Walking is a very basic exercise, we do it every day. But by putting some intention into walking for exercise, you can lose weight, feel more energetic, and improve your health! All that’s needed is some walking shoes! Are you ready for the challenge?
Just start
If you are a beginner, start slow and build up your time and distance. You don’t have to power walk four miles a day to be considered a walker! Aim for 15 minutes at first and increase a couple minutes per day. By the end of your 30 day challenge you should see great improvements in your endurance level!
Make your walk work for you
Pick the time of day that works best for your schedule. Whether morning, noon, or evening, SCHEDULE your walk into your daily to-do list for the next 30 days! Does after supper work? Are you an early bird and have time to walk before work? You don’t have to walk at the same time every day either, mix it up!
Decide on where you will walk. Do you like walking outside? Inside? On a treadmill? Do what you like best! Or a combination of places! Pick what is going to work for you and what you will be able to stick with! I prefer walking outside when I can but also have a treadmill for cold or rainy days. If you don’t have access to a treadmill and you want to walk indoors, many schools and malls will allow walkers at certain times of day.
Having a plan of where and when you are going to walk will help you stick to this challenge. You might be tempted to skip your walk if you wake up to bad weather and you don’t have an indoor walking plan.
Enjoy your walk
Your walk will be something you start to look forward to and you won’t want to go without! Walking just makes you feel better. It can help reduce stress, lift your mood, help you sleep better, and even boost your creativity by 60%!
Sometimes its great to take a walk alone just to clear your head, and other times you might want to invite a friend or family member along with you as a time to connect! While walking alone I love to listen to music, a podcast, or just enjoy nature!
Chart your progress
You can chart your progress in a variety of ways. You can either keep track of your minutes walking or distance walked. The easiest way would be to time your walks using a watch or your phone if you are tracking the time walked. When you’ve completed your walk, jot down the time and/or distance you walked or simply check off that YES you walked today. My hope is that as you go through your 30 day challenges, you will discover a tracking process that keeps you accountable, is easy for you, and that you enjoy!
Do you have a fitbit? They make a great tracking device. Also, most phones have apps that can
keep track of your walking time and distance. RunKeeper will keep track of your route, distance, & time. I like using this app to see how long my different routes around town are and approximately how long they take me to complete. When I only have 20 minutes for a walk, I know which route I should take.
Another app I use while walking is sweatcoin (join here!) Sweatcoin is an app that pays you for walking outside. It doesn’t track your indoor steps. You earn “sweatcoins” which can be redeemed for rewards. You can also spend your sweatcoins to help crowdfund charitable causes!
I also use an app called achievement (found here in the app store and here on google play) Achievement also has a desktop version myachievement.com. This app keeps track of point earned for healthy activities. It runs in the background and syncs information with other apps such as Apple Health, Fitbit, MyFitnessPal, and RunKeeper. It also has surveys and studies you can complete for points. Once you reach 10,000 points, you can cash out for $10.00.
Time to get walking!
I wish you the best on your new 30 day challenge, please let me know if you have any questions or just need some motivation!
P.S. Don’t forget to do some stretches for your legs after your walks!
How did your challenge go?
What were your results? Will you continue your daily walks? Did you see an improvement in your endurance level? Let me know in the comments below!