Six Tips to Enhance Your Walking Routine

9/2/2025

Walking is a fantastic way to improve your overall health by lowering blood pressure, aiding in weight loss, strengthening bones and muscles, and improving mental well-being. It’s convenient, cost-effective and low impact. 

However, many people believe that simply walking around the block isn’t enough exercise. The good news is you can transform your neighborhood stroll into a moderate or intense workout. In addition to warming up before and after, here are six tips to make the most of your walks:

1. Engage Your Upper Body – While walking primarily works your leg muscles, you can get a more complete workout by pumping your arms with extra force. This increases aerobic benefits and engages your core and upper back muscles. Swing your arms from the shoulder, keep your elbows bent at 90 degrees, and hold a gentle fist. You can also add arm circles, shoulder rotations or walking poles.
2. Utilize Elevation – Walking uphill or increasing the incline on a treadmill raises your heart rate and works the quads and glutes more. Be sure to maintain an upright posture, rather than leaning forward, to avoid putting too much pressure on your hips and back.
3. Vary the Terrain – Walking on a sandy beach or on a dirt path is more challenging than walking on a flat surface and engages the legs and core as you work to stay balanced. For those looking for even greater intensity, add stairs as part of your routine to utilize additional muscles.

1. Incorporate Interval Training – Interval training involves alternating short bursts of energy to increase the heart rate and muscle action with periods of recovery. After warming up, you can try walking as fast as you are able for 1 minute. Slow down until your breathing returns to normal. Then repeat throughout your walk. As your endurance increases, you can gradually extend the fast pace. 
2. Include Resistance Training – For a more complete workout, stop midway through your walk to incorporate bodyweight exercises, such as lunges, or bring along a resistance band for a quick band circuit. Also, take advantage of one of the many outdoor fitness circuits in the Metro Parks.
3. Extend Your Walk – One of the easiest ways to step up your walk is by extending the time and distance. Begin with a walk you are comfortable with and set a goal to go a bit further and add more steps each day. Once you are at a distance that works for you, try completing that distance in a shorter amount of time.

It is important to begin at a level that is comfortable for you at your current fitness level. Upping your intensity level should be done slowly to prevent injury. Finally, as with any exercise program, consult your physician to determine what is appropriate for you and your individual health condition.