“Walking is the best form of exercise you can do because it’s easily accessible; there are low barriers to entry in terms of things like cost, equipment and skill requirements,” walking expert and University of Alabama professor Dr Elroy Aguiar tells me.
As a fitness writer, I agree, which is why you’ll often find me writing about the many mental and physical benefits of a brisk stroll. The more people I can persuade to spend a little extra time on their feet, the better.
Off the back of these articles, I’ve had several people tell me how they already hit the heralded 10,000 steps a day. It’s an arbitrary target, scientifically speaking, but not a bad goal on the whole. Of course, hitting your step count is to be applauded, and will create a solid base level of health and fitness, but the whole point of laying strong foundations is to build on them when you have the chance.
“Walking 10,000 steps a day is a good starting point, but ideally we want people to progress [from here] and start to engage in exercise beyond just walking, such as moving on to other forms of moderate-vigorous exercise that elevate your heart rate and oxygen consumption as well,” says Dr Aguiar.
With this in mind, and new year’s resolutions front of mind, here are three next steps you can take to further your fitness beyond walking 10,000 steps a day.
Strength training
The pay-off from a couple of strength training workouts per week is huge. Not only can you build muscle, but you can also strengthen your bones, ligaments and joints to reduce your risk of injury, improve your body composition (your ratio of muscle to fat) for a leaner physique, increase your mobility and even pump up your heart health. Millions, myself included, swear by its ability to boost your mood too.
It’s no wonder the NHS activity guidelines say adults should aim to “do strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups on at least two days of the week”, alongside 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise (ie. walking) or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity.
But these strength training workouts don’t have to mean an hour-long trip to the gym. It could be as simple as getting your fitness fix at home with bodyweight exercises like press-ups and squats, or investing in a couple of dumbbells, resistance bands or a single kettlebell to upgrade your training options.
If you’re short of ideas, this three-move kettlebell workout and kettlebell training tips from legendary strength coach Dan John are the perfect place to start.
