16 Nov 04
29 Sep 07

I was always shy, introverted, and analytical.  I had bad posture.  I bounced when I walked.  
So I became an engineer.  And sat at a desk all my working life.  And got a potbelly.  And
then, after retiring, and after turning seventy, I discovered how to walk.  Now the potbelly is
gone, I no longer bounce when I walk, and I feel great.  How, you say.  I'm glad you asked
because that is what this article is all about.  There are two parts to the process –
procedure and posture.  First the procedure:

Maintaining good health is all about a good diet, physical exercise, mental exercise, and a
good nights sleep.  Walking is a very good way to insure adequate physical exercise.  You
should do it daily or at least 3 times a week for the rest of your life, as follows:
  1. For starters, select a 2 mile course that is about an eighth of a mile from your house.  
    Check the mileage with your car.  You can later add many other courses to add
    variety.  The essential points are that you want about an eighth of a mile to stretch out
    and warm up your muscles, a 2 mile main course, and another eighth of a mile or so to
    cool down while keeping your muscles stretched out.
  2. Re 2 miles, if 2 miles is too much for you, start the process at 1 mile and then when
    you feel up to it, change to 1 mile 2 times a day, and later to 2 miles 1 time per day.  
    Conversely, when you get so old that you can no longer do 2 miles, drop down to 1
    mile twice a day and carry on.  Etc.
  3. Walk out your front door, assume the posture (as described later), walk slow at first
    with a medium stride, then increase your pace and stride slowly so that when you
    arrive at the starting point of the main part of the course you are up to cruising speed
    with a full stride.
  4. Regarding stride, you want a long stride in order to stretch your leg muscles over a
    good portion of their range.  Do this during cruising and cool-down, except when
    encountering hills.  There you may have to change gears to a smaller step, and/or a
    slower pace, in order to not overtax your heart, lungs, or leg muscles, or to not
    overheat.
  5. Re overheating, don’t do it.  Slow down when needed.  Drink water as needed.
  6. Re dehydration, drink all the water your body desires, before, during and after the
    walk.  Don’t hold back.  (Well, maybe you should hold back some before the walk,
    otherwise the water will slosh around inside you belly when you walk.)  If you are
    sweating a lot, use Gatorade instead of water in order to replenish your salts.
  7. Re breathing, take long deep breaths, long to inhale and long to exhale.  Say 3 to 5
    steps to inhale and 3 to 6 steps to exhale.  Going up hill requires faster breathing than
    walking on the flat.  Deep breathing will pump up your chest which abets good
    posture.  Shallow breathing is not good; use the full extent of your lungs.  Breathing
    with your diaphragm is better than breathing with your ribs.  Also use deep breathing
    when you go to bed - say 3 sheep to inhale and 4 sheep to exhale.
  8. Re arm swing - straight forward and straight aft.  Or whatever...
  9. In the beginning don’t worry about speed.  Go slow.  Just walk the miles.  Survival is
    all that counts here.  Do not walk fast!  You don’t want to end up with sore muscles or
    worse yet blistered feet.  
  10. Re blisters, if you think you might be getting a blister, you are getting a blister.  At the
    first opportunity, drain the blister, if applicable, and put mole skin or wide medical tape
    on it.  Put on an ample size so that it will transfer the load to healthy skin.  It will take 2
    weeks of proper care to get rid of the blister but if you keep it drained and taped up
    you will probably be able to walk on it the whole time.
  11. After you walk for 3 days in a row without any problems, increase your speed a bit
    each day until you work up to a medium pace.  Don’t rush your progress; after all you
    are in this for a lifetime, so why rush it.  
  12. After several days at medium speed and zero aches and zero blisters, break out your
    watch and time your 2 mile transit time at this medium pace.  Now that you are through
    the break-in period, you may notice that you feel a bit better, less tired.  
  13. Next you want to increase your speed slowly over several days or weeks until you are
    at a fast pace, a little better than 3 mph, or less than 40 minutes for the 2 miles, for the
    average person.  Hikers and back packers walk at an average of 3 mph on the flat.  If
    you feel that 3+ mph is too fast for you, that's OK, walk at what you feel is your fast
    pace.  If you have any aches, slow down but finish the miles.  Always do the miles
    regardless of how slow you have to go, whenever possible.  Do your fast pace for a
    week or 2 before…
  14. The last-and-forever-after phase is to occasionally walk at your maximum speed.  This
    amounts to around 4 mph, or 30 minutes for the 2 mile course, for the average hale
    youngish person.  (As a point of reference, "speed walkers" go 3.5 to 5.5 mph and
    "race walkers" go 5 to 9 mph.  See:                                                                                  
    http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/hl/fit/card/speedwalking.jsp )                  
    You may not be able to do 4 mph but don’t worry about it.  Just do your best without
    killing yourself.  To get to your maximum speed you will have to push yourself.  This
    will involve some sweat and elevated heart rates for most people.  Check with you
    doctor if you have any concerns.  I recommend that you alternate between maximum,
    medium, and fast. Say maximum effort one day and then medium the next (to recover)
    and then fast the next (to prepare) and then back to maximum the next.  By the time
    you get to your ultimate maximum speed, you should feel a noticeable improvement in
    your health – more energy, more vitality, and a feeling of well being.  You will probably
    also have lower at-rest blood pressure and triglycerides too.
  15. After you get to your maximum speed its up to you to regulate your routine.  I
    recommend walking every day or at the very least 3 times a week.  Walk at a
    maximum pace at least once a week, more if possible; walk fast between times.  
    Maybe throw in a medium once in a while as a treat, if you can stand to go that slow.
  16. Finally the cool-down – When you finish the 2 mile course reduce you pace to slow
    but maintain your stride in order to keep your muscles stretched out as they cool
    down, otherwise they may knot up.  You might also want to throw in a little swagger as
    you cool down – you’ve earned it, and it helps you to loosen up.
  17. Maintain your posture throughout until you walk into the house and close the door.
  18. Re when to walk - just before a meal is best or one or more hours after.  I like to walk
    just before breakfast in the summer time and just before lunch in the winter time.
  19. Re walking on dirt trails, wear boots with good ankle support and good traction.  Wear
    fat wool socks over thin socks, preferably polypropylene to wick away the sweat.  You
    will probably have to get boots 2 sizes larger then your street shoes in order to allow
    room for the fat socks plus some toe room for walking down hills.
  20. A rule of thumb that backpackers use to estimate hiking time is that it will take 1 hour
    for every 3 miles plus an extra 1 hour for every 1000 feet of elevation gain.  
  21. Re boots, heavy boots, aside from being sturdier, give you more exercise per mile
    than lightweight ones but they take longer to break in.  (I use light weight boots.)  
  22. Re hills, trim your toenails or else you may have a painful time walking downhill.
  23. Re shoe inserts - I recommend you use SuperFeet insoles.  They help foot to leg
    alignment and provide good arch support.  


