can be devastating.

With injury prevention in mind make sure you get in a good warm up before beginning a fast walking or jogging program. This is often overlooked when doing something as simple as fast walking but it is none the less important. A nice simple slow walk can be all you need to get warmed up. That and a little stretching can also help out. Make certain when stretching not to bounce and just do a continuous effort stretch. Bouncing when stretching can lead to muscle and tendon tears and sprains.

To get into a fast walking or a running program begin in the first few weeks just doing a quick 30 seconds of the intensity level you are trying to reach (either running or fast walking) for every 4 to 5 minutes of normal walking. Keep in mind that you do not have to use a stopwatch to get exact times of fast walking or running in this phase. Just use the numbers to give you an idea of what to do in the first few weeks.

After a few weeks you can start transitioning into walking for a few minutes followed by the same number of minutes of high intensity fast walking or jogging. If it is too much just dial the time of high effort back to a couple of minutes with an extra minutes of walking to catch your breath. Continue this for a few weeks. In this manner of slowly building up the intensity level you are adding work as your body adapts and can handle it.

After a few more weeks you can start to tip the balance of effort over to the high intensity exercise. What this means is that you will start running or fast walking for 3 or 4 minutes while walking for 1 or 2 minutes. In this manner you are getting closer to a full run. Eventually you will be able to do the high intensity for a full 20 or 30 minutes continuously. If you are at a fast walk level at this point you can then use the same method to increase to a jogging level and really turn on your fat burning fire.

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