Robbie Raugh, RN, nutritionist and fitness and wellness expert is with Mercedes Wilson in Delaware Park to talk about the benefits of walking. Robbie says that walking is the new fitness trend. It started during the pandemic. When we were in lockdown people started walking and it has actually been increasing over time and Robbie says the benefits are amazing.
Robbie says walking has all the benefits of cardiovascular exercise, burning fat, utilizing calories, improving your cardiovascular system, sweating toxins out of your body, increasing your energy, reducing your stress, decreasing the aging process and that endorphin high. If you walk one mile you can burn a hundred calories walking at a regular pace and Robbie says you should push yourself a little bit harder, a little bit farther to reach the training effect when you can. She goes on to say, some days you are not going to have energy and some days you are going to have energy and then you have to push yourself, even and interval training is a great way to break through that plateau.
Robbie says, “Our leg strength is directly related to our mortality and if you stop moving your lower body your chances of early death increase so you want to get your steps in. There is wearable technology now that you can track, if fact Strava is an app I use for biking, for walking, running, for whatever I do, rollerblading and that’s a great way to track what you are doing.”
Another tip from Robbie is to wear breathable clothes like dry-fit. It’s something you can sweat in and it’s not going to sweat your outfit. The most important thing is your footwear because whatever happens with your feet affect your entire body.
What about warming up? Robbie says, “People think you should stretch first before you workout and that’s old school people. You do stretch but you stretch after you get done exercising when your muscles are warmer and you can increase the range of motion. A warm-up could be a slower walk or if you are running, you can walk first, you could walk-run but the point is you want to get that blood flowing, you want to help lubricate the joints and everything else. You don’t want to go from bed or running. Stretching on cold muscles is not a good thing because you can get injured.”
Hydration…Robbie says you should drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day minimum out of glass, a stainless steel bottle or a plastic PBA free bottle but you should be drinking during your exercise as well before and after. Robbie says, “Your body tells you what it needs but by the time you begin to feel thirsty you have already started to become dehydrated and dehydration will lower your metabolism to snail pace and so we want to keep our metabolism humming throughout the day.