And now for the posture –
  1. Rotate your hips a little to straighten out your spine a little.  This will also cause your
    knees to bend a little which is what we want.  (By keeping a little bend in the knees as
    you walk you will bounce much less.)  It will also cause your stomach to flatten a little,
    witch is also what we want.
  2. Allow your head to float up to its highest possible height so that you are quite erect.
  3. Allow your shoulders to relax and assume a natural position, then bring them back
    some by pinching your shoulder blades together a bit.
  4. Finally: stomach in, chest out.

After you get used to this posture, you will find that just holding your head up as high as it
will go will induce a chain reaction: your whole body will straighten up and assume the
position.  In the beginning you will have to continually check you posture to make sure that
your head is as high as it can possibly go, say every several seconds.  After a while you
will only have to check and correct your posture every few minutes.  Finally, after a long
time, it will be burned into your brain and your muscles and then your subconscious will
take care of your posture without conscious thought.  

That’s the posture.  A little rigid but quite effective.  And it commands "respect" too.  Once
while I was out walking, a construction worker actually stopped working, came to attention,
and saluted me.  It's good while brushing your teeth.  Its good for standing at bars - less
tiring than slouching.  Men, ladies love flat bellies (more accurately, they hate potbellies).  
And ladies, now that I think of it, men do not like pot bellies on women either.  So people,
make walking with good posture a part of your daily routine, and do it for the rest of your
lives.

Keep your head up high.
Look life in the eye.
And smile a lot.

Nick
How To Walk
By Nick Kluznick