Are you up for a challenge? If you're looking to improve your physical and mental health, Why not try a 30 day walking challenge? Walking is a great form of exercise that has many benefits including weight loss, improved mental health, and reduced stress levels. While it may seem like a daunting task to commit to walking every day for 30 days, we promise it's worth it! Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of walking and how to get started on your own 30 day walking challenge.
Set Goals
Setting a goal to walk for one hour every day for thirty consecutive days presents an excellent way to start getting into shape and increase overall fitness. Being engaged in daily physical activity can have a positive impact on emotional well-being and reduce stress. Walking is an accessible form of exercise that doesn’t require any special equipment—just a pair of comfortable shoes!
Additionally, research has found that even urban settings are beneficial places to walk as they provide exposure to sunlight, improve air quality, and promote socialization.
Making time to incorporate walking into your daily routine is an easy way to start pursuing better health. It may even inspire motivation to take further strides—literally and figuratively—to improved physical functioning!
Track Your Progress
Tracking your progress is an important part of any fitness routine. It allows you to enjoy the progress while also giving you valuable insight into how far you have come and what still needs to be worked on. When it comes to tracking your walks, not only should you note the total distance, but also keep track of how long it took to complete that distance.
By having both metrics, you can observe where your pace and endurance improved over time as well as finding areas for further improvement. This feedback helps ensure a sustainable and dynamic approach towards improving your physical health.
Warm Up Before Every Walk
An often overlooked aspect of walking for exercise is preparing your body beforehand. A few minutes of light stretching before each walk can help to prepare your joints and muscles for activity, it also helps to increase blood flow and decrease the risk of injury. Muscles that are properly stretched become more flexible, and thereby less prone to strain during a workout.
Increasing your range of motion also allows you to reach further with each step, improving both speed and endurance over time. Ultimately, taking just a few moments to warm up before heading out on a walk can make all the difference in having a productive and pain-free experience.
Gradually Increase The Intensity
After the first week of walking, up the ante by increasing your pace and adding hills/inclines to challenge yourself further. This way, you can get the most out of your body's aerobic capacity in terms of improvements in weight loss and overall health.
While it might take some effort to increase the difficulty of your walk initially, over time you'll notice that it has become easier. As such, you should always be testing yourself and not be content with doing the same level of activity too often. Not only will this allow for lasting motivation, but also for healthier challenges that help to keep your process both physically and mentally beneficial.
Additionally Health Benefits
Walking is often touted as an effective exercise to lose weight, but the fact that it can also improve our mental health is just as important. Numerous studies have revealed how regular walking can reduce stress levels and help boost your mood via the release of hormones like serotonin and endorphins.
This means that it might be something you should look into if you are feeling overwhelmed by life or experiencing a lack of motivation and joy. Taking a stroll around the block whenever you need some fresh air and perspective might just do the trick!
Final Thoughts
A healthy lifestyle is a marathon, not a sprint. Rather than trying to meet intense fitness goals day in and day out, take the approach of breaking it up and just committing to staying consistent. Even if there are days wherein you don't feel like getting up and moving, making small decisions such as walking around your neighborhood or doing house chores can add up to something meaningful. It's also important to acknowledge that taking breaks is perfectly normal too – forming a positive relationship with exercise contributes to long-term success! Simply being mindful about keeping activity levels high on a regular basis can make a huge impact on both your physical and mental health.