Walking the walk.....ing trail...

rachelhaueter

My go to form of excersice has been walking, but I fear it may not be enough due to my line of work. I have been a CNA (certified nursing assistant) so my nights are spent running around tending to patients. The last two hours of my shift are non stop movement for the most part. I end up so sweaty I look like I just stepped out of the shower. When I get home, I change my clothes and go for my walk. Now when I say walk, I don't mean like when I walk my dog. My playlist consists of bands like Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, etc. Heavy beats, fast riffs and the like, so when I walk it's arm swinging, boob bouncing, heavy pavement hitting walking. I've found a path I like, which is the perimiter of my apartment complex as much as it can be while on the sidewalk, then I follow the road until I get to the sidewalk on the other side. I travel the same route when I walk and I do two laps. That equals about 1.81 miles and I do it in about 50 minutes.

Yesterday just for giggles and a change of scenery (because who wouldn't want to go from the pretty trees to starting at a brown wall right?) I decided to hop on a treadmill at my complex's fitness center. I didn't like it. I found I liked walking better if I could watch my terrain go by. I also found that I was terrified to let go of the grip bars, because when I tried to walk and swing my arms all I did was feel like I was going to face plant and get sent flying. I managed to finish, and walked about 3.2 miles in 60 minutes. I don't think there was that much of a difference in the calorie burn (I'll double check this). Does anyone else prefer walking outdoors rather than on a treadmill?

The next part of this is, I'm worried that due to my constant movement at work, sooner than I'd like the walking won't be enough. I don't have a set routine down just yet, but I'm trying. Would it be better to scrap the walking and get on the stationary bike for an hour? I've never used an elliptical and it scares me a little but I can try that too. I also tried weight training the other day, and I'm the first to admit I didn't have the first clue as to what I was doing. I don't know how some of the machines are supposed to work, but the ones I did know how to use, I jumped on them. I plugged in the pin for the weights and did 3 rounds of the excersice on each one, the round being a count of 10. I worked a little on arms and legs, and when I was done I could feel a little bit of burn and the next two days I was sore just a little bit in a few areas. This is what makes me think I was doing it wrong.

Is there anyone in a similar situation that found a routine to be successful and would they be wlling to share it? I'm thinking of trying to walk for an hour or 90 minutes three days a week, the other three days doing something like bike/elliptical then weights or yoga or something to help strengthen my core muscles, and then take one day off to rest. What has worked for you guys?

Madelinec117

I find it is much more interesting to walk when you have scenery to look at, but with triple digit heat index, I don't think I would take walking outside. I have a treadmill and like, don't trust myself to let go of the arm bars a whole lot yet but working on it. Any exercise you do which increases your heart rate and keeps it at a higher rate is a good cardio exercise.

Sometimes you can feel a little sore for a couple of days of lifting weights if you are not used to it as you are probably using muscles in a way or at a weight to which you are not accustomed. You can start with the weight machines you know how to use, watch some of the videos on strength training you can find on the internet and build from there.