eFitnessConnection

 

Burn fat faster

Spend less time walking and get faster results with this easy 8 week program.

 

One of the most common complaints we hear from veteran walkers is "I don't see any results". It's very easy to work less hard because walking is such a comfortable, familiar activity. If your goal is to slim down, you need to keep up a faster pace.

For Madeleine Jones, 40, it wasn't until she broke 4 MPH that her body started to respond. "My butt used to hang," says the mother of two from Tampa, Florida, who started walking 4 years ago. "Now it's firm, and my legs are strong and toned".

To understand why Jones shaped up, just do the math. The faster you walk, the more calories you burn. For example, a 60-minute walk at 3 MPH burns 240 calories. (Calculations are based on a 150 lb. person). Speed up to 4 MPH, and you can blast those calories in just 42 minutes. Keep it up for an hour, and you'll burn almost 50% more calories - 364 total. At that pace, walking 5 days per week, you could lose an extra 10 pounds per year.

Those are just the visible benefits. Ramping up your speed trains the heart, lungs and skeletal muscles to use oxygen more efficiently. Researchers at the University of Michigan also found that women who walked at 4.2 MPH for 15 weeks increased their bone density, while those who walked 3.4 MPH saw their bone density decrease.

Results like these ar just a few quick steps away with this 8 week speed-training program The Short & Fast walk. This program teaches your nerves and muscles to react quicker so your legs move faster; the Long and Steady walk progressively builds endurance and trains your body to sustain a faster speed for a period of 30n minutes or even more.

Do each of these speed walks once a week and a moderate-paced walk two to four times per week and soon you will be heading to a healthier body and leaving everybody else behind.

 

 

 

3 Tips for a Faster Walking

Use your toes. Your foot should roll smoothly from heel to toe. Propel yourself forward by pushing off with the toes of your back foot. For a more powerful push-off, drive your toes back and raise the heel as if you were showing a walker behind you the sole of your shoes.

Pump your arms. You will get more drive for each stride if you bend your elbows 90 degrees. Pull your elbow back so your hand is by your hip, then let it swing forward in an arc to about chest height. Don't let your arms swing out to the side; it will slow you down.

Do not overstride. Reaching forward with your front foot slows you down and can lead to a back or hamstring injury. Focus on extending the leg that pushes off behind you, and then pull that leg forward once you finish the push-off.

 

The Burn-Fat-Faster Workout

Do each of these speed walks once a week, allowing at least 2 days between speed sessions for your muscles to recover. Stick to a moderate pace the rest of the week.

Warm Up by walking at an easy pace for 5 minutes; do the same to cool down afterward.

Check Your Pace with a pedometer to track the number of steps you take in 3 minutes, and then divide by 3. If you don't have a pedometer, simply count your steps for 60 seconds. As the weeks pass, you will get a better feel for your speed.

If Your Walking Speed is less than 3.5 MPH (or more than a 17-minute mile), aim for the lower range of steps per minute (SPM) in the chart above. If you walk faster, use the higher end of the SPM range.

 

How Fast are you Going?

To estimate your walking speed, count the number of steps you take per minute (SPM).

120 SPM = 3.0 MPH

130 SPM = 3.5 MPH

140 SPM = 4.0 MPH

150 SPM = 4.5 MPH

155 SPM = 5.0 MPH

 

 

 

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