Yes. Walking. As in, using your legs to move from one place to another.
Running is a great form of exercise. There’s even some suggestion that our bodies evolved to make running our optimal form of movement. Thing is, while you may have been born for it, odds are you haven’t lived for it. Try to run a few laps around the block as your first exercise on day one, and you’ll either hurt yourself or end up exhausting yourself to the point that you can’t do much else. Either or both of those are likely to kill any motivation you have worked up.
So, walk instead. Keep up a brisk pace, fast as you can, long as you can. If you need to slow down, do that. The idea is to get the blood flowing and the rest of you moving. If you’re out there, that’s already a massive improvement compared to being in your chair. While you’re at it, you’re also getting used to some exertion without shocking yourself, and giving your heart and lungs that little extra to do. You’ll be able to put that to good use later when you up the intensity.
There are plenty of good tracking apps available for most mobile platforms which you can use to track your walks. It’s a good idea to do this, especially if you have a competitive streak. Having a history of the distances you walked and the times it took you lets you play against yourself. Can you beat yesterday’s time? Can you go further?
Remember to observe common sense and safety when you’re walking. Avoid unhealthy or unsafe environments – marching down next to your local illegal toxic refuse dumping area or along an interstate is hardly going to help your health. If you walk at night or very early in the morning, make sure you wear clothing which makes you clearly visible.
If you can’t find a good time or place to walk, remember that walking is first of all a method of getting from place to place. If you can walk to a place instead of driving, try that. Work it into your habits.
Some of us are very partial to stairs, and if you can make yourself use them instead of taking elevators, you’ve just given yourself a good chunk of exercise in your daily routine.
Walking up stairs places more effort on the body – particularly the heart – than walking level, and it’s basically a repetitive sequence of knee raises. Doing that Rocky thing when you get to the top is entirely optional and is an exercise that will be left for the reader. Walking down stairs doesn’t produce much of a difference that we noticed. Inclines work much the same way, although the effect is usually much milder, so keep this in mind if you’re planning a route.
Oh and obviously, no fooling around on the stairs.
Header image: Vincent Van Gogh’s “Saint-Rémy – Road with Cypress and Star“, 1890 Afternoon Walk © Pedro Ribeiro Simões Rocky jogging up stairs from Rocky Balboa (2006) © MGM, Columbia Pictures, Revolution Studios