I talk with people about walking every day, and I often hear them say things like,
“I need to get out and walk.”
“I need to walk more.”
When I hear these comments, I scratch my head. I think to myself, “Aren’t you already walking every day?”
Walking is in the top five first things we do every morning. Turn off the alarm, rub our eyes, look at our phones, put feet on the floor, and then walk.
It’s as if “walking” were like swimming, running, or rowing. It’s not. These activities require special shoes, locations, and equipment. Walking simply requires you to get up and go.
I think what people are saying when they state they need to walk is that they feel they need to designate a certain time or place every day to walk. They feel that they need to obey the “get more exercise” rules and commit to an exercise plan.
Here’s the secret to daily exercise–walking.
Walking doesn’t require a regiment, special equipment, or locations. Certainly, you can have those things, but they aren’t required.
What is required to walk? Your willingness or ability to put one foot in front of the other. Once you have that, you can walk anywhere, anytime.
Rather than thinking you need to set 45 minutes aside in the morning or the evening (which would be great, by the way), instead add walking to your everyday patterns.
- Park further from the front door and walk the balance of distance.
- Get off the bus/subway two stops sooner and walk the rest of the way.
- Take the stairs for one more flight.
- Walk your kid to school rather than drive.
- Have a walking meeting.
- Rather than meeting friends for a cuppa, meet for a walk.
- Borrow a friend’s dog and take it for a walk.
- Do the 1-mile radius challenge, and discover places you never knew existed nearby.
- Rather than drive by your mailbox pick up on your way home from work, park your car then walk back to get your mail.
If you were to pick just 4 of these items, you’d add a good 30 minutes to your daily movement every day.
Built-in walking, like the list above, doesn’t require you to find extra time in your day or designate a special exercise schedule. It simply requires an awareness of the walking opportunity and your ability to put one foot in front of the other a bit more often.
Which item will you do today? Do you have suggestions of any other ways to walk just a bit more today? What’s your secret to daily exercise?
Chris Englert, the Walking Traveler, believes walking is the platform for life. Wanderlusting since the age of 5, she’s since traveled all 50 US states and 62 countries. Chris shares her love of walking while traveling via blogs, books, and presentations. A natural storyteller, she invites you along as she explores the world, one walk at a time.
Currently, Chris and her husband, Steve, travel the world, full-time as nomads, with just their two carry-ons. They’ve been traveling since May, 2021.