S02E02 - Walk with me - The Steps of Delight
The episode discusses the benefits of walking, noting its evolution from a daily to a weekly practice. It highlights the risks of overexertion, emphasizing the need for rest days and electrolyte replenishment to prevent fatigue.
Marko revised the daily step goal from 10,000 to 8,000, advocating for realistic targets. He presents walking as both meditation and exercise, enhanced through bodyweight exercises, rucking, and short sprints.
The key takeaway is that walking is a simple, accessible activity. Starting small, exploring new routes, and adding challenges can improve fitness. The episode encourages listeners to enjoy walking at their own pace and provides practical tips for tracking their progress.
Check these out for more
- Anita DeFrantz Quote
- Walking for Exercise - The Nutrition Source - Cardiovascular Health: Walking improves blood circulation and lowers blood pressure, reducing the risk of heart disease. Weight Management: Walking helps burn calories, aiding in weight loss and preventing obesity.
- 5 surprising benefits of walking - Harvard Health - Bone and Joint Health: Walking strengthens bones, eases joint pain, and reduces the risk of osteoporosis and arthritis.
- How walking benefits the brain - Mental Well-being: Walking boosts mood, reduces stress, and improves cognitive function. It is also linked to better memory and lower depression risks.
- Walking - Wikipedia - Longevity: Walking at least 2,337 steps daily reduces the risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases, and 3,967 steps daily lowers the risk of dying from any cause.
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Transcript
In today's episode I took my microphone on a stroll to talk about walking,
Speaker:because why not.
Speaker:Walking is in many respects the ultimate activity, especially since it aligns seamlessly with
Speaker:what I like to say, don't do nothing, do something and scale it back.
Speaker:So here I am on my walks, can't say daily walks anymore, because these are not daily,
Speaker:but weekly at least, and I'll get back to why the daily walks transformed into a set
Speaker:of weekly walks instead.
Speaker:As I said earlier, I really fell for the walking right after the first try, it sort of brought
Speaker:me so much pleasure afterwards that I wanted to do it again and again.
Speaker:And I would say that for the first few months I did almost daily, which means that I totally
Speaker:ignored the rest days in between.
Speaker:Which is fine in the beginning, because of course the walking speed
Speaker:and effort was not that high.
Speaker:But the more I walked, the faster I started to walk until I got to the level of walking
Speaker:that if you would go any faster you would be running.
Speaker:So at that point the stress on the body was so high that it really required some rest
Speaker:days in between.
Speaker:And there were some weeks that I felt that I had a hangover, a whole week even though
Speaker:I hadn't tasted a drop of alcohol during the time.
Speaker:So lesson number one, remember the rest days.
Speaker:To summarize, rest days are elementary.
Speaker:I initially disregarded them, but later realized the importance of dedicating at least one
Speaker:day a week to simply relaxing or lazing around.
Speaker:And I can also tell from experience that one day is not really enough.
Speaker:You should lazy around more than one day a week.
Speaker:Another insight I had is that after exercising and sweating heavily, it might be a good idea
Speaker:to replenish electrolytes in addition to just drinking water.
Speaker:The benefits are immediate.
Speaker:And when I mention electrolytes concerning exercise, I refer to minerals like sodium,
Speaker:potassium, calcium and magnesium, which we lose through sweating.
Speaker:The good to no corner.
Speaker:Electrolytes are minerals in your body that help control muscle function,
Speaker:hydration and nerve signals.
Speaker:The most common electrolytes include salts, acids and bases.
Speaker:Common examples of electrolytes include sodium chloride, also known as table salt, potassium
Speaker:chloride, calcium carbonate and acids like hydrochloric acid.
Speaker:Electrolytes are crucial for various physiological processes in the human body.
Speaker:They are vital in maintaining proper fluid balance, nerve function, muscle contraction,
Speaker:including the heart muscle, the most important muscle we have, and pH balance.
Speaker:When you exercise, you lose electrolytes through sweat, especially sodium, potassium and magnesium.
Speaker:These minerals are essential because they help your muscles contract properly, keep
Speaker:your heart beating steadily and maintain fluid balance.
Speaker:If you don't replace lost electrolytes, you might feel weak or dizzy and get muscle cramps.
Speaker:Drinking water is essential, it's important.
Speaker:But if you're sweating a lot, particularly during vigorous exercise or in hot conditions,
Speaker:you may also need sports drinks, coconut water or electrolyte tablets to stay balanced and
Speaker:perform your best.
Speaker:The good to no corner.
Speaker:The other one was about the amount of steps per day.
Speaker:Of course it should be more like daily steps that are not related to any training.
Speaker:But my work was a time such that it was mostly sitting on the computer and having those ten
Speaker:thousand steps a day that this imaginarily nice round number was actually possible.
Speaker:So first of all I dropped down my target to eight thousand, which is good
Speaker:and good enough for me.
Speaker:And then I of course achieve that by walking my walks.
Speaker:So that was like a kind of a little cheating, not a daily activity but actual training on
Speaker:my daily basis.
