Walking steps to better fitness

Walking the walk

Being the non-conformist that I am, even though I have free use of a gym as part of my apartment block, I am so not used to the regimented use of gym equipment much as I would love to begin to sculpt aspects of my physiology.

I have biked, cross-trained, rowed, walked, pulled weights, lifted weights, done crunches and much else, but there is no fun in enclosed places with you alone as the motivator.

Instead, I decided to take to walking around Manchester, this is strange because I normally use a cane, yet if I wear trainers and walk quite briskly, the need for a cane is somewhat obviated.

Walk, I must

The situation is that the normal walking pace, the formal shoes and my gait, whatever that is, somewhere between a dawdle and a catwalk goes to my lower back with excruciating pain, I have at times had my much lighter partners stand on my back just to ease the pain.

Then, I cannot run because there is just not enough cushioning in whatever shoes I choose to wear to take the impact of my feet hitting the ground, I have always suffered from medial tibial stress syndrome (shin splints), so walking, it is.

Walk the steps

I have been walking for anything between 90 minutes and 2 hours, enough to break sweat and get my heart racing, all of which I think is healthy and useful.

Then, I found an App on Google Play called StepWalk Pedometer, that allows me count my steps by recording the vibrations of my feet hitting the ground as well as charting the course of walk. Since I started using the App, I have averaged 7,500 steps daily, and the most I have done is over 11,000 steps in the space of just under 2 hours.

In the process, I am discovering Manchester and getting to see interesting places, some of which I would cover in subsequent blogs.

Walk for sights or by nights

The good thing is if I do decide to walk in the daytime, I have use the canal towpaths, however, at night when I have done most of my walking, I have to keep to well-lit roads and well away from cemeteries before my wildly vivid imagination gets the better of me.

I think walking is a good thing, the kilograms are not falling off like bricks, but there is some noticeable effect, I am sleeping better, resting well, I don't get tired that easily and with a diet that has slightly changed to eliminate excess and appreciate more natural things, it would take time, but the journey to a healthier me has already begun, one step at a time.