Speaker:And it turned out that many of the days I do the walk I get over ten thousand steps anyway,
Speaker:so I think it's better to have a target that you can achieve rather than not achieving the
Speaker:target than then feeling bad about yourself every time.
Speaker:Regarding daily steps and any other goals as well, the well-known quote by American
Speaker:Olympic rower Anita de France states, "Your goal should be out of reach,
Speaker:but not out of sight."
Speaker:While this applies to competitive sports of all sorts, the discussion here
Speaker:involves different dynamics.
Speaker:Motivation and volition, the power of determination, are crucial elements in making life changes
Speaker:which is what this is about in a sense.
Speaker:So to get going set achievable goals you can regularly meet and give yourself a pat on
Speaker:the shoulder and congratulate yourself.
Speaker:That's important maybe a little celebratory piece of cake or something every now and then.
Speaker:Yes!
Speaker:Now I'm walking here, why I'm still walking, what does it mean to me?
Speaker:It's sort of a meditation and a nice time for myself, time when I don't have to think about
Speaker:anything, not work tasks that are waiting to be done or cleaning or what not could be
Speaker:there waiting for you.
Speaker:This walking is my own time and I spend it in a way I like to do it.
Speaker:Originally I tried to listen to some music, some people might like to listen to music
Speaker:while walking and I did too, I tried, it sort of was nice to have this uptempo music to
Speaker:listen it keeps your rhythm in pace and especially when I later tried rocking, you know it's
Speaker:like walking with an extra weight, it helped to go forward.
Speaker:I'll get back to rocking and how to do it and how I did it in a later episode but I
Speaker:don't know.
Speaker:But for now so it's okay for rhythm but then I felt that I don't want to listen to any
Speaker:music I want to listen to the surrounding and especially since I started my walking early
Speaker:spring there was a lot of birds started to sing and it was nice to listen to the traffic
Speaker:which is everywhere here, also some nature sounds.
Speaker:So when the walking got so good or so fast that I couldn't go faster without resulting
Speaker:to running I did add something to it.
Speaker:So first I added like a half way of my that time regular walking route some bodyweight
Speaker:exercises.
Speaker:So first started with like 10 lunges, 10 squats and 10 push-ups in the middle and that's also
Speaker:important to have a variety in the exercise and it brought like a nice little pause from
Speaker:walking and also a little exercise there.
Speaker:And later when those 10 ribs are too easy sort of you can increase them or then of course
Speaker:do it separately. So that training exercise but that was a good start for me.
Speaker:I then later moved on to like a total bodyweight exercises and some with weights also.
Speaker:And then the latest addition is the adding small sprints in the walking.
Speaker:So I don't run, I have never liked running and sometimes it feels very lonely to look
Speaker:at these sports apps because there's not really a choice for walkers, they're all for running
Speaker:and running and running and I don't like to run.
Speaker:But I added that much, I gave up that much or gave in that much that I do now most of
Speaker:the walks when I do regular walk.
Speaker:I do two times like 150 meter sprint, it's a nice like a measurement also it shows me
Speaker:quite concretely how my fitness is improving or developing so I can compare the same sprint
Speaker:from previous month or previous months and see how heart rate or the speed are evolving.
Speaker:So as my walking is now approaching my running sprint spot and then I wouldn't be talking
Speaker:at the time and after that also breathing would be even more harder.
Speaker:One thing what I want to leave as a memory or as a statement is that why I like walking
Speaker:and why I think everybody should go walking is that it's very low threshold to go, you
Speaker:just like put on shoes and go.
Speaker:It doesn't matter, you can start with walking around the house or block and then I'm pretty
Speaker:sure that after a while it gets a bit boring, you want to go and search, find new ways and
Speaker:new routes and that way like naturally and without effort you get to walk longer.
Speaker:And then you might even want to add some extra challenge to it like this bodyweight exercise
Speaker:movements, add some extra weights, take a couple of books with you or then do sprints
Speaker:in the halfway to see how your fitness is evolving.
Speaker:To add more challenge to your walking you can include bodyweight exercises at the halfway
Speaker:point of your route.
Speaker:Lunges, squats and push ups on a park bench are excellent ways to start and don't mind
Speaker:the sometimes weird looks of the passersby.
Speaker:Moreover, carrying some extra weight in your backpack adds an additional challenge if you're
Speaker:up to it.
Speaker:If you want to monitor your fitness progress, take a short sprint at the exact location
Speaker:and cover the same distance, record your run with a watch and over time you will see improvements
Speaker:in your speed and heart rate simply from walking.
Speaker:So put on your shoes and head out.
Speaker:Halfway around the block, do some squats and lunges, you'll love it.
Speaker:And what I like to say, don't do nothing, do something and scale it back.
Speaker:This was Scale to Fit, fitting your 50s with Marco Lindgren.
Speaker:All sounds are made by me.
Speaker:Send us your feedback via email at feedback@scaledto.fit or visit podchaser.com/scaledtofit to leave a rating.
Speaker:Don't forget to check the show notes at scaledto.fit, all the links are there.
Speaker:Thank you for tuning in.
